“I was born intelligent, but education ruined me!!” — Anonymous. I am not aware of education system followed in other countries. But in India it’s pathetic and parents just catalyze it!!
If anyone asks me why you have chosen to
be an engineer, I’ll say my dad wished for it and yes even forced me to do it.
Though he was a bit generous to me giving two options (Engineer or Doctor?)
when I finished my 10th standard successfully in just one attempt! The later
was even worse for two reasons I didn’t opted for it. One is I don’t like to be
a butcher (then I was a vegetarian!) and the other a medico is not certain when
he finishes his education and earns money (forget about marriage and children
;) ) !
When I watch discovery, Ftv, or any sports
channel, I feel very frustrated when I see people doing great adventures and
the fabulous, meaningful life they live. Sometimes I think ‘kaha aake phas
gaya hun yaar as a s/w engineer ‘. I always dreamt of being either a
good athlete or a fashion designer or a five start hotel chef. To emphasize,
yes I have my strong points which I believe would have fetched me one of the
above professions, if my parents would have encouraged me to do so.
I came 2nd in 800 and 1500 meters track at
school. I wasn’t aware of my capabilities until I got a chance to run when
there was a vacant place for my school team. Other fellows didn’t even dare to
try to run so long! I was the school chess champ for the year ‘99. I started
learning cooking at the age of 14, I hate cooking same dish again and again
like house wives, but I love experimenting! I used to mix different masalas to
invent something. I used to like the aroma at least, though the food was not even
tasted by my dog ;) When left alone at home, I used to watch Ftv, very
fascinated by the photographers and their paradise land, photography has also
inspired me.
I used to have this friend, Kiran. His dad
is a big loser. He made no big efforts other than dreaming to become an IAS
officer. And now he wants his son to do it, virtually making him follow his
wrong steps. He never tried to find his son’s strong and weak points, neither
my dad did!
I also had this friend Neha, another
victim of her parent’s aspirations. She wanted to do engineering as it is quick
to get settled down and earn. But her parents insisted her to do medicine.
After 6 long years of MBBS, she now settled as house wife of a NRI engineer in
US!!
One more funny case was there were twins
in my class. I don’t think they ever bought two sets of text books in school,
but I believe they maintained their home work books separately! After
matriculating, their dad asked them to study anything but same!! That’s because
there is no need to buy two different text books in case they opt for different
fields!! They nick named their dad ‘Kanjus Hitler’. I believe they will get
married also on the same day!!
In school we used to have 4 unit exams and
3 big exams namely quarterly, half yearly and final exams for a year. 7 exams
in 10 months!! Apart from these, we used to have class tests, surprise tests,
quizzes, home works, assignments, practicals and what not!! And the most
fcuking part is we were loaded with assignments in summer vacation!! I believe
even parents don’t like that. Each time I came home after writing an exam my
dad used to ask me ‘will you come first at least this time?’ and one day I
answered back ‘Perhaps God also doesn’t know!!’ and guess what, bang..
as though a bomb blasted ; a tight slap. Aftermath, I couldn’t
hear anything properly for 4 hours!!
My dad used to take me and my brother to
circus, movies and parks seldom. He repeatedly used to tell us that his dad has
taken him only twice to circus in his child hood. So he has taken us thrice!!!
While enjoying the circus feats, I used to pray God to let the time stand still
and I didn’t want the circus to end. After the circus show ended, in 15 minutes
my dad brought us back home and made us sit to study, we didn’t even got time
to discuss about the magics performed in the circus! It proved in 15 minutes one
can reach from heaven to hell!!
My dad didn’t used to give us pocket money
:( Reason: his dad used to give him and he learnt smoking and even got
addicted in school itself!! He always regrets that he learnt smoking with his
dad’s money!! I hated my grand pa for giving him money!! But we were so
desperate to eat the ice creams, buy tops and kites at school. That made me
naughtier and more innovative. To quote an example once my dad asked me to buy
a ‘All Out’ refill pack; I filled the used empty refill pack with refined oil
and packed it with an old cover and gave it to him ( that was the last refill
pack we ever used at home, because it never worked against mosquitoes ;) and
it never emptied, that’s because the boiling point of oil is much higher than
the temperature produced by the heating coil of All Out machine!! ). And I was
happy for a week eating ice creams, because I earned it instead buying ;)
And when caught for doing such mischievous
things, we were punished severely. My dad also used to pound me for scoring
less in exams. Of course yaar, I used to tell him that I already got punished
from my teacher at school, but that didn’t help me to get a double quota from
my dad also!! In UK I saw no child cry or were beaten or even pestered to study
by their parents. My dad punished us because his dad did? Or his colleagues
also do? Or is it a custom in India? I wonder what I would do when I have a child
one day!! I wish my child have my dad as his son and he takes revenge on him …
good idea na ;) Anyways I am gonna show circus to my child at least 4
times.. he he and give him pocket money because one I don’t smoke and two I
can’t sleep without an All Out ;)
PS: The character mentioned above is
partly me and the rest is written imagining about a typical Indian child. I
hope my dad doesn’t come across this blog, if that happens I am sure he will
kill me ;)
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