Fatherhood 3

On Wednesday, 18 June 2014, i.e. 2 years ago, I have written about my daughter Maitrayee’s SSC result and its dynamics under the title ‘Fatherhood 2’. I am glad that I am in a position to write ‘Fatherhood 3’ today about her HSC results and neither the tone nor the circumstances or the depth of ‘anything’ has changed even by a fraction, in fact it has deepened, I believe!

Lot has been discussed and is still being discussed about the HSC result and Maitrayee’s score in Philosophy (97), of late. It certainly is a great experience of being celebrated as a proud father and quite overwhelming as well to be at the receiving end of such enormous amount of compliments. Since Wednesday all the 5 Phones (4 mobiles, 1 landline) and all the 5 people in the house were busy for couple of days. I never thought that I had so many contacts and they not only do remember me but also care for me! I mean, how could you explain a schoolmate whom you have met for the last time about 20 years ago, calling you on phone for first ever time in life and talking for about 20 minutes? I am neither jumping to any conclusions here nor being that melancholy philosopher that has been said to be the ‘culprit’ of Maitrayee’s score of 97, or discarding outright all the suggestions from the well-wishers of making her prepare for IAS and alike, I am just trying to ponder on the fact that how human mind functions. Ah… as if it’s some new-found interest of mine!

But today I want to share something different, about my daughter her endeavour and her 'attitude'… but of course! Today she is out for fort drive on Tikona and that reinforced my wish to write about it. With the sharp intellect and analytical skills she has, it would have been ‘natural’ and ‘sensible’ for her to go for Science as she stood the great chance of completing her graduation in Engineering / Medicine / Management or any that kind of convenient career option, fly abroad for her Masters and fetch home a fat package in Dollars. She (yes, it was wholly HER OWN uninfluenced, unprejudiced and independent decision!) chose ‘life’ instead and we were more than happy, why, even proud to support her decision wholeheartedly… with whatever we could offer her to get a life! Just like in her year of SSC, she did everything she wanted to in the year of HSC as well. She was involved in so many activities and initiatives throughout 2 years of Junior College that I fail to remember all of them. She experienced and experimented with so many things that she started to develop her own ‘philosophy’ of life and, already the fastidious soul that she was, now she has her own way in everything she does including climbing college compound wall, time management and fashion! Now this is called Experiential Learning!

She has managed to secure 87% marks overall in the HSC exam and 97% in Philosophy which supposedly is a record, at least for her college in recent years, and she was felicitated for the same by her college Principal. Apart from the Academics and Extra-curricular activities in abundance at College she managed to complete her Advance Diploma in German Language that is of Undergraduate level and she is the youngest in the batch who not only cleared it but secured 75% score that is regarded as an extremely commendable score in these types of exams. She is already volunteering for 3 NGOs and many Causes and adding value to the initiatives with her critical thinking and unique leadership style, I believe! She is attending discourses on Indian Cultural, Spiritual and Philosophical practices by her Grandfather at home for which she almost persuaded him and I am not sure whether I am more fortunate as a Father or a Son…

The moral of the story is, yes, I am happy and we are proud and also fortunate to bridge such generations of immaculate astute aspirations and capabilities, but moreover what I found quite ‘interesting’ (refer to my post ‘Interesting…!’ for the ‘quotes’!) with all this happenings is the somewhat changed mindset of society to look at their Children and their Future (Read: Career... with an adjective of ‘Lucrative’ is recommended!) Many of the calls that we received not only congratulated Maitrayee with an ‘awe’ factor in their tone but also seemed to be (re)thinking of ‘their’ choices and the hassles they already have, and would continue to, put themselves and their children through. Although my wife would not agree (as she mostly does not) to it, I sensed even the apologetic tone of voice in some parents while admitting that their children (not they themselves, mind you!) are looking forward to Engineering, Medicine, Management, etc. etc. Now, no Social Reform can come overnight. Society is such a conditioned entity that it will take years together to de-condition and recondition… I will wait; I have all the time in the world.

Way to go…