I have come across some people in the past who think and have even mentioned openly that I don’t have ‘ambition’. Perhaps they found it strange that, in spite of having a mechanical engineering Ph.D. degree from a Canadian university for such a long time, I still continue to live modestly in Toronto in a small and rented apartment and my family had to go through a rather difficult time, suffering and missing out on many things and opportunities in life.

These people seem to be unaware that this unexpected situation is mainly the result of difficulties faced by me in securing and retaining a suitable engineering employment due to unfair and negative professional references and inputs for more than twenty five years at the time when I should have been engaged uninterruptedly as a professional engineer working on challenging, long term and well-paying technical and scientific assignments.

Furthermore, such detrimental interference in my career, lasting for so long especially during my best days for making money in the chosen profession, had a very negative impact on me personally, socially, professionally and financially. It also led to very bad consequences for my family, particularly the young and growing children, as I could not meet their financial and other needs and take care of them properly thus leaving them feeling bitter and deprived which I fully understand. Needless to say, I am still trying to patch things up and improve relations with my family for having not been able to provide a proper environment and basic essentials to them for so long, albeit due to circumstances beyond my control.

Looking at the above, where did my ambition go?

So far it seems to be entangled in the complexity of my sad professional situation, but, hopefully and in fairness to me, in future I look forward to receiving,
(a) $125 million dollar in compensation (at $5 million per year, for 25 years) for financial losses, pain and suffering, and punitive damages, and
(b) Nobel Prize for making literary and peace-oriented contributions to society (on religious, caste and gender issues), environment (local and wide ranging issues) and politically (to democracy, equality and human rights).

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By: Dr. Subhash C. Sharma
Email: [email protected]
Date: Jan. 31, 2009

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