So, what are you doing now? Any Indian with a graduate degree, or of the age of attaining a graduate degree, would have heard this question. But this question is not limited to just graduate students. One extension of this nefarious question can be heard during a child’s promotion to the 11th grade. A question, used to assess a child’s aptitude and to plan his or her future, without the child’s input.
At the age of 15, the enormous burden of the child’s future is thrust not only on his or her yet-to-fully-develop shoulders but also on those of the eager and anxious parents. Even though it is the parents who put so much pressure on their offspring, we must acknowledge the level of pressure they themselves bear from the community they live in. In India, the community we choose to live in is rarely a matter of choice either. There are no differences between the neighbourhood and their guiding principles. We are where we were born rather than what our gene sequences inherit.
India has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world, with its most literate State of Kerala bearing a large share in this figure. This statistic is a conundrum. If Kerala is the most literate State, then why are its youth prone to taking their own lives on the flimsiest of reasons? Shouldn’t good-quality education mean that you are of sound mind and are equipped to live your life with complete satisfaction?
Troubling question
Most of the suicides in India can be attributed to this simple yet troubling question: so, what are you doing now? The need for parents to give a satisfactory answer to this question is what drives them to push their kids even to breaking point. A satisfactory answer is a prejudiced symptom of a community’s understanding of what life entails. In Kerala, if used as an example, life is merely a means to earn money and survive. Happiness is seen as a secondary pursuit or even a non-existent one. After you have passed 10th grade and you are not choosing a science subject as the core of your studies, the community could look askance at you. If you are not an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer, the community will act as if you are going to be a burden on the world. Even if the child struggles to finish his or her science degree and is not even employed right away, just saying he or she is a doctor or an engineer is enough.
It doesn’t matter to the community that they have effectively pushed a talented youth to a life of mediocrity in an overrun field. Children are seldom allowed to explore other avenues, nor are their unknown talents allowed to even peek out at the sun. Parents feel a sense of pride in saying their child is a representation of the degree that they have earned.
The weight borne
The impact and weight of this is borne by a child who was taught to follow and never think for himself. Their young minds from the days they stepped into their respective schools were taught to do so. They were never really able to learn anything. All they were told was to mug up everything that another person would say and regurgitate it on to a piece of paper, and to keep repeating this process till they are 21 or more, depending on the degree course that they are forced to choose.
This overbearing reality is hard to unshackle oneself from. Those who finally are able to regain control are looked upon as the scourge of a puritanical community-based ideology. Those who have successfully stepped away from this pattrn and pursued a life of thought and happiness have rarely done it without the help of their family members.
I am such an example. I am 27 years old now. Under the rules of this backward ideology, I should be one of those lab coats churning away time; soon married with kids, rapidly balding, fat and old.
Happy choice
Luckily for me, I was born to a mother who wanted more for her children. She wanted me to be happy.
Happiness is not the pursuit of money or title or satisfyingthe ego of a stranger or a community. Happiness is acceptance of oneself and enjoying what life has offered; even the hardships. Happiness is life itself.
So, what do you do now? My answer is precise and simple: absolutely nothing.
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