What it is to be a “Nobody”

Being a Nobody is highly common, but yet, extremely unpopular in this country. Nobody is a person who does not have fame, excessive money, excessive success; means does not have a name for himself/herself. A popular term for such person is “Aam Aadmi”. In a democracy, majoritarianism calls shots but even in a democratic country, being a part of “majority” does not necessarily means holding power. In fact, it’s the opposite. Majority and minority are tools, often termed as Vote Banks which come in picture only during elections.


So, how is it to be the opposite of Nobody? Being an opposite of Nobody means either you are a powerful person or related to one. In this scenario, your life will be smooth. You’ll have less struggles, and your path will be pretty much set. You’ll get what you want with relative ease. You’ll be judged less harshly and you’ll have more options in life. You’ll be admitted in elite schools and colleges, either in India or abroad where you’ll be polished. After you finish your “education”, you’ll get plenty of time to “figure out” what you want in life. Of course, in this break, you can have lots of overseas vacations to introspect. Once you decide what you want, you’ll ultimately join your powerful family profession. Your family goodwill will help you immensely and success for you will be just a matter of time.


The same pattern will work in your personal life as well. Members of the opposite sex will be eager to date/marry you and judging you as a human will be a non-requirement for them. Just your “name” will be enough to attract mates as well as friends. People will pretty much be oblivious to your real personality because that’s dispensable. However glaring vices you might have, it could be drug addiction, alcoholism, various other addictions and personality issues; you’ll still be regarded as a “good person”.


Now come to the other side of fence.

You are a Nobody in this country so you’ll have to be a fighter in a literal sense. You’ll struggle all your life so you’ll need to get tough. You’ll need to get street smart, argumentative, manipulative to get your work done. Right from school donations, to the prestigious colleges, you’ll have to compete with lakhs of others just to get an admission. Even after the admissions, life will not be simple. You’ll need to keep performing, keep getting high grades to prove yourself. You’ll keep working hard to graduate with high grades. When you do graduate, the bigger struggle starts. You’ll feel that a post graduation will increase your chances to stand out and so you impart your struggle for couple of more years. After post-graduation, you’ll realize that jobs are still difficult as there are lakhs of post graduates as well! You’ll get the job somehow with a descent salary. But wait, it’s not the happy ending. The bigger struggle will wait for you at office. You’ll have to constantly perform and compete at work; else your job will be in danger!

Your personal life will be in a mess most of the time. If you are single, you’ll have to face overly judgmental potential mates who’ll find everything about you wrong. Attracting and retaining mates will be harder. If you are married, your married life will be in a mess due to professional and social pressures. You’ll not be able to run away because of the ghostly scary EMIs. You’ll eventually turn religious and start making donations to religious establishments in a hope that the amount will be returned in your next pay hike! God will be your only saviour :)


Vaibhavi