Monday, January 23, 2012

Pass and Aggregate Chapter 2: Destiny

Chapter 2 Destiny
“Destiny does not favor him to take up science; he may opt for commerce” said the astrologer after looking at my horoscope.
My mother was hugely disappointed. All sons and daughters of my Uncles and Aunts were in Science stream. They all were destined to be Engineers and Doctors unlike me. I fail to understand this irresistibility we Indians have towards Science. For most of the people who take up science it is more of peer pressure and lack of knowledge of other options rather than their love for the subject.
“Can’t we do some KalSarpdosham Nivaran, and get rid of the problem” suggested my mother. “Yes we can try; before his results come you need to get done Sarpdosham Nivaran. All you have to do is to get two snakes, of small ringlet size made of gold and then Adithya should offer it to Yamuna, the Holy River”.
Looking at Yamuna of Delhi the word Holy would be last word to describe it
“Is that all” inquired mom. “I would suggest few other measures also, so that the probability of him getting good marks increase. Also ask him to feed the Cow with greens and you madam observe the fast on every Wednesday for lord Ganesha’s blessing for your son. Rest as the almighty wishes”
My mother is a staunch believer in astrology; she wanted me to become an IIT’ian. Though she was aware of my caliber as an average child, but these days parents are expecting too much from their kids. She even went to Bright Tutorials, FITJEE and inquired about Kota’s Bansal for me. But I was fully aware about my talent; I was in no mood to study science, why??? May be I was being imposed Science or may be Literature was my love. Any ways I was made to do everything as told by that phony astrologer, and then we all waited for the result.
My 10th std board results were out. I got 80.6% .My house appeared as if some tragedy has struck. My mother was crying out loud. Neighbors and relatives kept coming and consoling my mother. I was relaxed and happy, this was the best percentage I secured after 6th std and the best part was that the cut-off for Science in my school was 85%.
My mother still had hopes; she called my uncle in Coimbatore and asked whether any school would take me in Science. My uncle said he will try and arrange for me a boarding school at Mettupalyam which was a small town at foothills of Nilgiris. Some ray of hope came back to my mother. But I neither had the will nor the intentions of going to this place. I was brought up in Delhi and by this age I became a pucca Delhite, (I was more of Delhi Tamilian then Tamil Tamilian) I was not able to imagine my life in small town of Tamil Nadu. It appeared as a small speck in Atlas. The tune of ‘Malgudi Days’ started invariably in my mind “Than na na an nanaa…….” I was scared, at night I dreamt of huge cut-outs of Tamil politicians scolding me for not liking Science (after all this is the land of Ramanujan, of C.V Raman and many more).
Mother, after the assurance from my uncle was so happy that she started imagining me in IIT and then IIM and then THE USA. The only option left was to talk to my father and convince him. My dad was working in the Ministry of Finance; he is a rational fellow and always tried listening what others said. I never thought he would be easily convinced of my not going to Mettupalyam but he was convinced and he told “Okay you need not go”. And then all of a sudden I felt writing a book on him but that feeling was short-lived, he attached a disclaimer. He told me that he was not very convinced of my taking English Literature and wasting my time in reading Keats and Shakespeare. I told him that I will seek admission in St’Stephens (the best college of India), but he thought that was a college where snobs studied and I would waste my time there. He said he had a talk with Mr.Gupta our neighbor who was a Chartered Accountant that I should opt for commerce and the take up CA. I was not convinced as I thought this profession comparitively unheard of, I mean when would you see a 10-11 year old child saying I want to become a CA, certainly never, but I thought this is certainly better than going to Sri Amrithananda Boarding School at Metupalyam.
I settled for commerce because that was the middle path. I thought that I would study hard and after my 12th would appear for the entrance test at St’Stephens. Also, I would convince my dad by that time. Though my Mother was not fully convinced but after speaking to some distant relative who was a CA at Chennai she thought that it would be good for me take up commerce, and yes of course she recollected the words of the astrologer.
First day at school was funny, it was the same school the same friends but there was something which was not the same. We had three sections one for arts, second for commerce and third for science and we were made to assemble at the grounds as per our subjects. I was thrilled to meet a lot of old friends. We were quite busy filling up our forms for internal choice of subjects (for me it was Choice between Maths and Computers, I took computers for Maths was not my cup of tea or coffee).
In a commotion of filling forms I heard Pankaj Rai an old batch mate and the biggest rascal of the School saying “Oh! These Commercians they don’t know how to make a straight line, obviously they are non-science or nonsense, hahahah”. I felt like slapping him hard but the fact of the matter was that the people who took up science behaved oddly. These were the fellows with whom I have studied till 10th , I was confused initially but later on I get along with my breed; the ultra cool commercians and I gave a S**t of what these Sciencewala thought of us.
The lot in Commerce section was relatively new; many of the students were new to the school. The best part of being in commerce was that we had more girls than boys. The science section was jealous of us and we loved it.
As the year passed we got involved with our studies, we had so much to do. I loved studying Accountancy and Economics I merely loved it. I helped lot of my class mates to solve accountancy problems and yes most of them were girls.
My parents were now happy seeing me perform. And within no time we were on the verge of next board exams.
And soon three months got over and results got out. I got 86.5%. I was depressed this time; I scored more than 90% in all commerce subjects and merely 65 in English (My first love!!!). In Delhi University we have absurd criteria for college admissions, to calculate our marks; we need to take the marks of best four subjects, which include one language. And due to English my overall percentage took a beating. Earlier I thought if not St’Stephens, I will take up Commerce at SRCC and now I was struggling to get admission in the north Campus.
I filled up forms in South Campus also. My father thought that I was unnecessarily worried about the college as I should concentrate on becoming a CA, but at least North Campus was my wish. (It is not that the colleges in South Campus are bad, but I just wanted to get into North Campus).
Admission in Delhi University is not easy, people from all over India come flocking here. Also the weather during admission time is cruel. It was the most terrible time for the students, anxiety filled with perspiration is exhausting. We were made to fill innumerable forms and stand in serpentine lines. I had traveled so much in Delhi during those days that I would have become a tourist guide.
Finally the much hyped cut off list came out and I could not get admission in north campus. I got admission in Sri Venkateshwara College I was obviously sad(It was a very good college but look my journey from St’ Stephens---SRCC---North Campus to South Campus. My mother was happy, she thought that may be Lord Venkateshwara could help her son to achieve his goals.
But that was okay. Now all my dreams to become a literature professor was over and I dreamt of being as a CFO of some big MNC, I even imagined my cabin door, which had my name
V.ADITHYA IYER.

