Shocked Awakening

I never realised my whole life what it meant to be without a life jacket. The escape button was always there. Any bad situation, any unpleasant event, I knew all I had to do was reach out and pull the stop chain. But then, I grew up and got a job.

Getting a job is all that most Indian kids are trained do. The moment you are born it’s all about getting into the ‘right’ school, the ‘right’ courses, the ‘right’ friends, the ‘right’ environment and the list goes on. Can you believe it? The right environment, I kid you not. I remember when in 8^th grade I started to hang out more with the hip kids, you know the ones who don’t seem to care about exams. My mom went berserk; she started to believe that was the reason for my slip in grades.  Why is getting good grades so damn important in the cycle of life? It’s so that ultimately you get into the best colleges and best jobs. To achieve this task of consistently scoring, you need to put in that extra effort every single day. Every day is a rat race; a race to finish on top. The ultimate goal is to be number one. While in this mad rush to achieve the impossible (for most kids), small things are forgotten like hobbies, watching the sun set, hanging out with friends, lazing around doing nothing. I take it back, it’s not forgotten, only that kids just don’t have the time anymore. When you ask your folks when will you get the time to do all these things? The answer is an obvious one. When you get a good job!

After this phase of life, the kid becomes a man. Now the new pressure starts. What about marriage? Small but suggestive comments start from relatives and friends alike. What’s the next plan? Plan?!! What plan I ask. Silly me. They say in unison,” You know the ‘plan’”.

This is when I realise that I was the one with no clue about plan. They are all in on it. Even some of my friends know what the plan is. When did I miss the notice?

The plan is the early struggle for you is to get good grades. The moment you do that college starts and there is no catching breath here. The life express doesn’t stop there. The next stop and this is a quick stop is job. Once you arrive at Job central, the next station is marriage. You worked your whole life so that you can get the job and do all those things you couldn’t as a kid because of lack of 3 things (money, time, power).

Slowly, bit by bit, I am starting to realise that there was never an escape button, only the illusion of it. Now, with a numbness that is so excruciating, I am shocked into awakening.