My Life , My Choice

Laiphangbam Mercy Roy *

India is one of the developing countries which produces the world's most brilliant students in every field. Indian students are making their presence felt by coming out victorious among the best at any given platform or competition held around the world.

The world most powerful countries felt threatened by Indian students as they can see the rapidly increasing growth and popularity of Indian students among job recruiters.

Now the nation is gripped by a huge wave of competition among the students where only the best can survive , truely supporting Charles Darwin evolutionary theory " Survival of the fittest."

In Indian traditions and customs , parents plays a vital role in the life of thier children , in every single stage of life – from the time they are born till the very end of one's road unlike in western culture where children set out on their own to make a living once they become adolescents.

By nature, every parents do want the best for thier children be it education , job , dress , food and even alliance for marriage . They tend to get involved so much that somewhere or the other the child life starts to revolves around a vicious circle surrounded by stress , tensions and pressure.

It almost become impossible to come out of it. In India a strong norm exist where children are made to believed that they have to become a doctor or an engineer when they grow up. Other profession doesn't go down well with parents or might be the factor of social acceptance plays a role here.

In most cases the pressure is too vast for the child to cope up with and it greatly affect their life negatively. Many of them get addicted to drugs at a very young age, criminal activities increases and since they lost their interest and confidence in life cases of suicide is very common.

Suicide rate in our country increases every year. Not only students who fail in their examination commit suicide but their are large number of students who take up the extreme step as they get less marks and feel that they have fail to fulfill their parents expectation.

Nowadays, children attend many tuition classes even after their school hours and somewhere thier innocence is lost. Competition among students have reached a stage where students with less than 90 % in their examination have to struggle hard to find a place for themselves.

They look up in the empty sky for a little support to bring smile and happiness in their life. A few words of encouragement means alot to them to bring back the confidence to step ahead in life and create an identity for themselves in society.

Through various studies and research conducted by Psychologists it is found that the average students turn out more successful in life as they are able to cope with life crisis much better when compared to brilliant students.

They are more extrovert in nature and have a very strong emotional quotient and job recruiters are giving more importance to it than intelligent quotient. I clearly remember every single words a teacher of mine told us in class when I was in high school-"Never ever set a specific target in terms of ranks or percentage in exam but simply focus on giving your best performance".

I feel that those words were truely magical and change my perception for the best. When a student aims to get 98% in an exam but comes first in class with 97%, satisfaction is far away for the students because of the difference by a single percent.

On the other hand when someone gets a result for the hard work and effort that was put into, the happiness and satisfaction is enormous. I am sure all of you will certainly agree with me that many different personal or external situations influence one's performance as life itself is very unpredictable.

The recent bollywood flick '3 Idiots' provide a true picture of the ongoing trend in our education system and the pressure students has to go through in this world of competition. I would like to appeal to one and all, especially the parents to lend their support to bring a change in the society to provide a better life for their children, who are the future generation.

Today the need to make a difference in the society inorder to bring back the smile and enjoyment in the life of the child is a must. Every child has the right to make their own choice in life and with proper guidance, support and love from their parents nothing can stop them to reach their destination in life with pride and sunshine.