Getting an education- not a degree

It has often struck me as to how the educated masses of India have actually let education remain merely at degrees, and left it at that to rot. My aunt, for instance, is a Master's in Sanskrit, but she did nothing with it. Why is it that we are so anxious to rise above others through studies, yet we seldom do anything constructive with it?

I have spent five years studying law in Calcutta University, and one year trying to study it at an autonomous college called NUJS. What did I gain from it? An apathy towards the subject and a mean sentiment towards anyone who pursues it. I don't want to have anything to do with it in the future. Hence, what am I doing now? I am doing what I NEVER wanted to do earlier on- that is, study more! In what ways? By joining the money-making bandwagon of course! Doing an MBA! Yet, to what end did my last five years of slavish confinement to a particular subject serve me? I am eager to scream out "nothing!" but deep in my heart of hearts, I know that, without it, a part of me is not there. Yet, it has not prepared me for anything that I wanted to do when I grew up!

Do I know anyone else who did this? It seems to run rampant in my own family. My sister took up science thinking that she will pursue engineering, only to end up becoming a starlet of the hospitality industry! My mother, who has a gold medal in her Master's in english, is asked to set the paper on the Law of Torts by a college (she is an advocate too). My father became a lawyer, when he should have actually become a full-time tantric. One of my dogs too, is a bitch, and she insists on being the male! Dear Lord, why did it have to come to this!

This constant dissatisfaction- what does it arise out of? Is it a sense of insecurity? Is it a sense of being incomplete, which is why I look for similar examples in my own surroundings? Or is it a sense of being inadequately armoured to make a difference to our surroundings with what we have that makes us let go of what we slogged so long for?

When shall Indians start looking out of the covers of mere books and broadening their horizons? When shall we proudly state, 'my son is a businessman' along with 'my son is a doctor'? When shall we hold our heads high when stating 'my son is an artist, and he paints throughout the day, and colours are his best friends'? Have we made ourselves incapable of retracing ourselves to our original dreams? How many of us actually wanted to become lawyers, doctors or engineers? A cousin of mine would often want to do nothing better than cook all day when he was eight (a great foodie!) and today, he is into aeronautical engineering- after all it makes more money, doesn't it?