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FROM A TEENAGER TO A TEENAGER: WHY YOUNG INDIA NEEDS TO END THE BLAME GAME
Dear Indian teenager,
You and I have long blamed our mum and dad for comparing us with Sharmaji’s son. (Continue reading this letter if you are either a mediocre or a brilliant student as it doesn’t comply with the below-average ones.)
Why do we blame our father for the comparison?
Because just yesterday you were thrashed up for ‘ruining your studies due to cricket’. You know you are the best cricketer in the town, and you also know that every town has a cricketer like you. You read Sachin’s wikipedia page and realised that you could be the one. The dream gave you hopes only until your daddy came up with the ‘engineering or medical?’ question.
So, you did your job. You criticised Indian parents for not being modern. For not allowing you to be your own self like the American parents. You don’t understand why your parents are repelled by your victory in the state-level match.
And the blame game started….
Before you stop reading this article at this point, WAIT and WATCH….
You compared our parents with American parents, but you actually were comparing fruits with medicine.
Before comparing, at least think of the differences in the education systems of the two countries.
Indian schooling is one of the toughest in the world, and a lot tougher than the American system. If you don’t believe me, check the Maths portion of SAT, you’ll realise it. English is not tough to them (and many of us) either as it’s their mother tongue. So, as a whole SAT to them is a lot easier than JEE/Medical are to us.
Do you think you can manage both studies and the extra stuff at the same time/
If you can, well, you’ll realise you have been a dreamer all this while once you start with Calculus.
So, it’s our education system that is to be blamed, not parents, right? So, why do we blame our parents? Shouldn’t it be the education system that is to be blamed?
So, pleading with the Education Minister may be a more wholesome approach to this grim problem.
Not the everyday debate with parents.
Now, WHY DO OUR PARENTS THINK ENGi./MEDICAL ARE THE ONLY GATEWAYS TO SUCCESS?
Because our country lacks financial security. How many of you will actually tip the comedian who is presenting his show on a street? Not many.
But if you do the same in Poland, almost every passerby with money in his pocket will tip you (and this what they do when they don’t complete their schooling and focus on cricket)
There’s a huge difference b/w the mindset of Indian society as a whole as compared to the Westerners.
Such metamorphosis shan’t possibly come into being during our lifetime. We can’t earn selling apples plucked from an orchard because we need more time for studies and society may judge us. And we are the society we blame for passing judgements.
All cool guys in school show off their Rolex, but Bill Gates and Buffett aren’t passing on their rich legacy of wealth to their sons, so how will they show off a Rolex now?. So they should be blaming their parents for not letting them come off as cool.
Even the rich amongst us won’t like to befriend with the young fruit vendor. So would you like people to look down upon you (because that’s what Americans are okay with doing when they fail their semesters).
Even we are of the orthodox mentality in ways more than one,, just like our parents. How many of us shout at our servants or at Alexa? Many. Not all but many. And don’t forget, these ‘many’ also constitute our society, and many amongst them are our friends as well, and the future jury too.
This mindset is impertinent and yet is present, and shall continue to exist for many decades to come. And if you try to be an American in India, you can imagine the consequences, the primary reason being that even you can’t change yourself completely and be like the westerners.
Even you can’t be that cool. Even you can’t disguise yourself that well. So why do you blame your parents?
It’s better to be Indian than being Indian-American mentality-wise because this mediocre-mindset is not yet lab-tested, and most of us won’t like to be the volunteers.
Thanks for hating me, the teenager as of 2021.
Thanks for loving me, the teenager as of 2041.
Your friend,
Chetanya
