When was the last time you relived your dreams? When was the last time you wanted to do something really passionately? When was the last time you spent some time for yourself? “Life is an unanswered question “

Right from the time you are born, knowingly or unknowingly you are dragged into the rat race, uff! The race to achieve success, the race to make money; you are actually programmed to take up a carrier that pays you a lot and satisfies your immeasurable needs and what else can be better than taking up a medical or a engineering seat? You struggle for 4 to 5 years and bingo! Here you go the next generation of minting machines is ready.

Is this what you wanted? “Society is playing a bad game” and we are all the controlled pawns of this society. Doing any another course is a big taboo; you will be considered as some dud and will be an outcast to the society. So like it or not you are drawn into the Engineering world and a step away from leaving all your dreams behind and getting equipped to join the Software world, like it or not .

Why has everyone become so stereotyped!! When will the time come when you actually make time for yourself and live up to your dreams and do what you are really interested in? Why do you have to follow the trend and become one in a million doing the same thing? Don’t you think it is better chasing your dreams, fulfilling and enjoying what you do rather than getting stuck in something that’s not very dear to you? Don’t you think you are cheating yourself big time. Why don’t you have that passion and zeal to overcome the difficulties to see your dreams come true? What is it that halts you half way through from getting there?

Decades pass by since your childhood; all that remains are shattered dreams, a sickening feeling of not doing what you believed in and an even dreadful constant fear of failure. In the meantime, there has been some progress though in your life – a no-frills tag of a SOFTWARE ENGINEER in the so-called Silicon Valley of India.

Where have all those dreams vanished? Did you suffer from a bout of amnesia? Did you go through a life changing event that altered your thinking – Not one that you can remember probably? Alas, a deep sigh of despair is all that you can muster. Who is the real culprit, the state, the modern Indian family or the individual himself? Sadly, the answer is much deeper than a simple affirmation.

The state is traditionally seen as a force that nurtures the youth who are the future of the country. Six out of every ten educated youth have dived into this abyss called the software industry. A mere 15% of the rest actually succeed in gaining the status and respect of the society and doing what they always thought of, or were interested in. Unknowingly or knowingly, the state is biased towards this particular industry, encouraging the youth to dive into this deep bottomless well, as this is the easy way to increase its treasury by a few billion dollars and give itself a shot at becoming an economic force to reckon with. However, in doing so, the state oversees the risk it is exposing itself to by making the economy solely dependent on industry of one kind. This might be in the form of a terror attack on the concerned industry or a market crash in a country on which this industry depends. Either ways, the end result is grave.

The great Indian family, which has for long been the backbone of an individual’s success, has for once thrown a spanner into the cycle of that same individual’s dreams, his world of imagination. The modern Indian family tends to gauge the success of an individual by estimating the bank-balance that an individual possesses and not by his talent. Only someone who earns a fortune is seen as someone worthy of respect, worthy of status. This sad state of affairs is further aggravated by the break-neck competition that persists in the society. The individual is torn between his dreams and the demands and expectations of the society and sadly chooses the latter over the former.

Confused and disturbed, the individual finally concedes defeat to apparent pragmatism which is supposed to be an integral part of the society. He succumbs without a fight to the tall order of expectations that are heaped on his young shoulders. The immense pressure from peers and fear of failure drives the individual to dive into this abyss called the Silicon Valley. He watches his dreams being flushed out by the so – called well-wishers. He has no choice but to accept defeat and become a puppet in the hands of the forces from above.

Somebody has to take an initiative to root out this problem, anyone for that matter. Or we risk losing the diversity that has long been a characteristic of our society. A great responsibility lies on the parents of the modern age to think above status or money and help their young ones realize their dreams.  Perhaps the greatest responsibility lies on our own shoulders, the youth of this country, to salvage our dreams from the clutches of pessimist forces in the state and the society. It is also the need of the hour for the government to join hands with individuals who have a vision diversified across various fields so that we do not loose out on any budding talent or hamper his/her dreams. It is only then that we can move into the world and be a reckoning force in a diverse field and win accolades and shower the country with laurels and praise. Cutting someone’s dream and not giving him an opportunity is a crime, a crime that will hamper the growth of the individual and the country on the whole. This is perhaps our last chance to rescue the future of this country before we lose our diversity to a monotonous maze to a particular profession or industry. Someone has to take the leap to kick out this bias. It cannot be a ‘you’ or a ‘me’, it has to be a united ‘US’