3 years and running

Was about 3 years ago that I graduated as a pompous corporate citizen from the hallowed halls of one of the 'premier' B-schools in the country. Like the rest of my 180 batchmates, we were told that we are this great bunch of people who will create a difference wherever we are. To use an expression from a professor when he was ridiculing our resume writing capability, we were 'god's gift to mankind'. (..that sounds so hollow)

Coming May, it would be 3 years of post-MBA experience. So today morning I come in, one of my batchmates puts this question to the group 'what has changed in these 3 years?'. While that question led to a volley of emails mostly making a mockery of the whole corporate setup, I think the question is quite relevant.

I am part of the cynics category who believes that in most cases, people hate their work (or if not hate, are just plain indifferent). They dont probably even like what they are doing. It is only the lucky few and the brave ones who get to work on something they love. The rest of us are all people looking for the comfort of 'security' rather than the satisfaction of doing something interesting.

So did the 'premier' education change anything in any of us? For sure, it did. My view of the world pre-2000 is different from now. In fact, I think rather than prompting me to do something different, it just made me so risk-averse, that I have become so comfortable in this life. The education did provide me with an ability to think in a structured manner which kind of also subdued the most important ability required - to listen to your gut instinct. So I know I will probably do well and probably lead a comfortable enough life but that is about it.

One of my very good friends, made a quote which I am reproducing without his permission:
"Life is a game of snakes and ladders'...
if ur lucky u get the ladder..
else you take the normal route one step at a time..
if ur f****d u get the snake..."
I thought it was pretty good....I am not sure if it was original. Sorry, dude..:)

I am sure there will be people who think that you need to create your own ladders. But sometimes this obsession with creating the ladder and climbing to the top kind of takes away from the 'living' part because you tend to black out the more important things in life - relationships, pursuing interests, maintaining friendships etc. I could think of so many things. There is no wonder that so many people are compiling the 43 things list as mentioned by Kiruba in his post.