In admiration of those who don’t want to be SOMEBODY

I am currently in admiration of all those who don’t want to be ‘Somebody’. The quiet ones who are doing their own thing, happy in what they do and uncaring that the limelight is far, and so are the reporters.

Nobel prize winner Ramakrishnan said it as it is:

“Last year, the lecture was held in [an auditorium] with a capacity for just 300 people, and half the seats were empty,” said a bemused Dr. Ramakrishnan, facing a jam-packed audience of 3,000 at the university’s Centenary Auditorium. “What has changed? I am still the same person doing the same science. Why are people so impressed when some academy in Sweden gives an award?” he asked.(The Hindu, Dec 22, 2009)

I am wondering as well. What had the 3,000 gone there for? I am sure that 2,700 of them had gone for the Nobel. And 300 for the Prof himself and what he had to say.

Closer home, a friend spoke of a relative, an eminent scientist and winner of many awards, who snuck out to get his awards and quietly returned home without any fanfare.

Life is less complex when you are not jostling for the peripherals, wondering who would beat you in the one-upmanship game.

Life is simple when your standards and your benchmarks are all your own. Then they become easy to achieve without the distraction of a ‘Me Too’ in the public arena, a state-of-mind so complex and complicated that your life and work will never be the same anymore.