While in school, specifically during the 11th and 12th grades, I was fascinated by the idea of studying business. However, the fact that I had very little guidance to help me realise my potential and dreams led me onto a much more complicated path (as is the case with most Indian kids, I believe).
The fact that I completed my high school studies from an American international school, and didn’t have to choose a stream post 10th grade, was a privilege. And I am grateful for the entire experience!
However, once again, I was just a 17-18-year-old who needed someone to talk to and guide me about the direction I was going in, with respect to my career. I knew I wanted to pursue a Bachelor in Business Administration, so I underwent coaching to appear for its entrance exams. I sat for the exams too, but somewhere along the line, things became a little jumbled up. A relative or a family member suggested I apply for Economics Honours as well, and like a fool, I did.
Then, all thanks to the same relatives, my parents became strangely fixated on me sticking to Economics, because the degree usually guarantees great job opportunities. So, off I went to my girl’s college to pursue an honours in Econ. Within the first semester though, it became clear that this course was not for me. I was falling behind and had more than one backlog in my exams.
Sure, I enjoyed being a DU kid, but I didn’t belong there. And I certainly didn’t belong with kids who got a strange high off of scoring a 75/75 on their statistics exam (which, just BTW is one of the hardest subjects in the course).
By the time the academic year came to an end, I was heartbroken. I was not coping well, and that’s when some good friends came through with sensible advice. During a winter afternoon of lazing around on the luscious lawns of the university grounds, a couple of friends suggested I apply to NIFT. They said the forms were out, and that I clearly had a flare for fashion.
I have to say though, initially, I felt like I was being insulted, I felt like I was being told I was not smart enough to study Economics. But as I began applying to NIFT, I realised that even if I wasn’t smart enough to pursue Economics, it didn’t matter.
I really did love fashion. I really did want to study at a fashion school. But I didn’t want to admit it to myself. I was afraid of letting my parents down, ‘Who studies fashion?’ they’d say. And they DID.
My parents, like most desi parents, were super strict and conservative about clothing. They were shocked that I wanted to drop a prestigious course like Economics honours and study something as ‘frivolous’ as fashion. Fashion, like other creative fields, receives very little respect from the older generations, and it’s usually considered an unserious pursuit in terms of career. I was so torn about finally making this change in life, that I was shaming myself for taking up a course that wasn’t ‘academic enough.’
But let me tell you guys, the first time I held a DSLR in my hands I knew all those long discussions with my parents, moving to a whole new city to study Fashion Communication were worth it.
Studying art, drawing techniques, painting, films, and photography ended up feeding my soul on a whole other level. I recognise that not everyone has the privilege of studying a course for pleasure rather than a return on their investment, and I am once again, forever grateful for the experience. I was at a stage in my life where I needed to take a path that was not for my parents’ happiness, but my own.
Time went on, I started figuring out that I like writing quite a lot, and then began the search for writing internships. No one ever tells you how much your education impacts your thinking process. I like to think, I synthesised a lot of the creative things I learnt in college and channelled it towards what I wrote.
Of course, many of the internships didn’t involve much writing (this is the way the world works sometimes), but, once I began working, it showed. And the thing about studying design, in any way, is that you’re essentially taught how to find solutions to problems. I think when it came to how I wrote my stories, I always thought of how to answer questions a reader may have and make my article a sort of solution in itself.
Studying a bachelor’s in design is centred around understanding the minute workings of almost everything around you, it’s about learning how to be an astute observer. I believe that helped me write what I wrote with detail and descriptiveness. I myself was surprised to learn that an undergraduate degree can leave such a searing impact on you!
So, what switching my undergraduate degree taught me was that we must have courage. We must not let our minds limit us. We must have faith in ourselves and in our capacity to fulfil our known and unknown dreams. It also taught me to stop shaming myself for liking things that the world may define as ‘frivolous.’ Because what may be frivolous to some, can be medicine and soul food to others.
Not everyone is built to be a banker, a lawyer, or a government official. And there is nothing wrong with that.
All I’d like to end this with is a quote from the film Dead Poets Society; “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”