Obama Campaign's paramedic LIVES IN OUR APARTMENT COMPLEX

On entering my apartment complex mail room I see this guy bending over one of the mailboxes. Since his mailbox was just below my mailbox, I patiently wait for him to finish.  So the conversation goes like this

He: Is your mailbox on this side too?
Moi: Yes.
He: I am sorry, there are so many letters in my mailbox. (Truly enough, his box was full of letters)
Moi: That's okay. Take your time, I will wait.

(After 30 secs)
Moi: Were you out on vacation? This is A LOT of mails.
He: No No. I was out on work for a month. You see, I am a paramedic. I was out on Obama's campaign ...
Moi: Wow...That's so cool. (Excited) Did you get to meet Obama?
He: Oh yes. But, its done. I am done. Finally home after a month.
Moi: (Still grinning) Nice. Welcome back.

After he left, I was excited. Imagine. A paramedic from Obama's campaign lives IN OUR APARTMENT. On top of that, we are neighbours (Yes, I followed him ). HOW COOL IS THAT?

There are so many professions out in the world. So many important ones. Its a pity that children in India are exposed to so few professions. When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an engineer. Not because I wanted to , but because my father wanted me to. And I didn't want to disappoint him. Don't get my point wrong. I love being a computer engineer. I love using technology to solve complex problems. Technology didn't fail to amaze me then and it never fails to amaze me now. But just being out in this world and hearing about what so many people do, simply amazes me. There has been times when I have heard about what people do and I say - There are people who actually do that?  One our trip to Hawaii this January, we were talking to one of the Deck Hands on one of the cruises and he was telling A and I about how he reached Hawaii (By travelling as a deckhand on one the commercial ships) and how life is difficult for him here in Hawaii. The instant thought was - complete you education man. Life will be easy. But will it be? Tell this to thousands of job less people now.

Anyways, talking about interesting jobs - did you know there is an internship program for the White House. The profile for the job is "In addition to normal office duties, interns attend weekly lectures, volunteer at special events, participate in tours, and contribute to a community service project in the Washington, D.C. area. White House Internships are unpaid positions and participants are responsible for arranging their own transportation and housing. Approximately 100 interns are chosen each spring, summer, and fall to participate in this highly competitive program."  And guess what, getting into this program is more competitive than getting into a Harvard MBA program. Guess this is what it takes to nurture future leaders. Wish there was something like this in India where youngsters would get to have a look at the Rashtrapati Bhavan/ Prime Minister's Office more closely and maybe, develop some interest for politics.