Finding peace

“I was initially interested in studying neurosciences, but soon realized that our school system made learning science unnecessarily stressful which I couldn’t cope with. I didn’t have good teachers; their way of teaching wasn’t an inspiration for us to become good scientists or doctors but to mug up derivations and formulae to score good marks in exams. I hated that idea of rote learning. So to escape that stress, I started reading like a maniac. There used to be HC Verma open at my desk, while underneath it lay a Harry Potter book.

From my early childhood, apart from being fascinated with neurosciences, I was also interested in literature and cinema, which seemed more peaceful to me. Over the years, as the increasing stress diminished my inclination towards neurosciences, I decided to take my love for literature a step forward. I decided to choose peace! My father didn’t talk to me for a long period of time because of this decision but I couldn’t care less. I wanted to be happy which studying literature provided me and looking back, I can confidently say that I made the right decision. Of course, my father came around as well with time.

I believe literature gives you a lot to ponder upon and an opportunity to engage with the world in new ways. Society has this notion that literature is very abstract and all about stories which eventually wouldn’t help in the long run. But they fail to…