Being an Indian teenager is hard. "Why?", you ask? Allow me to break it down for you :
Our life and achievements should be extravagant enough to allow our parents and our relatives and the entire neighbourhood to be bragging about to all the people they know. I have no idea why but we Indians have this habit of bragging about knowing or being related to successful people, even if we have nothing to do with their success.
So all we do is work our butts off and try to do something useful with our lives that the society and our parents approve of. We're told we can do whatever we want in life but that applies only to those things that our parents think are best for us. Our entire life is mapped out by our parents right from the beginning and their extremely high expectations and hopes are what fuel us throughout to be what everyone else wants us to be.
It's not that people don't ask what we want. They do, but no one appreciates change. Straying from the usual path taken by millions since ages is looked down on. And not everyone is liberal enough and happens to have a broad mindset. There's a reason we belong to different generations. They don't see the world the way we do and we don't exactly follow their ideas of life. The huge difference in perceptions and ideas has led to the writing of this post.
I know there are thousands of Indian teenagers out there who can't follow their hearts due to various reasons. And honestly, there isn't much that can be done about this. Situations like this don't come with a set of instructions and it's pretty hard to figure out what to do.
Standing at a crossroad where every single step has the ability to change your life forever is scary. And there's nothing braver than believing in yourself and simply marching forward on whatever path you choose, whether for yourself or for others, as long as you know it is the right thing to do.
-The Geek
We're forced to excel in every field. And by 'every field' I mean academics only. Being a good dancer, singer, artist, writer etc is unacceptable.
Infact daring to be creative is a sin.
We are simply not allowed to follow our dreams. To Indian parents, the definition of having a 'good career' includes only being a doctor, engineer, lawyer or any other job with a mundane schedule that earns us enough money to move out of our parents' houses and let them live in peace.
And it's not only parents who pressurize us into making such boring career choices. It's relatives, neighbours, our parents' acquaintances, cousins we don't even know exist and the whole damn society.Infact daring to be creative is a sin.
We are simply not allowed to follow our dreams. To Indian parents, the definition of having a 'good career' includes only being a doctor, engineer, lawyer or any other job with a mundane schedule that earns us enough money to move out of our parents' houses and let them live in peace.
Our life and achievements should be extravagant enough to allow our parents and our relatives and the entire neighbourhood to be bragging about to all the people they know. I have no idea why but we Indians have this habit of bragging about knowing or being related to successful people, even if we have nothing to do with their success.
Which is why, we are pressurized right from the beginning to be the best at everything. People will love you if you're an insufferable Know-It-All. Here, nerds get the highest appreciation. And "If you ain't a nerd, you ain't fit for survival, son." said the typical Indian Uncle.
So all we do is work our butts off and try to do something useful with our lives that the society and our parents approve of. We're told we can do whatever we want in life but that applies only to those things that our parents think are best for us. Our entire life is mapped out by our parents right from the beginning and their extremely high expectations and hopes are what fuel us throughout to be what everyone else wants us to be.
It's not that people don't ask what we want. They do, but no one appreciates change. Straying from the usual path taken by millions since ages is looked down on. And not everyone is liberal enough and happens to have a broad mindset. There's a reason we belong to different generations. They don't see the world the way we do and we don't exactly follow their ideas of life. The huge difference in perceptions and ideas has led to the writing of this post.
I know there are thousands of Indian teenagers out there who can't follow their hearts due to various reasons. And honestly, there isn't much that can be done about this. Situations like this don't come with a set of instructions and it's pretty hard to figure out what to do.
Standing at a crossroad where every single step has the ability to change your life forever is scary. And there's nothing braver than believing in yourself and simply marching forward on whatever path you choose, whether for yourself or for others, as long as you know it is the right thing to do.
-The Geek
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