People
usually ask this question not just inside the interview chambers but also
outside. ‘What is your hobby?’
Though the rational man has enough freedom to
do what he wants, he is tied up many times with work that he dislikes. He is
forced to pursue the choices he made (whether they are later proved correct or
incorrect) for the sake of bread and butter and to fulfill his commitments. Principles
like ‘Work is Worship’ could make him altruistic and the material rewards like
financial incentives or promotion could give him the impetus to perform.
Except in the case of a proprietary business or a profession, one could rarely find
real passion in the performance.
Hobbies provide people positive energy. Studies have shown that people who picked
up hobbies and pursued them passionately
had less mental stress.
In most
conventional CVs one could find a column about the hobbies. Bio-data prepared
by many students who are potential candidates for jobs contain the usual ‘cut
and paste’ entries such as ‘Reading’,
‘Travelling’, or ‘Listening to music’. Once an interviewer asked a candidate to
tell the titles of two recent books he read since he has given ‘reading’ as his
hobby in the bio-data. Poor fellow could not tell the name of any book (not
even the books he studied in school or college as part of the curriculum).
There are
thousands of hobbies from which one could pick up. Some of them are cooking,
gardening, knitting, painting, sculpturing, games, horse-riding, photography,
instrumental music, creative writing, travelling, blogging (which I am doing!), fishing etc. They are stress-busters.
Let me
introduce today, two persons who pursue hobbies that are different from the
routine ones.
Gangadharan
We have
seen people collecting stamps, coins, antiques, bottles, cameras, comic books,
cell phones etc. But have you come across a person who collects bookmarks? Here
is Gangadharan, whose main passion is to collect as many diverse bookmarks as
possible. He visits the book fairs, book shops, and literary fests in search of
unique bookmarks. He could find some very rare types of bookmarks while
searching old books shipped from various countries. He has more than 2500
bookmarks in his possession right now.
He gave a
very interesting answer when I asked him how and when he started this: “I am a
book distributor and closely connected with many academic institutions. On a
business trip abroad in 2008, I read a news item that Hitler’s bookmark was
stolen by someone. That news made me think a lot about bookmarks and I started
looking for them at various places.”
He has a
variety of bookmarks made from leather, metal, and different types of hand-made
papers. Bookmarks in his possession contain writings in Arabic, English,
French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and in many Indian languages.
Mr
Gangadharan received an award from the India Book of Records in the year 2012
for his achievements. He continues his passion vigorously and aims to enter the
Limca Book of Records by collecting as many bookmarks from whatever source. He
can be contacted at geedee.65 (gmail).
Joseph Vannery
Most of us
write personal diary. But very few persons write a daily diary on whatever
happening in the world. Meet Mr Joseph Vannery, young and pleasant at 82, who
pursues a very interesting hobby for last several decades. He not only
maintains the newspaper cuttings of important events, but also writes his
analytical views on the happenings very neatly and systematically.
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When I
visited his house in a unique small residential colony called ‘Aranyagiri’,
designed by him and his friends (Though it is in a metro city, you would feel
as if you are in a beautiful dense-green village.), I was amazed to see
cupboards full of diaries he wrote for decades. I picked up a few old ones at random. They are treasures of knowledge about the culture, society and events of a world beyond the reach of any encyclopedia or Wikipedia.
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When we
write about Joseph Vannery, who was a Surveyor with the Survey of India, we cannot forget to mention one of his important contributions to the city of
Bangalore. After reading books in the British Library about decongestion of
cities in America and England with connecting roads, he conceived a concrete
plan for an Outer Ring Road (connecting Magadi-Tumkur Road and Mysore Road) and
suggested it to media and authorities. It took shape precisely years after as
suggested by him.
Pick up a
hobby
If you feel
that you don’t have a hobby, start picking up something that you can pursue
passionately and happily. Add one more hobby, if you already have a few. Hobbies
can recharge your energy, reduce your stress, bring happiness and make you love
yourself and others.
Views are personal ©
Sibichen K Mathew
Read below more about ordinary people with extraordinary lives. Click the links below
interesting article. Mr. Joseph and his passion to maintain diaries and Mr. Gangadharan who collected so many bookmarks! I used to collect stamps in school.
ReplyDeleteWhy not start gain the passion for stamps you had in school? That will be interesting and challenging in the e-communication world!
ReplyDeleteSibi! I am the conventional reading, listening to music and, now, blogging type :) Though I CAN list book titles endlessly :) Did I forget trekking? :P
ReplyDeleteSuresh, that is the secret of your ever-smiling face!
DeleteMy hobbies --some like reading,writing and music are constant but many others too intervene.
ReplyDeleteIndu, hobbies really make our life colourful and satisfying.
ReplyDelete