6 comments:

  1. Awesome.... talent---- u summarized school commerce basic things into one liners.. loved that n journey 4rm north to south campus..!!! Awaiting for more..

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  3. Interesting chapter! A reflection of our families, their myths.. and magnified perspective about school & college life.
    I think Each of us have gone through same experiences, at one point or the other. Eventually Commerce was my all time fav., bt my destiny was science. :)
    Appreciating piece of work Cherry...n Best part is you have right mix of self introspection on the way we live our lives, our abandoned dreams.
    Look forward to read more.

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  4. Interesting chapter !
    A reflection of our families, their myths...and magnified perspective about school & college life.
    I think Each of us have gone through same experiences, at one point or the other. Eventually Commerce was my all time fav., bt my destiny was science. :)
    Appreciating piece of work Cherry...n Best part is you have right mix of self introspection on the way we live our lives, our abandoned dreams.
    Look forward to read more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting chapter !
    A reflection of Indian families,their myths...and a magnified perspective of school n college life.
    I think, each of us have gone through same experiences at one point or other. Eventually commerce was my first choice, but my destiny was science. :-)
    Good piece of work shiva n best part is you wrote it with right mix of self introspection on the way we live our lives, our abandoned dreams.
    Will Look forward to read more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved this chapter....it really brings out the the anxiety we had while we were students...really looking forward to the next chapter!

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