Why B.E? Indeed!

A few days back, I went to an ad agency. All I wanted was to have a talk with a 'real' copywriter! And well, I got it too. She asked me why I had got into Engineering if I was so passionate about writing, and creating.

A professor from the English Department of PU had asked me the same question, when I had gone to show him a few writings of mine. He said that had I come to him after 12th, he would have advised me to go for literature instead.

I gave the same answer to both of them. That, Engineering was a natural progression for me. If you are a topper, it's obvious that you would take up Science (though I did have dreams of being a researcher too, and discovering something someday). Between Maths, and Bio you are allowed a choice. I chose Maths. And once in Non-Med, you take up the coaching classes, like everyone else. And so, you too are caught in the vortex of preparing for engineering entrances, aiming at IITs and accepting wherever you land.

During those two years, the subject I loved the most was English. Partly because we had an awesome teacher in Mrs. Anoop, and mainly because I have always so much loved it! I joked to many a friend that the one thing I was going to rue in Engineering was the opportunity to study English.And yet, not once did I then think, "Why am I going for Engineering?" It was simply the obvious choice. The only question everyone was anxious about was "Where" and "In what?" The "Why?" never even raised its head!

I was told, I still am, that Engineering would give me a security cover. That I can always go to other fields, "like advertising" later on, any time I want to. It's not so true however. I am a total novice in Advertising now, or in journalism. I am below par to the B.A. students who have studied these subjects during their graduation. So, I will have to struggle that much harder, first to gain an entry into the field, and then, to prove myself. So, if one knows for sure that they want a career in a different field, it actually makes more sense to go for an undergrad degree that trains them for that passion of theirs.

Perhaps the main pillar of the 'security' argument is that Engineering gets you sure jobs. Not many undergrad degrees can promise that. But even this contention is flawed. Sure, most Engineering grads are placed these days, thanks to the IT boom. But these are jobs in Software Engineering. Are you ready for that work? For your whole life? If not, then for higher studies in your chosen branch of engineering? And then work in that, for your whole life?

If not, if you tell yourself that you will work for a few years in engineering, and then change tack to something more suited to your interests, then why not start right away? Why spend some of your best and most productive and inspired years in something that doesn't inspire your passion?

I think that at that time I did not have the strength to swim against the tide, to go the opposite way to where all were going, and expected me to go.

Today, I am surer about myself. And so I accept, in retrospect, that Engineering was not the right degree for me. I could have been much happier in Literature or journalism or Mass Comm. I accept that, but I have no regrets. Because, I would not have been here had I not taken the Engineering route, and I am happy being where I am.

I am not unhappy about the choices I made, but I can’t sometimes help feeling like trapped in someone else's body.

As they say, experience is the comb you get after you get bald yourself.