It was a hot lazy summer and I followed my instinct and announced to my parents
“I want to do Engineering like Sharma Ji’s Son and I will take a year break after my 12th Grade exams for that”.
My father scanned me from top to bottom and said in an angry tone
“No, you are not. No engineering for you”
I have grown up in a very small town of Madhya Pradesh (M.P) and that year was 1993. At that time, M.P. was the largest state in India but one of the state with very poor literacy rate. Due to limited resources and information, there was no guidance available on how to proceed in life and career. I was also not an exception and by the time I reached grade 12th, I was wondering what to do next?
I absolutely want to avoid someone if he had asked me this question
“What will you want to do in life”?
I can’t even think about the answer. I feel I have to say something but sudden I don’t have a voice. The whole body terribly shook and you can feel the heat within your body is causing the sweat on your forehead. It’s like you are been thoroughly interrogated in a criminal case and you know, you did it and they are about to prove your involvements and you keep wondering whether to stay and face the charges or just flee from the scene. Things don’t change much, even today but it’s good that no one ask me the same question now, else I may come up with the same response, which will be kind of no response.
Now, When these tough kind of questions been asked in Kindergarten, I simply find myself amused when children’s can able to answer this question smartly and properly. In my case, even after spending twelve complete years in education, which includes Kindergarten, I was really clueless what I really want to become.
It’s human nature to find answers to any curiosity been triggered in mind. Me with same curiosity asked my brother, who was really younger than me and was studying in Grade 7th at that time. I asked him with same intensity about what he wants to do “in life”. He with weird and confused look asks me the same question back. I realized this question, needs to ask only to someone who is also on the same boat.
So I started asking this question to my fellow classmates, I amazed to found my boat is kind of overcrowded. There are many of my classmates don’t know this answer either. We do found some of our brilliant, sincere and studious classmates who really know what they want to become. The brilliant answers came from them was either to become an Engineer or a Doctor!!!
Not sure how will I have reacted today but at that time the answer was a kind of a relief to me. It’s because I can tell to all those obsequious Uncles and Aunts who had already increased the frequency of this question whenever they find me. If you think, now I know what to do in life, you are wrong.
I have underestimated some of those Uncle’s, especially that one uncle whose daughter I was eyeing on. The one conversation goes like this with him.
“What you want to become in life?”
“Either I will become an Engineer or a Doctor” I will now able to answer this tough question with a grin.
The moment he received the answer to this question he started asking the next question
“So actually what will you become, Engineer or Doctor”?
I kind of tossed the coin inside my head and said “Engineer”.
The quick response to this question given me the kick and I have already started feeling the burning desire to become an Engineer. Which actually extinguished by the next question
“How are you planning to become an Engineer”?
I wish I knew the standard answer given in corporate world at that time, for this kind of questions
“I will get back to you on this”.
Unfortunately, at that time, my extra prolonged smile and Uncle’s nodded head and his disgusting look towards me the only way to end this conversation.
Same friends were my saviour who knows what to become in life. Since I already flipped my coin and it said engineering rocks!! I enquired about all the ways to get into that. This time, I proactively asked some of the questions which I thought that Uncle may ask. I am now galvanized with joy to learn so many things in one day. I want to showcase my ecstasy to someone that I have all the answers now. Although somehow don’t want to meet that uncle so went to my friends place who was one of the members of my overcrowded boat to show off my newly find knowledge.
I reached his home and he was lying on a sofa with some Magazine in his hand and I reached near to his sofa and with a style uttered the magic word.
Me: After 12th, I want to do engineering.
He: Why?
After prolonged thinking, I sat dejected on the sofa next to him and wonder why I always miss asking the most critical question. What If, that Uncle would have asked the same question and put me on the spot?
Then something inside me shouted…
“You Idiot, you need to learn how to answer these kinds of tricky questions”.
I asked that inner voice back, how?
“Think of this as five marks question in board exam you are going to give soon and you need to answer this to actually clear the exam” and the voice diminished.
Me: It’s because Rahul, Rajat, Saran and Vaibhav are giving those entrance exams.
I paused for a moment and thought will this give me five marks in board exam? Then I added.
You are also giving this entrance exam. It’s because all the boys of our class are also giving this exam ……… and some girls too.
Someone taught me once in my childhood, each sentence can give you one marks. According to that logic, I scored 3 and 1/2 out of 5, not bad.
He: I meant to say, why you are not giving medical entrance exams too.
He continued and for me I started wondering was he the right person to show off?
He: You are very good in biology. I don’t even have biology as a subject; still I can tell your knowledge based on what you taught me from your coursebook in class 11th.
Me: What I had actually taught you?
He: Do you remember the day when we had a big argument last year about choosing subjects after grade 1oth. You actually realised me, my mistake of not opting Biology as a subject by teaching Reproductive system to me from that biology course book of yours. (He said with a big grin on his face.)
