DISTURBED,CHALLENGED,CONFUSED..... NO MORE!

Open to a lot of options is even worse then no options at all, like you seriously don’t know what to pick and life gets so much harder, with people who judge you by every tiny little move you make, and with parents who are equally tensed about your future.

I got through NIFT Kolkata for B.FTech (bachelor in fashion technology) Apparel Production and you have as few as 240 seats (out of which 61 goes to SC, ST, and OBCs) . Well! Sounds really cool isn’t it! It may not be an IIT or IIM but still according to quite a few people it is pretty big, and for a person like me, a chemistry Hons. student who hates physics (it is a goddamn main paper you know!) and physical chemistry, it was pretty much like a dream come true.

I love literature, European, modern Indian, the queen’s English, you name it! So basically last year unlike a lot of people dying to do engineering (this includes those who have landed up in any nameless college, just coz a want a “tag” of being an engineer and …. Oh yes! Money! ) so yea as I was saying, last year I tried really hard to get English Hons. into a good co-ed college, co-ed because the environment in a girls college is “alien” it totally freaked me out when I went for those DU entrance exams and stuff, this explains why I didn’t join LSR or Miranda.

Unfortunately the cut offs for art courses is high for science students and I felt there is no point pursuing literature from any random college, and keeping in mind that I am, after all, a science student I moved to chemistry Hons. only to realize that there is hardly any scope of your input or creativity , yes this a rather silly statement, o’course you cannot be creative in science courses but then somehow the entire pattern got on my nerves, though I excelled in practicals ( you won’t believe the ways the geeks screwed them up!) but still it was obviously not what i wanted, and i was sure i can never make it to a good DU college for english as tradionally cut offs for arts and commerce increases year by year, so i just decided that might as well sit for NIFT, coz i guess it's better than chemistry for me any day...

However this year I was like literally bombarded with options; means I cleared NIFT and I was on the seventh heaven dancing with glee, but that the same time I was tortured by the idea of being away from home, parents, Delhi and most importantly ( yea that’s right) the North Campus! After a week from taking admissions in NIFT, I got through English Hons. in KMC and the days that followed after that were the hardest ever in my life;

“Go for NIFT, there is no comparison of English and NIFT”

“There are so many doing English Hons and there are really few who get through NIFT”

“You’ll have a secured future after NIFT, after BA you have to keep on studying”

“Why leave DU, why you wanna go out of Delhi?”

“You always loved English; you have a knack for it”

So this is basically what happens when you talk to so many people, especially when each of them believe that whatever advice they are giving is the most obvious thing to do.

I seriously considered the fact that I might as well lose whatever little hair am left with on my head in the process of deciding what to do!

The question here is about your passion and your secured future( and the NIFT label)

And it is not because I’ll have to leave Delhi or that after a year I am back again in DU.

The thing is I decided to follow what I always loved, reading, books and literature; I chose English , if you think I lost out on a “golden opportunity” or something, think again…..

There so many people out there doing things just cause they have to and not cause they want to, I know people doing certain courses just coz they want a “job” . I am not trying to say that money is not important, it surely is, but somehow I feel that you get motivated solely by your passion, money cannot motivate me to that extend as compared to what my interest can make me do, 4-5 years down the lane, I may not be rolling in dollars or pounds, but I would have the satisfaction that I am doing something which I love

In fact I would say, I feel sad for those people who don’t have any kind of drive in their lives, I feel sad for those who realized their dreams when it was far too late!

Initially as I said I was far too confused but now when I think of it, I can picture everything clearly; those who recommended me to go for NIFT where the ones basically who are into vocational/ technical courses and most of them are in their respective colleges coz the college has so called “amazing placements”, so basically they were the ones who believed a job, a secure future and money is more important then your “so called love for literature” the other half ( including my parents) suggested that I should stick to English , they were the one’s who believed in pursuing what you truly love as that will make you strive harder and you will achieve more and better…

Really you know my mind drew on to a terrorizing halt for a day or so I was totally blank, but then everything became so simple all of a sudden, all this while I was thinking; English or NIFT, English or NIFT, well its always English first isn’t it????/ I always gave English the first thought when it I was trying to select from them, I did not feel sad on losing out on the technology course, but I flinched at the thought of letting go of my subject all over again, so is it just coz of the tag name? Isn’t that stupid??? Just going there coz of the mere fact that it’s NIFT? Well maybe for most of you just the fact that it’s NIFT might be enough but for me it isn’t, as for fashion I guess it’s only cool when I go on a shopping spree, just sitting behind a desk and checking out fabric and learning all that java and c++ nonsense is so not my thing, running the machines and quality check, all this doesn’t leave much space for creativity either (my course wasn’t a “design” course it was a production course, hope that makes it clear)

You know what, I actually feel quite proud of myself (so much for being modest...) that I have the guts to follow my dreams no matter what, the fact that I can see beyond just money and job and brand names, guess I am not that much of a loser as you think I am…..

Don’t be sad people I may not be able to give you discount coupons for Shopper’s Shop or whatever, but then do keep a check on the newspapers and magazines, you might just spot my name in the HT or TOI or even WSJ? Or maybe even in Elle or Vogue or Cosmo…. Ahh ok I’ll shut up for your sake, but just out of curiosity –

“Money, job and the brand tag or your dreams” what are you gonna pick?