Introduction

I went to a one-year old birthday party a year ago. It was huge and grand with lots of kids and an entertainer pushing people to mingle, have fun with many activities. I thought he was doing great until we reached the end of the party. He asked the baby’s grandmother and a close friend of his dad about what they want the kid to grow up to be. She said doctor and he said engineer. While my fears were on multiple levels, three things topped the list. Firstly, she came into world like a year ago. I could see throughout the party, all she wanted was to get rid of the uncomfortable dress and sleep. Secondly, we can’t want someone’s life to be some way, let alone someone whom you don’t know except for their eating and sleeping habits. Above all, why no one was able to think beyond engineering or medicine? Trust me, you can imagine my face similar to all those crazy memes on your Facebook page.

So I am pretty sure it might be already too late to talk to high school kids about careers. Either your parents or you have decided by this time, which graduation and post graduation you have to take up, also which colleges you need to go to or even the company you have to work for. While let’s say you are very clear about career paths, I want you to think about few things. Have you ever wondered who made Prabhas appear jumping between hills in Baahubali? Did you ever get confused between McDonalds and Dominos set up in mall food court, do you know who makes sure that you don't get confused? Do you know who prepares the itinerary of that vacation package you took with your parents? Or who designs the look of NFS or Age of Empires or Candy Crush? Did you consider who gets to choose what Anushka Sharma wears every day? Do you know who are fighting right now intensely with the Government to bring back Maggi to your plate? Did you ever wonder how a person gets to the stage of Stephen Hawking or Abdul Kalam or Kamal Haasan in Dasavatharam?

These are not any inter-continental military secrets you never saw, right? You have seen them day in day out. If you did not wonder about these, think about them now, as that gives you the glimpse of world beyond Engineering or Medicine, a world nevertheless exciting, enriching and money making too.

I left school a decade ago and I had been fortunate in going to very good colleges. I read newspaper daily, I follow many philosophy blogs, I have some close friends with whom I indulge in deep discussions about life, many of these friends are married, some with kids and also I have travelled extensively across India. With all this background, I can still tell you, I only have vague idea about what my talents are and what next stage of my life would be like. And you know when I chose to study engineering? In my sixth class and only thing I knew then was engineers build houses and offices. It’s not until after tenth, I knew some of the fields in engineering (I still don’t know all). The only reason for this choice, like many of you, was that I like Maths. There starts the first mistake of your life.

If you like Biology, you need not be going for medicine only, if you like Mathematics, engineering is not your default choice. Engineering is way beyond Maths. If you didn’t like any of the subjects in your school, going for BA or B.Com is not the answer. History lesson on Mummification where you have to by heart ten long points might not interest you but are you sure you won’t like learning about ‘the curse of pharaohs’ working in the place where Howard Carter discovered the first tomb? Drawing detailed diagrams of amoeba or hydra might feel useless or dull, but how do you feel about monitoring quality of next cancer drug launched by Biocon? Do you think I am over simplifying or glorifying? The same is being done when your neighbor Aunty tells about her son’s designation in Microsoft or Apollo Hospitals or when newspapers report lakhs of salaries being given in top colleges.

While most of you still want to get a namesake career, some of you might feel the urge to discover your capabilities. I do see pilot being called a driver, fashion designer as a tailor or baker as a cook. Many of you might be excited to try these, but lost because of these tags by society. So, I wanted to know how a person gets to be a dancer, writer, statistician, journalist, lawyer, professor or film technician. I had to go two levels beyond my friends circle to get interviews with these people. My fight would be only worthy if my learning actually makes the teenagers to think why, while taking up a certain field of study.

I was able to break my own myths in talking to people in these fields. Let’s say assumptions. The first assumption of people is that these fields are not money making. My finding, they are and they are not. While for few, the salaries are same as IT or BPO jobs, for few the money increases exponentially with time. Obviously you build your reputation over time to be a pastry chef as much as you need that for being a dermatologist.  Another important assumption is that to survive in these fields, you need to possess great talent. This is completely true. It is true for any career if you want to achieve great things. Moreover, the issue to deal with is your low self confidence. Talent is not always genetic or by birth. It can be and always has to be cultivated. Final and the most important assumption is you might be looked down by the society. This fear, there is nothing I can suggest. Every person has a way of dealing with social pressures and it's up to them to decide if their choice is worth the pain.

I am not sure how much you could understand but I still decided it should be put this way. Because I want you to go and ask your friend Google for each word you did not understand here. Colleges and professors only can give you little. You need to ultimately take care of yourself, learn yourself. Before you look for colleges, think about what you like. There are so many fields out there, archaeology, cooking, teaching, painting and many more. You would be surprised how much fun some of them are. Read about them and discuss with your friends. After one area interests you, research about the career options in that and how the road ahead looks like. Then, look for the best colleges that could offer the program you decided on. Believe me, it makes you well prepared for the world. After all, you are not that one-year old struggling for sleep when her future is being decided.

Life isn’t easy for anyone. It is going to be definitely harder than you prepare yourself for. Following everyone else in the society is not going to give you the answer. The best way is to always know where you are and why. Of course it comes after making two or ten mistakes. Let us try making them.