Sunday, March 21, 2010

Destiny Is In Our Hands

Throughout my life I have come across many people who are extremely focused and who know what they want to do in life. Some people have always dreamed of going to Med school and somehow through either merit or money they made it. Others scored great percentile and got into National Universities or colleges. Most of them had at least some kind of vision as to what they wanted to be. When my friends were thinking about the future I lived in my own fantasy world taking each day as it came, not making any plans, not knowing where I was going to end up. I had my head up in the clouds, reading, dreaming and enjoying every moment.

When the time came to scout for colleges it was assumed that I would do Engineering. In Crescent. And I did not hesitate for even a micro-second. At that point in my life I did not know what I was good at. I did not have any vision of what I wanted to do. I just stood around while preparations were made for me to join Crescent. And since my family had something like a legacy there I was excited.

Now, three years into my degree education and there is not a single day where I don't regret making the choices that I did. For two years I sat in Engineering lectures physically present but mentally absent, as my teachers used to say. It took me a long, long time to accept my fate and come back to reality. Finally I realized that thinking about this won't help. I decided to accept my fate but still work towards a better future. The only good thing that happened to me through all these years is that I finally found out what I was remotely good at and what I wanted to do in life.

So if there are any students who have given their Boards this year and reading this then this is for you.

Please have a concrete idea of what you want to do in life. It doesn't matter if its Medicine, Commerce or Engineering. Know what you want to do. And do not let your parents or your peers influence you. It is hard to take a stand against parents who force you into joining something you don't like or don't have an aptitude for. But you have to. This is your life. If you don't care for it, who will? Studying something you hate is a waste of time and extremely depressing. Please do not mess up your life.

The "Three Idiots" anthem still sounds over India. Every parent wants their kid to be successful and everything. But if you really want to do something different you have to stand up for yourself. If this doesn't happen, India will still be producing technically poor Engineers and Doctors without merit.

The power to change your destiny lies in your hands. All of us can accept our fate as it comes, but it takes courage to stand up and change it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

inspiring blog!

Sarah said...

Hmm, interesting, but what if you don't know what you want to do?? Or what if you change your mind?

Honestly I think that more important, and realistic advice is not to be afraid to change your mind. Not to be afraid to try new things. Not to be afraid to experiment.

But go to uni.

Zarine Mohideen said...

@sarah: Very true!

@Juju: Thanks!!

Saima said...

Hey, the case is exactly similar to me; I have given medical entrance exam; got remarkable percentage; but could not get admission due to financial problem. So i was expelled towards the science field; right now doing research in the TIFR. Now i have to do it as i cant change my field.

refaideen said...

Yea I agree with you.. Also it is a saddening situation prevailing in our country at the moment. May our educational system doesnt impart the students with the skills to realise themselves. Or the soceity around us fantasize us with doctors , engineers as high profilers? Certainly something is missing in the link which create lots of confusion and we need an appropriate solution to tackle this issue in the future..One solution is to have career counselling in schools, conducted by the past alumnis / career counselling experts to review individual talents and advice accordingly.