I went through a phase of introspection after seeing the film slumdog millionaire for the first time. It was 2008 when I was working as a software engineer, staying in Chennai. As the story flows, the kid tries out many things in his life to survive; when nothing was there with him he was a beggar, with a little maturity he started selling goods, then selling toys in trains, worked as a tourist guide, worked as a photographer, providing chai(Tea) to the corporate,learned on his own how BPO people work. I was so envious of the main protagonist named Jamal Malik. There was always this pro factor for him of being a slum kid than being a kid born with a silver spoon. He did not have to think about the societal status and parental interference before taking any crucial decision of life. If you don’t have anything, there is no fear of losing anything!!
I had always a question in my mind that if Jamal Malik would have been from a regular middle class family or upper middle class family; would his parents have allowed him to do such things? With the growing trend in India towards stereotypical higher education of medical and engineering, before the kid is even born his/her parents have already decided that the kid would be a doctor or engineer in the future. It is necessary to break that trend and inspire the kids to chase their dreams.
All those thoughts kept quiescent till I heard about One Week Job Project where Sean Aiken from Canada did 52 jobs in 52 weeks to inspire the people to “Discovery Their Passion”. Thus connecting all the dots, One Week Job India mission started in mid May 2013 which ended in December 2013, with a variety of jobs ranging from mountain cleaner to TRP Analyst to Tattoo maker to Rafting Trainee to Cremation Assistant to Tea Factory Worker to Bullet Mechanic to Sundal Seller. I tried to cut down on the false sense of egoism I had earned though all the corporate experiences and higher degrees. That’s the main reason why I went ahead with all the different kinds of jobs that came across in the journey of 28 states 28 jobs 28 weeks.
28 Jobs I tried in all the 28 States of India
Yes, the journey was difficult, from leaving a comfort zone to chasing after my dreams, not knowing what the future would bring; but the kind of contentment and the richness of experience, not to mention the immense personal growth that I attained makes every bit of the efforts worthy.If 1000 kids get inspired from this mission and chase their dream to become what they really want to be, I would consider all my efforts as a massive success!!
Jubanashwa Mishra
One Week Job India Retirement Speech!! https://www.facebook.com/notes/jubanashwa-mishra/one-week-job-india-retirement-speech/691291144226261
Sidharth Udani
So you are the guy whom I read about in the newspapers few weeks back. Glad to hear your story and read your retirement speech. Dude! You remind me of the movie ‘Into the wild’
Great to hear your side of the story and I strongly hope the jubanashwa mishra inside me is listening to your story and learning something from it 🙂
Abhik Prasad
WOW.
Awesome stuff dude. Well done 🙂
Jubanashwa Mishra
Thanks
Jubanashwa Mishra
Thank you so much Sidharth for so much kind words 🙂 Even “Into The Wild” is one of my favourite film too.
Amod Gokhale
If you don’t mind, I’m curious to know, have u decided which field is your forte?
Akshat Goel
Awesome story…
Was it inspired from Sean Aiken 52 jobs in 52 weeks??
Jubanashwa Mishra
Yeah its under the same umbrella. I have mentioned the same in the article above 🙂 One Week Job Project completed in Canada, USA, UK, AUSTRALIA and with my journey in INDIA 🙂
Jubanashwa Mishra
In the process of inspiring others to discover their passion, I discover myself as a good story teller. I enjoyed a lot in my one week jobs related to that skills like Movie marketing executive (Creating PR story), Floor host @ Bar and Story telling instructor @ Monastery;
Chirag Dodiya
I recently heard about you from a friend. Good to finally know about you and your story on Rodinhood. Its really inspiring and motivating.
Awesome one Jubanashwa…
Nitish Mehta
can you guide us how you chose all field and also how you approached all of them to let you work for short span of time ?
Jubanashwa Mishra
Few fields I had in my mind before starting the journey, like – Tattoo in Goa, Bollywood in maharashtra, Cremation ghat in banaras, boat house for kerala. Fortunately I got connections for all those jobs, rest what ever I get jobs on the way, I accepted.
Many of them are sceptic about the one week job things. As compare to other country, India is very different to accepts employee for short term. It was very difficult to convince them and failed many times too. E.g. I was trying to convince a gun house in nagaland, I tried my best to sell the idea; failed fully and finally worked in a hardware store.
Prateek vora
I always wanted to do this but never got an opportunity as you rightly said that India is very different to accepts employee for short term. There are many things which fascinate me or anyone in life. But whole life goes in just discovering that one hidden thing/passion in you which drives you crazy. But I am still trying in my own way to add value to my life. Well people think that I am not focused on one particular thing. After reading your experience , I felt happy to know that there does exist someone who did the same what I dreamt of 🙂
Jubanashwa Mishra
Thank you so much Prateek 🙂 Its always good to discover your own way to add value to life 🙂
Ritesh
Jubaneshwa, pretty awesome what you have done ! Would like to connect with people who enjoy exploring :-). Twitter/ Fb?
Jubanashwa Mishra
Thank you so much Ritesh 🙂 Lets connect in FB/Twitter http://www.facebook.com/jubanashwa Twitter @jubanashwa
Jubanashwa Mishra
Hi Abhishek, Awesome to get connected with a avid traveller like you.
Here I am trying to answer your queries.
1. finances, I did a crowd funding to meet my travel expenses.
2. I have not much planned for the jobs except for few like tatoo, bollywood, cremation, boathouse. Rest whatever i get the jobs on the way, I accepted.
Aparna
dude!! I didnt realize one can just do this ;)> Inspired me.
There is a institute called Experience Institute which does that as a curriculum. 🙂 12 project in 12 months. Great to know the Indian way is not that difficult.
Honey Syed
I am curious how did you manage to get all the jobs ?