A student who has just completed his/her schooling and is contemplating about which course to pursue is mostly restricted to a closed circle of the ‘safer’ courses which his/her siblings or cousins have opted for. Only a few are allowed to consider the less desirable options beyond engineering or medicine. The fields outside the ‘comfort circle’ are never allowed to be taken into consideration.
Every parent wants his/her child to become a doctor or an engineer or maybe an auditor, but never a musician, an archaeologist, a designer or a forensic serologist.
If a student musters all his/her courage and pursues such a course, the society gapes at him as if he/she had committed a heinous crime. Such a student is scarcely encouraged and is viewed as a ‘mind-boggling’ person.
In fact, more challenging and interesting jobs await those who take up the less-trodden path, in contrast with the common opinion of unemployment in such paths.
Students must be encouraged to pursue fields other than the ‘Bermuda triangle’ of the usual courses. Students must be brave enough to break through the barriers to pursue their path of interest. After all, what is life without obstacles? What is the use of leading a life without the fulfilment of one’s desires?
The writer is doing her B.E E&I at MIT, Anna University
