How Studying Literature Changed my Life: Nayansha Srivastava

My father told me to take science in class 11th. He said he wanted to see me become an engineer. My uncle was in favour of law, and my mother did not really care about my academics as long as I was taking my bath daily. So, as every self-conscious Indian student does after 10th standard, I took PCM, that too, along with computers. Now, the problem was not the unsolved equations of mathematics or unlearnt formulas of chemistry solutions but the problem was and has always been my choice.

My story, like that of majority of Indian students, is about failure – the failure of choice. I remember that I scored 14 out of 100 in my second pre-board examination. It has been 4 years now but I still remember the score not because I failed the subject but because I failed to choose the right thing for myself. The society told me that there are only three options and I chose the one which was the most favourable for the market– science. I do not regret choosing science now that I have left it far behind in the line of academics, but those two years were hell for me. Everyone remembers Ishaan from Taare Zameen Par, right? You may also remember those dancing letters. Exactly, that was science for me. But back then, I wasn’t into commerce either and humanities meant I would have to learn about Akbar more than I needed to know. Somehow, I survived those two years without murdering anyone, especially Newton.

After my 12th and traumatic experience of studying science, a break was much needed. So, I took a break and because in India, you need a reason for a break, I happily enrolled myself for CLAT preparation but realised halfway that I didn’t have a knack for articles and their amendments. So, finally, I ended up taking literature. Those three years were the only years when, I can say, I lived by my choice. I started falling in love with the characters and time became just a line for me. I could move backwards and forward in time, all because of literature.

My College Life

Talking about how my college years went, I would say I lived it through and through. School and college were like earth and sky for me and literature was the horizon. It was my purple patch. It was when learning started to attract me. Before taking up this course and jumping willingly into the pool of nirvana, I only used to read pulp fiction but as the semesters started and moved towards the end of my undergraduate life, I realised that classic literature had more essence than contemporary literature.

I never paid heed to jobs and placements because I was too engrossed in what Pip was going to do after knowing the name of the benefactor (reference from The Great Expectations). My academic story is not spicy; I did not have to pay for my education on my own. There was no struggle except that I was constantly humiliated for choosing literature which according to few people in our educated society- only opens the doors for teaching in which I was least interested. I had no shackles to break but I was definitely caged by the placement talks and interviews which my undergraduate degree promised me not to give. For a few months, it stressed me out but now when I look back at the last and final month of my under graduation, I feel proud that at least I did not sell my choice.

About the Author:

A Science student at Class 12 level, Nayansha Srivastava studied Literature at the undergraduate level.