How to beat mid-career crisis

Kamal Hingorani started his career some 20 years ago as a reservation-ticketing agent at a foreign airline. A science graduate, he had got admission at Cornell University, but couldn't afford the fees. So, he made the best of his job, was promoted to senior reservation-ticketing agent then to a supervisor and then to a sales representative at the same office.

He also realised that management education would take his career ahead, but knew that he could not afford to take time off to enroll in a full-time course. Instead, he signed up for a one-year diploma course in management offered by the local YMCA. "Classes were held in the evening and it was also close to my office. I could do my course and my job, simultaneously," says Hingorani. He paid the Rs 10,000 course fee out of his savings.