“My education was interrupted only by my schooling”.
I didn’t say that. Neither did you, when you were drunk. These words came out from the sloshed oesophagus of Sir Winston Churchill. You all know who he is, in case you don’t, flush your brains down the toilet. This quote makes me nostalgic, the man really made sense. I have always envied those from Indian schools who are highly opinionated, because building a logical opinion needs good amount of knowledge and experience.
Free Spirit Flushed Down the Toilet
Back in school I loved to read books related to the cultures and ritualistic traditions prevalent in India from my library. I hated Math, and I have never scored well in it except when I was promised a cycle if I scored a 90. The librarian informed my Math teacher about my ‘weird’ choice of books. I was summoned to the staff room and was subjected to sarcasm belted out from wagging tongues. My quest for a free spirit was made to drop its pants and was taken for a free ride.
Cut to the Present
I am an engineer from an Indian school. I have whored ga-zillion books and laws and theorems to be one. That’s four years of learning boss, my ticket to be the part of the rat race. Well, after bagging a job in an awe-bloody-some firm I packed my bags, put on my I-am-awesome shades, and went home to be garlanded and be the envy of every aunty whose children hadn’t made it large. Clearly, I was Saif Ali Khan, I was Gautam Gambhir, I was the badass SRK.. I had made it large.
After bonding with some of my relatives who had also made it large or XL, I realized half of them didn’t know what they were doing, or even how their small decisions or what their every day’s effort materialized into. You know there are moments when realization kicks your awesomeness in its balls. Well that was the moment for me. I was an engineer without balls. They call it a quarter life crisis, the inability to decide what you want to do with your life, where it’s heading towards and why are you so screwed in your head. This feeling can be an overwhelming one. More overwhelming than when you got drunk and confessed that your girlfriend’s ex was a wise man. It depressed me, all I saw was people of all ages taking up jobs that they hate, and then not even realizing it why they hate it.
Being Swami Nityananda
This is the issue with developing countries, life is complex because material success is the label of awesomeness. Learning can go jerk off somewhere else. You are supposed to figure out everything by the time you are born. Your course of study, you career, your job, your life, everything. Boss, in that case, Swami Nityananda would have had told the nurse “give it to me baby” as soon as he was born. Or Dr.Batra would have done a hair treatment for Saurav Ganguly when he was born, no? Have you really sat down and thought what part of your schooling you have used in life? Seen it materialize or seen its end results? I got bored out of engineering, so I took up CAT classes. It was an escape to live a fascinating life that I knew jack shit about. How many people have you heard of, take a break, do some soul searching on what they want to do? If you take a break, people will think you’ve lost it. Taking a break isn’t acceptable in the “great Indian dream” action plan. Read Mirakle Courier’s founder, Dhruv Lakra’s story to know about it.
If you closely look at developing countries, the demand-supply rate is going up, but not the learning. The desire to constructively learn is lacking. Hang your boots, take the plunge, learn something that you’ve always been interested in. With Internet, it’s not a big deal. Don’t take up a course because you’re bored of your job, or you assume it’ll pay you better. Take it up when you know you are sure of it.
How will You be Sure of it
Read more, research more, join forums. It’ll give you a wider perspective on your endeavors. Take a break if you think you need it. You’ll not be left out in the race, once you realize what you’re racing towards. More importantly, it’ll give you a sense of being awesome. More than when you went out on your first date. Don’t be the bumblebee who flies, because it doesn’t know the laws of Physics. Be sure of why you can fly, what makes you fly, and then smirk and put on your I-am-awesome shades, show a middle finger to the laws and fly. There are many reputed institutes offering a gap year course that teach you the art of being yourself and figuring out your potential without commoditizing education.
It’s sad that our education system doesn’t introduce us into the larger picture. Work is where your actual education starts, and then you realize what salt you’re made of. Given a chance, I would unlearn a lot of things that I’ve learnt and make space for new things.
P.S. This is a very personal take on the subject and on the system prevalent in Indian schools. If you have a different opinion, congrats. Buy yourself an idly sambar with a special vada tomorrow. For those who connect to this, gather more facts about this.
Aalsi Batman 