Heart Beats of a New Life

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;”

-         Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)

Life begins with endless possibilities; as positive as it may seem, this creates a lot of confusion if you don’t know the way to which your brain is wired to. And this journey is all about understanding yourselves, the choices you consider being just the beginning. Constrained as it seems with its endless rules, we tread this weary path in hope to witness mysteries unfold as a result of our actions. There is always a time we meet a crossroad and hesitate.

The tenth standard exam was my first alarm bell. Inexperienced as I am it never crossed my mind that this is just the first of its kind and soon that infuriating voice will pierce my eardrums. Life ran smoothly till then with small worries concerning home works or the canings that I will have to avoid from my teachers. But this is a new hurdle (not the exam, but the choice that I need to make afterwards) and thus began my growing up.

Our institutions offer three options – science for the bright minds, commerce if you want to be competitive and humanities for the good for nothing who are not fated to become doctors or engineers, the golden and silver trophies offered to every aspiring student. Well, being a topper, I am supposed to be in the ‘bright minds’ category but where should I go to cater its growth? And thus seeking fresh pastures, I joined one of the convent schools in our esteemed corporation.

Being educated in a village school where the medium of learning was my mother tongue, for me this English medium school was a tough nut to crack. The place, with its well built infrastructure and tight necked uniforms looked and felt alien; strange tongue, strange people and strange games. Our black board showcased lines that I couldn’t fathom, which according to them represented force, mass and acceleration and what not. Spending endless nights on the rain swept verandahs by hearting the scientific names, I knew my life has changed and I could never go back.

It would be a fitting end to say I came out of that concrete jungle in flying colors; but I can’t because I didn’t.  I managed to escape with enough marks to start afresh by choosing my favorite subject in humanities. And my two years was not in vain as they created me as I am today. I learned to follow my heart and do what I love most . . . reading. It taught me to live outside the protective shell of home and not to commit the same mistakes twice. My higher secondary school life asked me to choose wisely, to chase the ignored track and not to turn back; because sometimes you can’t.

Let me conclude with Frost’s lines,

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

  

    Posted in collaboration with housing.com