{"id":3119,"date":"2016-03-04T14:20:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T08:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3119"},"modified":"2016-03-04T14:20:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T08:50:29","slug":"indian-parents-career-paths-media-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3119","title":{"rendered":"\u201cKripya Line Pe Bane Rahein\u201d: Why Indians Never Change Career Paths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Y<\/span><\/p><\/div>

oung teenage life all over India is measured in two events \u2013 the board exams, Std X and Std XII. Nothing else matters. Life is mapped out as <\/span>Arts<\/span><\/a>, Science, and Commerce, and parents are worried sick about our the future before the present even rolls out. <\/span>\n\nBeing a teacher\u2019s son means you\u2019re always giving career advice to parents of her students. But these parents rarely ask about fulfilling <\/span>professional <\/span><\/a>choices. Their questions are to the point and it reflects the way we think about careers. The one I always get it: \u201cMedia line mein paisa hai kya?\u201d <\/span>\n\nFor <\/span>middle-class<\/span><\/a> India, work boils down to a \u201cline\u201d, the straight road at the end of which is a pot of gold, a neat full stop. <\/span>\n\nThe immortal Paul Klee once said, \u201ca line is a dot that went for a walk.\u201d It is straight; there is nothing more boring, more vanilla than a <\/span>line<\/span><\/a>. There is nothing more safe than toeing the line. And yet, we view careers as nothing more than a \u201cline\u201d. That\u2019s because in India, when you\u2019ve picked a profession, that\u2019s the track you run on all your life. <\/span>\n\nIn the India that belonged to our fathers, you never left that track. In today\u2019s India, you can switch a track but never change the \u201cline\u201d. A <\/span>Western Railway<\/span><\/a> train can arrive on Platform No 3 instead of Platform No 1 and the inconvenience is regretted, but it can\u2019t, under no circumstances, suddenly decide to jump on to the Central track. That\u2019s derailment. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n

If you jump ship now, you stay in the ocean; the boat you\u2019re currently on board, is going to sail away. Time and line wait for none.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe media is not considered a field, a career, a vocation \u2013 for many, it\u2019s just another line. The rest of the words are too layered, too nuanced, and too dense. A line, on the other hand, is finite and at the same time infinite, depending on how much you want to stretch it. <\/span>\n\nThere is no surprise then that most of us choose one field and run with it all our lives. In India, it is not advisable to change <\/span>course<\/span><\/a>. It is frowned upon; you are considered fickle, someone who wastes time and is unsure of himself or herself.<\/span>\n\nSure you can go from advertising to <\/span>TV <\/span><\/a>to radio to digital media to print, but you have to stay on the course. There is no life beyond this. In the India that we occupy, you can\u2019t suddenly wake up and say, \u201cHeck, I think I\u2019ll be a scuba-diving instructor from today.\u201d That\u2019s unacceptable. Suggest this to your parents and the baggage on the conveyor belt called middle class begins to roll out.<\/span>\n\nFirst, you will be sent on a guilt trip with a barrage of rhetorical questions: What about all the fees they paid? What about those <\/span>classes<\/span><\/a>? What about the sacrifices your dad made, the double shifts and what not. Then, comes the fear: The risk is too high. And what about the drop in salary? And the possibility of starting at the bottom again? Being an intern at 32 is insulting. <\/span>\n\nBut above all of this, is log kya kahenge? How will anyone agree to <\/span>marry <\/span><\/a>you? As these thoughts begin to marinate, the comparisons begin. \u201cWhat about your best friend Rakesh? He is happy; is he a fool?\u201d \u201cAre so many people foolish to choose the media line?\u201d And then comes the ultimate comparison \u2013 with your father. He stayed in the engineering line all his life. And then, you\u2019re compared to the fabled dhobi ka kutta, na idhar ka naa udhar ka. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\nStanding as the paragon of virtue in front of you, is always an unadventurous <\/span>cousin <\/span><\/a>who has stayed in line for over a decade now. In fact, he purchased a new house, is happily married, and now has a baby on the way. All this, when you haven\u2019t even agreed to make a matrimony profile. <\/span>\n\nYou swear you did not see that coming, but <\/span>Indian parents<\/span><\/a> are full of surprises. Somehow, a conversation about changing your \u201cline\u201d concludes with a debate on your marriage and a taunt that you haven\u2019t yet blessed them with a grandchild. You choose not to argue but agree with them. And then when you reiterate that you\u2019d like to try something new, they hit back with the \u201cI told you so\u201d argument. \u201cWe knew it wasn\u2019t your thing.\u201d \u201cWe were telling you to get a government job; we knew there was no money in this line, but you were stubborn.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ve never listened to us.\u201d As you try and process all of this, even as your parents continue to serve you platefuls of guilt, you don\u2019t realise when you agree to meet a girl for marriage. <\/span>\n\nThe truth is, we are too scared to <\/span>experiment<\/span><\/a>. The stakes are too high. Some of those fears are legitimate. It\u2019s impossible to start all over again. There are too many people in the \u201cline\u201d you are thinking of pursuing. If you jump ship now, you stay in the ocean; the boat you\u2019re currently on board, is going to sail away. Time and line wait for none. <\/span>\n\nIf you don\u2019t make it in your new \u201cline\u201d, you\u2019ll be nowhere. Sure it sounds fancy to switch professions when you are a <\/span>30-something<\/span><\/a>, but how long will the social media adulation last? And what happens when you\u2019re 60-something? Your government doesn\u2019t take care of your health plan in your old age. Your company doesn\u2019t give you benefits on sabbaticals that MNCs offer. You need the money and security. And that comes only when you stay in a line. <\/span>\n\nYou can\u2019t just leave everything one day, no matter how much Pinterest urges you to. So follow the line. Or don\u2019t. Depends on which side of the line you\u2019d like to see yourself. The vanilla side or the one with many different flavours.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMedia line mein paisa hai kya?\u201d That\u2019s a question I often get asked. In India, picking a career and sticking to it is important. Because changing professions is a sign of fickleness and instability. But more than that, it sends your parents into a tizzy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":3120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[4722,4584,6105,3430,6106,6107,3855,1726,6108,5901,4488,4770,6109],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-career","tag-families","tag-future","tag-indian","tag-industry","tag-line","tag-media","tag-parents","tag-pay","tag-queries","tag-wages","tag-work","tag-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cKripya Line Pe Bane Rahein\u201d: Why Indians Never Change Career Paths<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cMedia line mein paisa hai kya?\u201d That\u2019s a question I often get asked. In India, picking a career and sticking to it is important. Because changing professions is a sign of fickleness and instability. 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