"You got good marks in Science. You must take Science as your main Subject." Dad said as I held my Std. Xth marksheet.
"I got good marks in English, Hindi and Social Studies too", I tried to justify.
"No no, you must opt for Science and Mathematics in Higher Senior Secondary. You are lucky to have got good marks in both Maths & Science in Std Xth. This way you can either be an Engineer or a Doctor when you pass out Std XIIth. You will have a choice", he continued.
"But look at my marks in Hindi. I got the highest in my class. If I don't take Humanities (those days it was simply called 'Arts'), I will never study Hindi any further. I want to take Hindi or English Elective." I countered.
Prose, Poetry and History were something I looked forward to.
"That is the beauty of taking Science my child. If you don't get into Medical or Engineering colleges, you can always go and join a bachelor's degree in any Arts college. But if you take Humanities now, you are closing the doors for anything to do with science in your life. Why do you want to do that?" He rationalised.
This was simple logic. I agreed.
I got stuck with science.
I always wondered why was I drawn more to ancient times. Workings of human mind. Prose. Poetry. Historical factsheets appealed more to me than empirical formulae. Period epics were anyday preferred over the preiodic table. No wonder I don't remember andthing of my Chemistry Honour's degree.
It has been over 20 years since I gave up studying the subjects of my choice. I could never understand why I never wanted to invent anything or try and make anything new. I loved to discover things. Always interested in wondering how and why something happened, not in how and why one can make them happen.
The joy of discovery was sudden, exponential and totally rewarding.
They joy of invention was like the culmination of longdrawn expectations and hard work. Couldn't invoke that sense of 'starry eyed' awe in me.
Apple by choice and Oranges by profession. Funny fruit salad.
"I got good marks in English, Hindi and Social Studies too", I tried to justify.
"No no, you must opt for Science and Mathematics in Higher Senior Secondary. You are lucky to have got good marks in both Maths & Science in Std Xth. This way you can either be an Engineer or a Doctor when you pass out Std XIIth. You will have a choice", he continued.
"But look at my marks in Hindi. I got the highest in my class. If I don't take Humanities (those days it was simply called 'Arts'), I will never study Hindi any further. I want to take Hindi or English Elective." I countered.
Prose, Poetry and History were something I looked forward to.
"That is the beauty of taking Science my child. If you don't get into Medical or Engineering colleges, you can always go and join a bachelor's degree in any Arts college. But if you take Humanities now, you are closing the doors for anything to do with science in your life. Why do you want to do that?" He rationalised.
This was simple logic. I agreed.
I got stuck with science.
I always wondered why was I drawn more to ancient times. Workings of human mind. Prose. Poetry. Historical factsheets appealed more to me than empirical formulae. Period epics were anyday preferred over the preiodic table. No wonder I don't remember andthing of my Chemistry Honour's degree.
It has been over 20 years since I gave up studying the subjects of my choice. I could never understand why I never wanted to invent anything or try and make anything new. I loved to discover things. Always interested in wondering how and why something happened, not in how and why one can make them happen.
The joy of discovery was sudden, exponential and totally rewarding.
They joy of invention was like the culmination of longdrawn expectations and hard work. Couldn't invoke that sense of 'starry eyed' awe in me.
Apple by choice and Oranges by profession. Funny fruit salad.
I can't imagine you with tubes and chemicals ! :) काका पण ना ! :)
ReplyDeleteSo getting good marks wasn't good for you then ! :) :)
Nicely written...liked the last line very much....
'Apple by choice and Oranges by profession. Funny fruit salad.'... :)
Yes it is a funny salad that I have become :)
ReplyDelete...and salad is better than having only one kind of fruit :)
ReplyDeleteHi Vandana, u have simply reminded me of the 1990's days. This was nicely said by u.
ReplyDelete