Finding Yourself

I am no profound thinker, but recently deep thoughts have been twisting the realms of my consciousness. They swirl, twine, connect and finally establish themselves with startling clarity. What makes a teenager tick? Career choices! The prospects are scary because I am fully aware that they’ll completely impact the rest of my life. It is an easier matter to be swayed by the torrents of advices, suggestions which flow perennially from all sides. Being a spirited person, I looked for answers from within myself, and not without careful exploration of what I really want to be.

Many a myopic eye see only two glimmering opportunities before them which makes it foolish to consider anything else---Engineering or Medicine. Only a few observe that in between them, there are a multitude of other careers which can be just as rewarding and fulfilling. There might even be careers which intigrate the two. They see it as a vital promise for the good life.
“Oh come now,” some say to me, “I know you can wriggle through electrical engineering.”
My problem is that I don;t want to wriggle through anything. I aspire to choose a subject in which I am strong, talented and skilled---something for which my aptitudes and interests converge. Something which awakens the passion in me. Many who forcibly take up engineering or medicine don’t have skills to really master it. Or else it is simply the pressure or the follow-the-herd instinct. I am unwilling to cheat myself by forcing myself to like something like electrical engineering, when I know it’s not my cup of tea, and whine the rest of my life. Medicine holds an interest too, but is a little demanding. True, true, I am aware of how much I am deviating from the conventional pattern---some say there is a lot I’ll miss. But there’ll be a lot I’ll gain too. It’s just a matter of finding yourself.

I’ve chosen to deal with the biological sciences. Be it anything from biotechnology, biochemistry, genomics or biosystematics, I’ll embrace it. You see, I’ve nurtured a dream to see me here, that it would be cruel to orphan it. In eighteen days, I am off to the United States to study in a community college my father has chosen and then transfer to a university. I still look within for everything that’s needed from me when a new phase of my life opens up. I’ll be a short wait before I find an answer. Many more thoughts provoke my mind, like mild fear but I wish to put them to rest and wait to see where the winds of change will take me…..It’ll be a new path to tread and also an uncommon one. It’ll be a discovery....

Remembering Tradition

It has been sometime since I decided to dabble with Tradition. You know, I decided to get a makeover, to get a little old-fashioned. Before you take the liberty to declare that this girl is definitely loony, let me tell you what I did!

This Saturday afternoon I decided to wear my silks with a bunch of heavy necklaces on my neck and decorate my hair with Moggina Jade’. Small things like these stir up an immediate reaction. This includes the grandparents getting over-joyed with my decision to bear a few pounds of flowers on my head, my grandma taking me on a picnic to all the houses in the neighbourhood, and my brother tut-tutting over me. You do feel imperious, royal, important and special. And more than everything else, that’s what that counts.

Now let me venture to speak on Mysore’s favorite tradition. (At least, for the girls!) Moggina Jade’ has been around for ages, normally, the girls decorate their hair with it when it’s the Jasmine season and these pretty flowers are in bloom. Generally, the bride wears it, but girls do too, on special occasions. Moggina Jade’ used to be something like craft---when the ladies ‘organized’ these flowers on your long plait in an exotic and delicate fashion. Now, it’s a minute’s business. You get them ready-made in the mysore market for 150/, and all you do is place them over your hair and simply ‘tie’ them on.

You see, things you thought would never disappear sometimes do. Like the sparrows, a non-polluted Bangalore, the jutkas, and tradition. That’s why it’s better to savour them before they’re finally gone. Try it, all this tradition thing is not as bad as it sounds. It can be fun too. Besides, I’ve taken it into my stride to break the myth that fashion, slang and rock music is all what teenagers are made of!