Me: Yes, but that was for plants in botany and micro-organisms in zoology and wait…why those twinkles in your eyes?
He: I heard this year you guys in biology have human reproductive systems too. If what I heard is correct, that’s third last chapter of the book.
Me: Yes, I read that chapter as first.
He: Then you can tell me in details about your learning.
I felt irritated by his behaviour on a serious matter of my career and retaliated to him with a raised voice.
Me: These discussions are the matter of our future and career. If they don’t fall correctly and based on the Indian marriage system that I am aware off, there will be no marriage and no reproductive system for me.
He: Okay, calm down. You have both mathematics and biology that gives you an extra advantage; unlike me, you can give both engineering and medical exams.
Me: So what?
He tilted his eyeballs towards the roof like he is thinking something. I just wonder if he is also following that five marks principle in his head.
He: Just Imagine!!! if you clear both the entrance exams you will have the choice of becoming an Engineer or a Doctor. I know someone who desperately wants to be a doctor all his life, and also prepared a lot for it. Intelligently he filled up the engineering exams too. He got in waiting list for the both the exams. Coincidentally engineering got cleared first. He thought why not join the engineering. After some time, he started liking the engineering thing and when his medical seat got cleared he actually rejected it. Now he is a very big mechanical engineer.
When I asked that person why he had chosen mechanical over medical, he said it’s all same. If I would have opted medical, probably I would have dealt with human body parts; here I am dealing with machine body parts.
His reproductive system will initiate next month, I mean he is getting married next month.
Me: Are you sure?
He: Yes, I have his marriage invitation.
I wonder if he really has that five marks system in his head, then he had definitely scored more than ten marks with this one.
He: This happens quite often. I know another guy who actually gone through the same scenario. Did his first semester in engineering and then did the first semester in medical college too. He was able to clear both the exams and this gave him the edge over others.
Me: Wow, so what he finally joined?
He: Ummm…Actually His family business
He said it with a straight face and continued.
He: I know you don’t have a family business but this will give you the highest probability of success and a probability of success increases when someone have multiple options. It will just take some of your parents money to fill the entrance examination forms. Everything else you have to do.
I know it’s time for my father to invest some money in all my engineering and medical entrance exams. If you think, now I know what to do in life, then you are still wrong.
I now know which entrance exams to give but do not know which are not to give or give as per your calibre only. My parents never objected me to fill the form of any of these exams, and that's why they didn’t question me when I dare to pay IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) entrance exams fees too. The word daring is chosen intentionally because none of my classmates had actually applied for that entrance exam, not even the brilliant, sincere and studious ones.
Being in that small town, during that time, everyone in that town believed in themselves, that you can’t crack any national level entrance exams. Anyone who is really serious about any entrance exams will only go for regional entrance exams. I wish, I had the statistics but I believe I was one of the rarest candidates, who actually applied for IIT entrance exam up to that year, from that town. The number of peoples who actually cleared IIT entrance exam till that date was countable from Madhya Pradesh (M.P) and there was none from my town. So all my classmates are sceptical in giving this exam and actually raised their eyebrows when they came to know about my daring. I am sure, my step to give IIT exam, under those circumstances, will be treated as research material of Dunning–Kruger effect.
We need to travel to the nearest examination centres for all any entrance exams. This includes the cost of travelling and staying at that place. None of those entrance exams will be in that small town. It’s no fun to go for an entrance exam, alone when you can’t do much by studying just before the night of exam. IIT is also such kind of exams for which you have to prepare for years to actually clear that out.
I have a huge task ahead to convince my classmates to at least apply for IIT exams. It’s no fun in going to a place alone and not able to enjoy in between exams. I actually had to come up with plan A, B and B and a half, the only problem is they are not at all pre-planned, else would have started with B and half first.
The Plan A was, I started preaching them verses from Bhagwat Geeta which said work hard and do not think about the results. Asked them to just fill up the form, work hard for the exam and then for next exam which includes IIT entrance exams and so on…do not think about the results. It took me some years to realize, this kind of preaching doesn’t work in real life. The problem was, those of my classmates knows that already.
Then I started the plan ‘B’ with blackmailing, the emotional ones. Sample this - “You will not fill the form even for your best friend?” or “You may never know where we will be next year and onwards, these are only some of the time we can spend together after board exams”.
Finally, I was able to convince the same friend who actually convinced me to opt for medical entrance exam. Off course, I convinced him with emotional blackmail only. That’s why its plan B and a half. Now, I am not alone in that town who is giving IIT entrance exams that year.
To Be Continued
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Disclaimer: All the peoples and incidents depicted in this story are the mere act of fiction. No person living or dead exists.
©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.
