bs-ingh

What is it about parents thrusting their hopes and dreams on their children? This is especially the case with Indian parents. Indian children are not only supposed to do well for themselves, but for their families, neighbors, relatives, community, and country.

I seem to have a good job and a settled life. It's not enough. It never is. It is not enough to do PR when one could have been a doctor. Wouldn't it have been better if I had taken Biology in the 10th grade instead of History? What if I had studied a bit more and in a better college? If, if. When one is Indian, life is all about the choices you've made that brought you to where you are and rarely about the direction your life is going to take from now on. It is all a series of mistakes that are compounded together to make the one big gigantic mistake that you are now.

One day perhaps I will have my life made. Maybe I will be a bestselling author who is so rich that people are afraid to argue with me for fear of upsetting me. It will never be good enough though. I will never be the doctor I could have been if I had taken Biology in the 10th grade. This is a symptom of the malaise that has overtaken my country. We are a people who can barely move ahead because we are so busy bemoaning the past.