The Life Of An Indian Teenager Pt 3

Welcome back , let's just jump right in this time.

We were seeing the part of our teenager's life where she had to make some really important choices of her life, her career . She did not get into the college she wanted to get into , yes the crush wala college. So now to follow her childhood dream , she had to take up a degree which would help her get closer to get closer to achieving that dream. But haha, are we forgetting that she's Indian? In countries elsewhere people who are very talented in a particular field take it up for a degree or continue to educate themselves in that field , but here , every talented human existing takes up engineering.

You are guessing even she took up that aren't you ? But are we forgetting her mother who always wanted her to be a doctor ?

Let us hear something more about her mother here, her mother was a teacher (in science) who came from a - not very open-minded - family . Lost her father in the 9th grade and wasnt allowed to pursue medicine because of lack of good colleges at her place and also , girl issues !! Oh typical Indian society ! Her family got her married ( at the age of 21 ) to a man in the " government job " because , haha we all know why.. and had her first baby girl the very next year, . She always wanted a son, (I realize how cliché this turned out but that is the reality ) but was blessed with this girl whose life we are talking about . Are you seeing some pictures where the mom despised the girl ? No , she loved her more than anything in this world. That is the beauty of Indian mothers . She never saw her as the son she never had, but instead raised her like the daughter she always wanted. She had rough times , before and after marriage , but never gave up on her children.

Now our Iteen decided to go for medicine, maybe as a tribute to her mother's hard work in raising her , or let's say due to lack of her clarity in what degree she wanted. But trust me if there is no passion , you can't achieve anything. She failed to get a good score in the entrance , which we all know is the only gateway to a med school.

She decided to join any other basic degree , but somewhere in her heart she knew the value of the joy she could bring to her mother by achieving the prefix , Dr. to her name . Her only choice left was to drop a year out , and she did.

What happened in that one year , changed her life . A lot of critics who had told her how state syllabus would help her , taunted her more and more about how dropping out was a sin . There are two things I never get, first , why Indian parents can't see beyond a med or engg degree , and second , why under the sun are people not paying your fees worried so much about you all of a sudden .

But this year was the first time things did not go smooth in her life, she had just entered the most famous sport of education , the rat race. Think of how simple life could have gone in that one year if it was only studying to crack an entrance exam. She had unnecessary fears , a bold and smart girl once, was now afraid to even answer questions in her classroom. The one who was happy and cheerful , now had anxiety and mental breakdowns out of fear ever day. It just got to the extreme where she even had suicidal thoughts.

It was not just about what was happening at the present , but also things she realized had happened in her past. She thought about how her very own friends thought she was not good enough for something , and she started to doubt her abilities . Amidst all this she managed to crack the exam the next year, and boom , a confirmed prefix and a Colgate smile . You know what was the thought that stopped her from harming herself ?

The thing we need to appreciate here is how she respected her mother's choice made for her and fought to fulfil someone else's dream apart from her own. This is a story of not just our teenager , it is that of every teenager in our country. We here about so many suicides every year , so many people dropping year after year after year , only to get into something they don't even wish to be in. It's funny how everyone was a champion till 10th or let's say 12th grade and then 85% turn out as losers , who just assume that they are not good enough for anything. That is exactly what leads to all youth related problems.. be it depression, suicides, or even getting addicted to drugs.

We all have a lesson here , no matter what anyone says , whoever it may be, even your own parents might sometimes say that you are just not good enough. Only you know your struggles , only you know the battle you are fighting , all of us have had one of these moments in our life as teenagers, but none of this is going to decrease your worth. You are the only YOU that has ever existed or will ever exist, do you need anything more to feel special ? You can be all that you have ever wanted to be , without any limitations, cause limits are just boundaries we draw in our minds . It's one life we got for all we know, be all you want to be and don't let the mouth of society tell you what you should be.

So now that our girl successfully made it to medicine she had just completed the level one of all the greater things she wanted to do in her life. She did achieve a lot more things in her life ,some went beyond her expectations , and some gave her even difficult times . So now did she give up on her childhood dream ? No, that would be an actual sin. Did she fulfil her father's dream? Did she have more dreams than just academics and a good career ? Hell yes , of course. She's one heck of a dreamy girl ( but also the one who actually lived her life in fulfilling each and every dream) Did she get a love life during her college days ?Maybe yes ..maybe not. Did she and the crush of hers ever meet again? We don't know !! To know we will have to wait for a life to live!

-your Indian Teenager.