According to a 2017 survey, three out of every five Indian employees hate their jobs. And while their reasons for chronic clock-watching at the workplace can vary from unpleasant colleagues to long working hours, a significant proportion of these dissatisfied workers claim that they simply don't love what they do. Ask them to follow their hearts into a career they find personally fulfilling and you'll also have to content with the unpleasant, but very pertinent, question of the pay-check. In other words, how do you reconcile the need to make a living with the irreplaceable joy that comes from pursuing your passion? According to Chandan Deshmukh, author of the recently published book, 7 Dream Jobs And How To Find Them, the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. As the title of his tome suggests, every individual has seven potential dream jobs that are both financially and emotionally rewarding. The key, he says, is to understand what these jobs are and map out a specific game plan to build the career of your dreams. We also asked mid-day readers who have given up the corporate mainstream to pursue their passion.

Chandan Deshmukh