Life is something to live, not survive and the only adjustment you should make is with your time, not what you choose.

A Letter to All the Indian Parents, including my own.

India. A beautiful name for an equally mesmerizing country with treasures of beauty. It is a home for different religions, traditions, and cultures. Every corner of this country has something for us to worship, adore, and love. But there is another thing about our country with has to be pointed out, and it is the people. It is us people who made, make, and will make this country.

They say, ‘The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.‘ They also say, ‘Follow your passion.‘

But here’s the most followed yet uninspiring quote in today’s world. “Child, get a secured job if you want to be respected and want to live without financial pressures. Now. stop wasting your time in all these worthless things.”

But little do they know, those worthless things that they call are the outcome of pure passion and a perfect mixture of mind, heart, and hard work. Those outcomes could be different for everyone. Singing, dancing, painting, gardening, photography, making youtube videos, finding a new rhythm with your instrument, dismantling an oven, or a phone. Anything crazy. Doesn’t matter. As long as you do it with ‘passion’. The world starts fireworks on its own.

Now, you must be thinking, why I mentioned about our country in the beginning. Well, as far as I know in our developing country, 60% of its population is middle-class families. Parents who want their children to be much more successful, financially, than themselves. So what’s the two roads they choose for there kids? Yep, BiPC, then MPC. There are only a few others who take commerce or I don’t know. What other options are there?

There, that’s the whole point! We actually don’t know, what other options are there because all we are told to choose is between these two options. Isn’t that the reason why almost 10 to 15 lakh students appear for both JEE and NEET each?

No offense, I too belong to that part of the 14,10,755 students who appeared for NEET in 2019. Didn’t cut through though and I don’t regret it. What I regret about it that I didn’t do it for myself in the first place. I didn’t choose the path on my own for myself. It was a path chosen for me and now, I can’t help but wonder, if I did choose that path on my own and faced the consequences with positive pressure instead of a negative one, would I be a medical student now?

Or even better, If I was exposed to different professions and I was given multiple options instead of only two, would I have chosen an interesting and mind exercising life instead of the competitive and pressurizing one that now, lead me to mental depression and guilt for not being able to give what my parents wanted me to give? Yes! I have no doubt about that.

As I look back in time, I only want two things to change. One, My parents encouraging me to live my passion. Two, I never should’ve followed the world. Instead, I should’ve taken the road less travelled by and work for myself.

Since the past can never be changed but I can make a future to the ones who are the younger versions of me. Right? So, here’s my side of request to all the elders.

Stop making decisions for your kids or anyone and start giving exposing them to different professions. Start thinking as they think. They have a mind of their own, a unique and special one. Let them live their life according to them!

If they’ll run, they will run. If they fall, they will learn.

Stop chaining them, even in their imaginations. Be proud that your child became a part of the world on their own and if you want your child to be respected in the society, remember, Fame and Respect do not lie in the profession that you pursue, it lies in the effort that you put in to raise yourself from the ground, no matter in which direction you fly’.

After all, It’s only one life we’ve got and will remember. Isn’t it?

Content Credits: Dhanyatha Boylla