This article has been submitted by Siddharth Gupta for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think this article is a good read, ‘Like’ this article on Facebook (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘comments’ section below.

A conversation today with my friend has inspired this post. As a just-entered-12th grade student, I am currently going through the same barrage of questions and comments which I guess every CLAT student or for that matter, any person whose career choice is anything other than engineering or medical face. “Kya?Arrey tum toh itne acche student ho!Law-shaw mein kahan time barbad kar rahe ho?” Unfortunately, that’s not the end of it as I committed the great Indian sin of being confused and choosing a career which was simply just not me. Another acidic (in an almost lethal tone) comment that I get often is “Engineering chod ke law?Sandhya(My Mother) aapne bete ko galat raaston pe mat jaane de.Pooja path karva”. Luckily, my parents and I are past this nonsense and have come to term with my decision but I realised that there are many others who are stuck in a similar quandary.

I had been a pretty good student up to my tenth grade(I still am though). With a nearly 94% score, I was told I could do anything I want to but of course with the Indian customary “Arts toh beta ladkiyan karti hain”. With a calm mind, I naively chose engineering, with the sole goal in mind that it utilises my talent ( also engineering was my choice of profession from childhood). But in just a few months, I discovered that it simply was not my cup of tea. I couldn’t even give a rat’s fart about angular momentum and Newton had unceremoniously joined my “Shoot at Sight” list. When I broke this news to my parents, there was a huge hue and cry with melodrama. Not that I did not put in last ditch efforts (Waking up at 3.30 to study, or sleeping at 3.30 to study late into the night). As Roadies call it, I literally gave it an “Everything or Nothing” effort. Still, I only saw a bottomless abyss. It was time I gave it a thought.

I won’t delve as to how I decided on Law but it suffices to say that now when I think of it, all that comes to mind is that “Why didn’t I do this from the beginning?”. Life’s not perfect, but is good enough.

Coming to the muddah at hand, it’s imperative for all of us to realise that being confused is not a crime and it definitely ain’t any sin (although people treat it to be so). In fact, it kind of is for the “greater good”. Imagine if you would have continued with something you despised and realised that way too late? The repercussions would have been beyond repair. Something which the army refers to as “collateral damage”.

In the end (or for the confused lot, in the beginning,) I just say “Live Long and Prosper because it’s Okay To Be Confused”