okay daddy. just put down the chappal.
This guy is what a lot of kids these days face. Be it a tearful amma or your old grandpa dropping hints like cartoon anvils, pakistaani bache get strong armed into these professions many many times. I use the word(s?) strong arm loosely. It can come in the form of guilt trips, long lectures, last wishes and well... strong arming.
Now I'm not saying that EVERYONE has such parents, so drop those pitchforks you were aiming at my temporal lobe. Yes, I said it. TEMPORAL LOBE. This is the point where I break down and confess to you how my family foisted off dreams of me garnished with an MBBS degree on me. This isn't strictly true. Another story for another post.
Lets look at this logically.
On one hand, there is this boy/girl (I typed out unisex being before I realized I could use the boy/girl phrase without sounding like some sort of bigot), who has just started applying to school and his/her parents tell him/her to apply wherever but not to forget medical and engineering schools. This kid has a myriad of talents and is slightly uncertain (as most of us are prone to being) about where he wants to go (forget the slashes and no I'm not a sexist either). He gets in everywhere. Practicality overrules any hint of dreamer in him and BAM! he's in an engineering program! He's unhappy and keeps thinking of these sketches he used to make and regrets not being able to study Art and Architecture. He drudges through five years and graduates. Now you just have a man, an engineer who doesn't feel passion for his work and will probably develop a mid life crisis and a comb over.
NOT THE COMB OVERS! ANYTHING BUT THE COMB OVERS!!!
*Ahem*
From the parents side (who have incredibly high standards for their beloved kaka) Pakistan has only a few universities worth actually going to (that coincidentally cater to the sciences). I spy those pitchforks again, so let me just reiterate: NOT MY POINT OF VIEW. Parents just think they are looking out for us, because in there heads these two professions seem to be the only ones that could provide stability for our futures. It would give them peace of mind to picture us buried under stethoscopes and power tools (okay not REALLY but you know what I mean). They may not realize it but these 'fondest desires' of theirs are extremely passive aggressive and tell the kid that if they go to med school they will have brought home all the gold from Eldorado (even though tuition may be equivalent to that these days).
So a little less pressure on the chillens, yeah?
