Final year - The Future and the Flashback!

So, being a final year student, the struggles are real. There will be new beginnings, post graduation thoughts, excelling in exams without arrears, keeping updated with current/real world that I missed during three years of college and all obscure, good and even scary thoughts crossing the path of my life. All the pending works has to be finished at great speed. Also, most of my time got absorbed by the rains and floods of Chennai now I am in a game called “Mission finishing college” where my goals are to finish all my assignments within few days along with exam tension and by bearing added special headache from the faculty. 

The most horrifying and dreadful thing to me is the queries asked about my career/future plans by my relatives of all kinds (aunts, uncles, acquaintances, relatives whom I have never met or spoke before – “strangers”) which can be an added pressure but for them I guess it is a desirable pleasure to intervene into our matters out of nowhere like it's a part of their routine. There is a term called Schadenfreude/ Epicaricacy – a pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune, which is what their behavior suggests. I feel like if they are so concerned in my life, fund me some money for my education or start-up business or provide me job opportunities or else just be polite and stop nagging me about my future plans repeatedly and bragging about your son’s/ daughter’s achievements. Basically, please stop including extra tension as a part of my life. 

So far, I have written four competitive exams for MBA and hoping to get placed in a good college. When my scores came and I was invited for Group discussion (GD) or Personal interviews (PI) from many colleges which are situated in Pune, Bhuvaneshwar, Bangalore, Delhi, etc. I took a phone interview for one college situated in Bangalore and got selected. And here comes fate’s play, my dad was like “a girl child should not go so far for studies it is not safe.” All my hopes to get placed in a proper institution went into drain. I can understand the concern but it is not fair to believe in old ideologies in 21st century and as a grownup I have right to choose what I want to do but as the fees is paid by him I had to obey his orders. 

The same incident happened to me for my under graduate course selection. The conditions were No co-ed, only Chennai, only women’s college, nearby to home, known/ safe area for girls, etc. So, I applied for all the women’s colleges with the course of my liking and just joined the one which selected me first. And I ended up studying B.Sc. Food science and Management. I had no idea what food science meant during my initial days of my college. I just chose it because murdering a vegetable (or any food) is not an offense. I had never communicated in English in my school days. All my classmates were fashionably updated most of them fluent in English and Hindi and I had sense of being the odd one out. I daily cried after college and was worried that college would be this horrifying for Three years. Most of my classmates had their schoolmates or besties and formed groups. I wasn’t included in any of them. I felt unwelcomed and secluded. Then slowly it changed I found the most unique, spectacular individuals as my friends and I am so glad I met them. Then I got adjusted to the college life. The transition between school life and college life is phenomenal.

Another struggle was the questions people asked about my course were annoying, dumb and made no sense. Some examples of those questions: Is it Home Science? (No); Is it like hospitality management (nahi), Is it cooking management (Uhh.... nope. Not studying b.sc in maid science), you can eat delicious food everyday right? (pfft.. who said I get to eat something edible and healthy food, indha course adhukum mela), you will cook nice stuff for your husband? (As long as he does not have a death wish he will avoid my cooking), you are so lucky that you get to study about food, right? (I am not a big foodie and it is kinda hard to concentrate and study my course without getting hungry) Nowadays I reply that I am doing M.B.B.S in food or I am a food doctor. Finally a question which is ridiculous and serious at the same time “why did you chose this course?” can be a million dollar question but the answer would be fate!