Arts? Humanities?

*Narrow-minded people have entered the chat*

Once again, I must put in a disclaimer. Only read ahead if you aren’t worried about being called out.

It’s been around 3 years since I decided to take up Arts as my stream. In these three years, I must have come across 30 people (that’s a minimum) who believe that I am wasting my life since I have taken up arts or humanities in college. I have been told more times than I can count, “Beta, you have scored so well, why do you want to pursue arts?” Every time I feel like shouting “NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS” I mean why do people think it is their responsibility to shove their narrow-minded thinking in my face? If my family doesn’t mind, If I don’t mind, then why do these people care so much?

Just to make it clear, I don’t mind being asked about my ambitions but I do mind being judged for taking up arts instead of science or commerce. I am not sorry that I have enough knowledge to realize that there are immense opportunities in arts. I am not sorry for not abiding by the mindset of society. I am not sorry for acknowledging that my interests truly fall in arts and doing anything else would not make me happy. 

All those people who have asked me “Teacher/Lawyer/Government official banna hai?” I just have to tell you that ‘Mujhe bas tumse zyada samajhdar banna hai’ (Which translates to I just wanna be smarter than you) because I hope that I don’t ever ask someone such a question. Why do people assume there are only a handful of fields in arts that are worthy enough of being pursued? It is like assuming there are only 2 fields in science: Doctors and Engineers. There are so many unnoticed but important fields in both the streams so why limit it to just the ones you think are respectable? 

Actually, there is one category of people who I just wish I had never met. The people who said, “Bro, so you want to be an artist right? Like a singer, dancer or something?” If you have ever said this to a Humanities student, I have no respect left for you. As simple as that! I can’t believe that even in this fast-developing era, people think arts is all about performing arts and nothing more.

That being said, I have met some wonderful people who have given me the courage to go on and study the fields that I like. I will forever be grateful to those gems. You guys have had an immense and unforgettable impact on my life!

Thank you for reading! See you in the next blog!