Missing artists... missing colours...

His strokes were great, his colour mix was unmatched, his art conveyed a message. This was one of my friend from the school days - M.P (name hidden). He was a brilliant artist and he was known throughout the school for his artistic abilities. Silhoulitees were his favourites. And, to the envy of other competitors, he was often the one who bags the first prize in our school's art competition. This was in late 1990s and 2000, nearly a decade before.
Fast forward to the present. 2010. M.P. is an engineer, a mechanical engineer to be more precise. He recently got married in 2009(I came to know this from our school Chemistry teacher). He works at a '-----' company.
I just wonder whether he draws now or not. I need to explore a bit more of his story the engineer M.P now and compare it with the artist M.P. once.
What if he were still the old artistic friend, whom we envied off? What if he took up art as his career? Will the society be ready enough to appreciate the young man? Will the society be able to accept him if he choose the artistic career?
May be not..
May be that was the reason why he took the other path, as an engineer.
So, how many artists we have lost to the IT boom? How many singers and actors, writers and poets, atheletes and sportstars, we have lost, to make a professional - an engineer or a doctor, out of them?
More importantly, how far was extent of the damage done? First, are we ready to accept there ever was a damage done?
I am reminded of the story of my childhood friend S.M., an IT professional in US - he spoke to me for an hour from US on that fine Sunday afternoon. That Sunday, henceafter, was no more fine to me. I remember of TVN, a wonderful singer, and V.R., another artist-friend, and VC, the scientist-who-was-never-made. As I last heard of them, TVN recently got an appointment from a noted bank as a Customer Relationship Manager. I do not know what happed to V.R.. And VC, he was working in Chennai as content writer for an education website.
How colourful this world would have been with all these people? What great works of art, music and drama would have been produced? What glories and honours, would the world have been soaked with? What wonderful creations would this world have witnessed? If only, their talents were unleashed!!
I miss those artists, and I miss their colours.