Taking a Stand...

By Ayesha Ahmad

" Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair"- a quote from the The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

I have read a lot of fiction but this statement is one of the most powerful things I have read so far. This bitter truth reminds me of the fact that I, after being a part of the legendary department of Mass Communication of Karachi University for almost two years now, never meant to belong to it!

Yes, I know that this is an extremely mean and an ungrateful way of paying gratitude for all the skills and opportunities that this department has bestowed upon me, but it is time I got this out of myself.

Going back in time, I remember how my mom had always wanted me to give priority to subjects like Biology, Physics and Chemistry. I, on the contrary, after dipping myself into short stories of Enid Blyton, horror fiction of R. L. Stine and Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley, had developed a love affair with English.

Because of this reading habit of mine, which my mom had always loathed, not only did I use to find myself at an advantage from other class fellows of mine but I had also developed this ornamental style of writing which was always admired by my teachers and had often helped me in scoring the highest in English.

Therefore, while filling the admission form to get enrolled into Karachi University, it was only very natural of me to pick English as my major as I certainly knew that I was not eligible for departments like pharmacy and biotechnology although I had been a pre-med student. Hence, I opted for English.

However, after that day on, my life had become a living hell because my mom could never stop throwing her temper tantrums at me as she thought that getting married was definitely a better option than having a bachelor's degree in English.

Therefore, after spending two wonderful weeks in the department of English, I was forcefully made to switch to Mass Communication which, in my mom's eyes, was surely a much better choice.

After adapting to Karachi University and expanding my social circle, which almost took me one and a half years, I, unluckily, discovered that I was not the only victim who had fallen prey to their parents' aspirations.

" My parents, especially, my father, had always wanted me to be a pharmacist as he himself could not be one. I really did want to fulfill my dad's dream and that was the only reason why I spent the worst two years of my life in the department of pharmacy. When I could no more take in the dryness of that subject, I got myself transferred to English and started from scratch again," relates Mahwish Khan, a student of the department of English at KU.

On the other hand, Ifrah Khan, from the department of Mass Communications, reveals, " I openly call myself a rebel! I had my whole future marked out in front of me and I simply could not afford to listen to my parents and get myself enlisted in the department of Biotechnology."

I completely understand the fact that every parent on this planet tries to choose elements which, he/she 'thinks', is best for his/her child's interest but one thing they need to comprehend is that the selection of careers should be left solely in the hands of their children.

This might be offending but parents really need to stop nagging their kids when they have reached a mature level of education. Instead, they can play a much better role if they start encouraging their children and making them believe that all the success in any career actually depends upon initial struggles.