Leading By Example: 13 Graduates Who Quit Lucrative Jobs To Change The World For The Better

The biggest perk of graduating from India¡¯s top engineering and management schools is that it guarantees a corner office. IIT or IIM graduates always grab the most lucrative offers, making the rest of us mortals look like duds in comparison.

However, not every graduate take the familiar, comfortable path. A bunch of them choose to go off the beaten path, and opt for careers that are unconventional but close to their hearts. Their faith in themselves drives them to follow their dreams, bidding goodbye to their cushy corporate jobs forever.

Here are some inspiring stories of graduates who didn¡¯t think twice before making the switch.

1. Khwaja Moinuddin

Quitting your 9-to-5 job to do something you love is not an easy task for most, but for Khwaja Moinuddin, it came as a consequence of finding his calling. He used to work as a journalist with a Telugu channel, but he quit his job to pursue his passion for cooking with a purpose.

The result is his YouTube channel 'Nawab¡¯s Kitchen Food For All Orphans', where he not only whips up interesting dishes, but also makes it a point to feed orphaned and underprivileged kids. READ MORE

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2. Shubhajit Mukherjee

39-year-old Shubhajit Mukherjee's decision to quit his 12-year-old career as a human resource personnel left a lot of people astonished. A year ago, when his doctor cited pollution to be the reason for his frequent headaches and sore eyes, this Malad (Mumbai) resident decided to actually do something to deal with it. He gave up his job and made it his mission in life to make Mumbai greener by planting saplings.

In the last one year, he has planted 29,230 trees across the city, with 95 per cent survival rate. Shubhajit says, "As a Mumbaikar, I felt the need to do the best I can for my city. Quitting my job was the only way I could devote more time to the cause. The bad quality of the air in Mumbai affected me during my long commute to the office and I did not want it to affect others." READ MORE

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3. Ashok Deshmane

In 2017, severe drought in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions in Maharashtra affected 90 lakh farmers, after a drought was declared in the state in more than 29,000 villages.

Ashok Deshmane lives in Pune, with his wife, parents, and 25 children. Yes, as many as 25. He calls them his own because he has rescued and almost adopted the children of farmers, who live in severe drought-ridden areas. By the end of 2015, Deshmane had decided that after having worked for 5 years in a reputed company, he wanted to quit his job and pursue his initiative called ¡®Snehwan¡¯. READ MORE

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4. D Ravindran

People usually follow the same routine till the end - wake up, go to work, come back home, sleep and repeat.

For D Ravindran, life is a completely different ballgame. He has managed to create the largest bonsai garden in South India, in Nagercoil, that has more than 4000 plants and over 1000 beautiful bonsai trees. He has not only pursued his hobby, but made it his passion and quit his job to pursue it! READ MORE

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5. Shankar Kotian

Shankar Kotian may be earning only 25% of what he used to a few years ago, but the 43-year-old techie-turned-farmer says that the world for him is a much better place now. It took Kotian 16 years at Infosys and work experience in multiple countries to realise his heart was where his home was.

In 2011, Kotian, who belongs to Moodbidri, decided to resign from his cushy job and venture into dairy farming. Drawing inspiration from the works of Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese farmer and philosopher, Narayan Reddy, one of Karnataka¡¯s most progressive farmers, and Subhash Panekar of Maharashtra, Kotian toured several farms for months together, and threw his hat into the ring in 2013-14. READ MORE

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6. Ishan Pasrija and Darshan Doreswamy

Quitting your 9-to-5 job to do something you believe in is not an easy task for most. But these two young engineers Ishan Pasrija (27) and Darshan Doreswamy (30) quit their jobs to make some difference in their life of farmers.

They are trying to bring back the indigenous varieties of paddy to regular cultivation, and therefore, both of them have been working in rural hinterlands of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to convince farmers to adopt the varieties that have long been forgotten. READ MORE

ISHAN (LEFT) AND DARSHAN TALKING TO FARMERS | Indiatimes

7. Sonal Kapoor

As a 23-YO, she quit her job to save a kid, now she's running an NGO known as Protsahan. ¡°Everything else just stopped making sense. Going back to the same job, doing the same stuff that others ¨C friends and colleagues ¨C were doing, everything I studied like calculus, algebra, science ¨C I was a microbiology student ¨C stopped making sense. Because the childhood and survival of a kid were at stake. How could anything make sense?¡± admitted Sonal.

Soon after, her NGO Protsahan was born. It has rescued over 800 children and Sonal says they want to bring happiness and healing to these children in the form of art, dance, music, meditation and theatre. READ MORE

SONAL KAPOOR/PROTSAHAN

8. Ramveer Tanwar

Water is one of those precious natural resources that is depleting rapidly due to global warming. There are still places where people don't have access to potable water, especially in India. However, a mechanical engineer is creating water awareness in villages and reviving ponds to fight the problem of water scarcity.

Greater Noida-based Ramveer Tanwar quit his job with an MNC for the cause of reviving small ponds. He has saved ten ponds in the past five years. READ MORE

Ramveer Tanwar/Facebook

9. Vivek Shah and Vrinda Shah

This couple from Gujarat left their plush jobs in Silicon Valley, and is now running an organic farm to fulfill their dream of contributing to environmental conservation. They decided to embark on a career in organic farming in their homeland, after taking a month-and-a-half long course in farmiculture.

In addition to organic fruits and vegetables, 'organic banana chips' are also produced if there is surplus banana production. The chips are prepare using organic oil. READ MORE

Indiatimes

10. Arun Krishnamurthy

Turning a blind eye to trash might be natural for many, but for Chennai-based environmentalist Arun Krishnamurthy, watching garbage being dumped in a nearby pond was the impetus to quit his well-paying job at Google, and launch an eco-movement that has cleaned and restored at least 93 freshwater bodies across 14 Indian states.

The community-led movement grew into the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), a non-profit wildlife conservation and habitat restoration group. Since its inception in 2007, it has removed garbage and harmful botanical species from various lakes and ponds, that are crucial for maintaining ecological balance of nature. READ MORE

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11. Nihar Ranjan Beura

An IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, with a track record of working with multinationals across India and the US, Nihar Ranjan quit his job to work for the betterment of Odisha¡¯s villagers. Earlier this year, he filed his nomination for Member of Panchayat Samiti in his native Dumuka gram panchayat. He wants to set up a dairy farm in his village to enable people to buy pure milk at cheaper rates. READ MORE

Indiatimes

12. Shuvajit Payne

Armed with a Finance and Marketing degree from IIM-Lucknow, Payne dedicated four years to IBM in London. However, his inner calling brought him back to India to empower people living in remote villages. With the support of State Bank of India¡¯s, Youth for India programme, Payne received basic training and was posted in Wardha district of Maharashtra. He worked extensively with NGOs to set up vocational training centres for villagers.

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13. Alok Sagar

After getting an M.Tech in Electrical Engineering, IIT-Delhi alumnus Sagar earned his PhD from Houston University, Texas. He returned to India to work in IIT-Delhi, and even mentored Raghuram Rajan. However, he soon quit his job to work for the people. He settled in Madhya Pradesh and aligned himself with Shramik Adiwasi Sangathan - an organisation that fights for tribal rights.

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