Tales from a Keralite Aquarius

"Not Sambhar again. Oh, Amma but why? You always keep making things that only Chettan likes. Why are you so partial? ". I wailed at my mother that day. Yes, she had prepared a dish that even I liked, but at the nasty moment, all that I cared about was how she kept making Sambhar thrice a week. Right, so we are South Indians, but hey, there is a limit to this right? Four different dishes were prepared and kept in front of my brother and me. It consisted of dishes that we mutually and individually liked. My mother smiled silently and kept mum. I continued to wail, about how she had all the time but did nothing. She chose to ignore those tears as she walked ahead to do her other chores. ~ The scene flashed before my eye. It was crystal clear on my mind as I paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. I was 16 and my Grandmother had decided that it was high time I learned to manage the kitchen on my own. In her own words to my mother, "2 years and this girl will j...

To those who may have read or scrolled down, might have seen my last post, where I expressed my views on the very partial views of the society these days. Since I was out of time last time, I did not add an interesting conversation I had with an auntyji. No more babbling. Moving to the conversation. *NOTE- Pardon the Hindi words used between. I have just tried to keep it as authentic as possible.* ********************************************************************************* Auntyji - Acha, beta, so you are done with 10th na. Abhi tho you are a big girl. *sly smile* Have you decided which coaching center you are going to. Rao ya Sinhal? Me- Actually, aunty, wo na.... I am... Auntyji - *Interrupts me mid sentence*Engineering ke liye VIT ya NIT? See, VIT has good placement offers. Wo na, Pinkyji's eldest daughter, she is in VIT. She is a nice girl. she got a good job at Cognizant. VIT graduate hai. Her other daughter, Design or something. Stupid girl.. Haan so what abou...

So, I am done with my 10th. Board exams are over. They got over like a month back, and I did like a hundred things in that time and you know I even went to Kerala and... oops. Sorry. Won't jump from my topic. So like I said, I am done with 10th and I need new admission to a junior college? Why junior college? Because my dad said college was gonna be different and fun. That it was going to give me a whole new perspective to the way I see stuff. Okay. Sounds cool till now? But, here is the thing. There is another issue. Very few, and I mean very few colleges are giving students a chance to do humanities. Like my ex-school said, " Beta, aap engineer ya doctor banao na? History padke kya ho jayega? ( Child, be an engineer or a doctor? What will you get from studying History?" ) Self satisfaction? Happiness of pursuing my true interest? Aren't they important anymore? Have humans turned so mechanical that all they care about is of engineering and doctorates? Of a 7 point o...