Free your mind

When my previous article on Indian parties was posted on Boston Desi Connection, my mother shared the link on Facebook. A bunch of people liked and commented on the post–but one comment stood out:
“[Ajey] is going to reach great heights in the future as a writer. Usko writer banao yaar, engineer nahin.” — Lakshmi Narayanan
For the Amrikans out there: that means, “Make him a writer, yaar, not an engineer!” (You don’t translate yaar.) For the Indian (and Asian) kids out there: no, I can’t make this up.
Even more shockingly, Lakshmi Auntie isn’t alone. After I gave a speech at an end-of-senior-year dinner, one Korean parent (I told him I’m going into engineering) told me, “You’re going into the wrong profession.” When I showed a journalism professor at UMass Amherst my blog, she said–and I quote–”You need to figure out how to do a double major in Journalism.”
This is a big deal. You see, the stereotype that Indian kids become either doctors or engineers is not too far from reality. Sure, I could also go into Wall Street or biotech, but if your parents are Indian immigrants, you’re going into a discipline where you work hard and make good money. “Beta, we fought our way into the American Dream. You will not throw that away studying ‘liberal arts’!”
            Meanwhile, people are telling me to do just that. I may be the only person who prefers that Ajey Pandey to go to college to tinker with electronics than with words.
            Even my mother–my Indian immigrant mother–says I’m really more a humanities kid. Sure, my mom was never a staunch conservative; sure, I’m halfway decent at writing; and sure, I have only a limited background in engineering or electronic tinkering, but I’m still reeling from the thought:
            An Indian kid going into writing? Imagine…
            …
            Two in the afternoon. I’m typing like a madman in this Brooklyn cafe. A recyclable paper coffee cup stands guard, armed only with the dregs of a “artisanal” latte, long emptied in the name of what may be the pinnacle of my journalistic career. The Big One. The once-in-a-lifetime truth that stands stranger than any tabloid fiction. When this goes live, it will spark riots, topple organizations, and change the course of–
            My phone buzzes, breaking my concentration. Is it the editor? An interviewee? Without looking, I tap “answer” and say, “Hello?”
            “Beta, have you forgotten my voice? This is your mother! You have not called me in weeks!”
            “Mummy, I’m kinda bus–”
            “Don’t ‘Mummy’ me! Just because you got a job at New York Times does not mean you drink coffee all the time! Arrey, where is your Pulitzer? Don’t disappoint me!”
            …
            All or nothing–that’s the Indian view of opportunity. If you aren’t the best, you are nothing. If you fastest up your ladder, you may never climb again. And for my parents and their generation, that’s valid. “All or nothing” got them to The American Dream, and I don’t think anything else could. No wonder they ask their children–my generation–to do the same.
            But after growing up in the middle class lifestyle my parents fought so hard for, I get a new view of opportunity: the chance to walk away. Because of my parents’ support, I can turn down opportunities, make mistakes, and even walk into the unlit abyss of experimentation. Even if I won’t make any money, I can take a lab internship instead of a job at Wal-Mart. Even if I have never done electrical engineering, I can go to college to learn just that. And even if I am good at writing, I don’t have to become a writer.
Sure, I’ll keep writing. But I need not make it my vocation. I have the luxury of choice, and I plan to make use of it.

Ajey Pandey’s  another article on ‘Desi life in America’ for kids and also for desi parents. enjoy and leave comments for him.
 
 

Note: For featured image thanks to ‘Free pictures on Internet’