For All The Talented Women Pursuing An Arts Degree

All the girls nearing the completion of school studies with humanities, or pursuing Arts in their Bachelors program would be familiar with this question, “Beta, why B.A.?”

And before you can answer, comes a further set of questions, “Didn’t score well in science?”, “Is there any scope? Have you enquired?”, “Arrey, you could’ve done commerce atleast, no?”, “Arts? That means cooking or painting?”, “Planning to become a housewife straightaway, isn’t it?”

And we become furious. Who wouldn’t? And why shouldn’t we?

Arts isn’t only home science and painting. Economists, writers, anthropologists, archaeologists, journalists, photographers, theatre artists, musicians, singers, psychoanalysts, historians, teachers, translators, directors, script writers, cinematographers, politicians as well as political analysts and so much more – all of these are Arts students! A far greater variety of occupations and a wider scope is found in humanities rather than science or commerce.

I’m not against these two streams, but what I’m trying to say is that no job is bigger or smaller. A person can be successful as an engineer working in some multinational earning loads of money or she could be successful working as an archaeologist researching an ancient monument for an Ivy League college while roaming the world.

And in times like now, anybody with a considerable amount of education – be it in arts, science or commerce – can earn a formidable income. Those who want more – power, money or fame – need to go that extra mile sacrificing something or the other in any field!

So if you want to earn something in life, the funda is simple, work hard! But along with this, there’s another list:

• Do not listen to negative chit-chat around you. Identify your dream and follow it! Half of the people around us talk on the basis of complete guesswork and word of mouth. Do listen to professionals of the field you’re interested in. Their problems, paths they had to take, things they had to learn and precautions you should take; simple guidance.
• Do not let anyone pull you down. It’s your life, your dream. Azeem Premji said, “If people don’t consider your dream stupid, it isn’t big enough!” So dream all you want to but let a pinch of reality creep into it every now and then.
• It’s not just about Arts, be it commerce or science or anything that you do, the first step is to believe in yourself and what you do.
• Don’t act blindly. If you see faults, try to mend them, accept them. Be open to changes, within you and outside you (Listen to your parents. They may seem old fashioned and not well versed with the new fields and ways, but trust me, they’re mostly correct!)
• Be prepared. No profession is perfect – from having a mean boss and over competitive colleagues (generic problems) to timings, salaries and transfers (specific problems).

So, the next time someone asks you, “Beta why B.A.?” or maybe even “Why not IIT?”, “Why not computers?” or “Why B.Com without C.A.?”, give them your best smile and answer them in action.

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Achieve your dream not for them, but for yourself. Stay happy, always.

Pic credit: marfis75 (used under a CC license)

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