Why Intellectuals Fail?

Do brilliant people achieve at par with their potential?
Does their intellectual and analytic power help them move forward or holds them back?


Long Back, I had heard of a study...

There was a study to see how an academic performance and the career are inter-related. The results were like following for the group of students, in a Class-12:

1. Distinction:
1. Students who passed with Distinction were, of course, brilliant ones! They had become Engineers.
2. First Class:
1. Students who had passed with First class couldn't get admissions to Engineering so they did graduation and MBA after graduation.
2. They were working as the bosses of the Engineers.
3. Second Class:
1. These people weren't as brilliant, so they settled for mid-level profiles, after graduation.

What happened with those, who had failed?

Hmmm..., what do you think, who's companies, all these Distinction, First-Class and Second-Class people were working...?

(For those, who need explicit mention..., yes, the ones who had failed in 12th were owning the companies, others were working for!)

Can this really happen? How can Brilliant Intellectuals end up working for not so brilliant, non-educated people?

Let's go through the following story to understand!

There were two classmates, Popatlal and Vijay.

Popatlal failed in 12th. He had no hopes for passing it, by re-attempting, so he left the school. 

He started working as a supervisor on a construction site, to supervise laborers.

Vijay passed with Distinction in 12th. He could get admission to Engineering College. He passed Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering and then, Masters of Engineering in Structural Engineering.

After 12th, Vijay spent 6 years to become ME and then worked in a job to get some experience for 4 years.

After failing in 12th, Popatlal worked in construction for 10 years, by now.

Vijay decided to start his business, having got enough experience..., so did Popatlal.

Both of them got a first assignment, which they finished over a period of a year.

Both of them had invested ₹600,000/- (INR Six Lac or Six Hundred Thousand) and had earned a total profit of ₹300,000/- (INR Three Hundred Thousand).

Popatlal was dumb (not brilliant), so he thought, good, he has made ₹300,000/- in a year, by being in his own business, while he could have made just ₹180,000/- in a year, in a job of ₹15,000/- per month!

Vijay was brilliant! He immediately assessed the situation and understood that he used to make ₹480,000/- in the job, at ₹40,000/- per month, and now he ended up making 62.5% less than the Salary!

Incidentally, Vijay's wife too was an educated and brilliant woman! She rightly pointed out that still they were not considering the Interest on the Investment of ₹600,000/-! Which would add further to the losses!

So they declared this endeavor as a loss-making and decided to go back to the job!

Popatlal was happy for his profit-making endeavor and decided to continue in the business!

I couldn't get in touch with them for next 5-odd years...! One day suddenly, I met Vijay! While talking, I understood their current statuses...

Popatlal had continued in business and had become one of the top builders in the town, earning around ₹200,000,000/- (INR Two Hundred Million) per month, while Vijay was working in Popatlal's company at ₹200,000/- (INR Two Hundred Thousand) per month!

Papa, what do I become? An Army General or a Shopkeeper?

"Papa, what do I become, an Army chief or a Shopkeeper?", my son was asking me! I kept wondering, how do they compare??? Of course, an Army Chief! 

Really???


There was an Army General, General Virendra. Let's call him just "Virendra" for simplicity, with all due respect to him.

There was a shopkeeper across the corner, Popatlal!

Both were of the same age.

Now below is their story, quite interesting...!

General Virendra:

Virendra was a very disciplined and courageous general. The neighborhood countries and their military used to get frightened by his Courage, Strategy and the Decision Making ability!

He was earning a salary of ₹100,000/- (INR One Hundred Thousand). After Tax, he used to get around ₹75,000/- in hands.

He had one daughter and had the education in humble institutions, in India, as he could not afford high-fees of top institutions, leave alone thinking of sending her abroad for the education.

Popatlal:

He was a very shrewd, typical Indian businessman! He was earning ₹75,000/- per month. Of course, he wasn't paying any taxes, except the minimal ones, where utmost necessary!

He had two sons. People say, he had aborted 3 girl-fetuses, I'm not sure, though! Both the sons were studying in the top institutions, as he managed to get some scholarships from Government Schemes, as on-paper his income was quite low.

He also had some fees-discounts, as the colleges were from his own community, for the community-children!

Afterwards, he had sent his sons abroad for management education. Of course, they did not get admission by merit, so Popatlal had to sponsor their education and it got through!

The Story:

Once, there was a war! Of course, the normal life was quite disturbed for everybody! It was the period of chaos for more than a month!

Virendra was busy strategizing and fighting the war.

Popatlal stocked all the food and related utmost-necessary goods, at the beginning of the probability of the war itself!

In that one month period, he sold all those goods at exorbitant prices, becoming a super-rich, in a month's time!

Then, he started factories and invested in many other companies! Soon, in next 5 years, he became one of the richest person in the town!

With all the black-money in the hand, he built his influence soon in the area! Then got in touch with politicians too! Then he started Real-Estate business with the Politicians, further fast-multiplying money by all legal and illegal acquisitions of others' lands and all!

So, how come Virendra and Popatlal got into a single story?

Virendra's daughter, after doing Engineering and MBA, was looking out for a job. She happened to know about this big, "Group of Companies", owned by Popatlal's sons!

Then she got a humble job of a Junior Manager in the company of Popatlal's one son, at ₹25,000/- per month. While the Popatlal's son was the owner of that company earning ₹250,000,000/- (INR 25 Crores or Two Hundred Fifty Million) per month!

After retirement, Virendra was struggling to get a flat in a better locality, as his current locality had become more like a slum, but he couldn't afford it!

Popatlal had his own Bungalow in one of the richest areas in Mumbai, with his own Swimming pool, Driveway and all!

Enemy-Military was getting scared by Virendra, while he was a General, but now Virendra is getting scared of the local goons, being sent by Popatlal to evacuate his flat! Popatlal wants to build a mall there!


Suddenly my son had shaken me and said, "Papa, I'm asking you, now, 10th time..., so what do I become, when I grow up...? An Army General or a Shopkeeper...?"

I am not sure what should I tell him! If anybody of you knows the answer, pl. help me to answer my son! Eagerly waiting for your replies!



DISCLAIMER:

This is a completely FICTITIOUS and IMAGINARY story, created by me with NO RELATION TO ANYBODY LIVING OR DEAD.
This story has NOTHING TO DO with Respected Indian Army, his highness Current and Retired Generals or whoever from the most respected organization.
This is a creation of imagination and artistic presentation of the story. This is a FICTION.
Any correlation found is a mere coincidence. 

Popatlal also does NOT represent any SPECIFIC COMMUNITY or ETHNIC GROUP. It's a mere representation of a selfish businessman, for whom money is more important than the nation, humanity or the ethics.