Thursday, June 24, 2010

NO, I did not fail. YES, I am taking Arts.


Call it a black sheep, call it an underdog, call it The Road Not Taken: there is no escaping the fact that for the majority of people inhabiting India, taking Arts after tenth grade is distasteful, something to do when you have no option left, or when your marks (or grades, bless CBSE) are unmentionable.


Once you get used to this prejudice, though, and you learn to accept it, announcing your decision is actually quite fun. The politest reply I have ever got (excluding replies from people who actually know me) is "Don't tell me!" followed by a horrified stare. The most innocent one was, "But why?" and a look that suggested I had an answer that would solve all their doubts, that I wanted to do something out of the world. But after I shrug and say, indifferently, "I like it", they are just plain incredulous. "You like History? Alien." Except it's human History I like, in addition to languages, Economics, Political Science, Psychology and all the rest of the stuff. The very names of the subjects make me jump up and down in excitement and I can't wait to start studying.


People like friends of friends and aunties, who ask you what you intend to take for the sake of making conversation, find it either very unnerving or a closed subject when you mention Humanities. It's like the very stream is taboo.


I'm not writing this to enumerate the various career options Arts offers, or to bombard readers with examples of people who made it big "despite" taking Arts. I'm writing this simply to record my observations. There have been people, with the best of intentions, no doubt, who have tried to dissuade me. I have tried to be dissuaded, and have failed. I love Biology (the whole of biology, mind, don't go around getting narrow-minded ideas), but I love Arts more. And I don't even like Physics. I positively dislike Chemistry. And Maths, well, I don't hate it. I just don't like to practise. In other words, I'm lazy.


I don't have a well-charted career plan ahead. I am as clueless as the next man, possibly even more. But then life hardly respects your plans. All I can say in my defence is that if the world ends in 2012 (and it most likely will, if only due to global warming or an asteroid or an alien invasion), I will have studied subjects I enjoy studying.

16 comments:

  1. hey,dats very well expressed.I m a fan of ur writing.
    its gud dat u want to study things dat u r passionate about n persue ur interests.all should do dat.
    jst 1 thing dat i dint appreciate was 2012 part,rest was fab.gud luck to you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice Jaai, I have read your blog for the first time n i really liked it ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Poojit: Thanks! About the ending...well, yeah...:|
    Thanks Blodorchid, whoever you are

    ReplyDelete
  4. you write well, but do not feel guilty about selection, learn to belive on self

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, anonymous. :|
    Anonymity is very rude.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can relate to you, the H word being trashed as 'horribly nauseous'.
    As far as Psychology is concerned,well! they don't know missing Freudian ways of life is akin to striking a self-strife.

    Expressive post with a dash of reality amalgamated with own-ness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. relyyy nyc....sure u will do well going ahed wit arts...ur writing style is just awesumm..doo keep riting..:D

    ReplyDelete
  8. wonderfull!!!
    enjoyed nd liked d post but really loved d last line... :)
    Keep Blogging
    Tc

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks you, especially for vouching for a rather unpopular line! :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah! Now that is something which we all have had to face by the grace of the stereotypical attitude towards education choices.
    People think that Education only means Science which inevitably leads to Engineering!

    Never mind. People never refrain from showering us with blessings as well as aspersions - whenever applicable.

    Following you! Looking forward to more.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Or rather, whenever unsuitable. :|
    Thanks a lot :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey,
    This sounds so much like something I wrote after my class 10th Boards. Yes, this is India.

    I like and agree with the last bit especially.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey, I read it! So nice to see a like-minded post! :D

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...