Growing up in India is a big task – I am telling you. Ours is a wonderful place with an equally complicated social architecture. It might annoy you at times but believe me, after certain age you can laugh at them.

You and I are very much familiar with how tough it is to answer the entire neighborhood regarding “THE QUESTIONS” – How were your exams? Were you well-prepared? What are your plans for the future?

Board exams are a serious “pain in the brains” in our country; what is worst is the non-stop skull chewing of your family and neighbors that literally makes you feel like a cat in a dog pound. I still feel a lot of it even now whenever I see ’em.

So this happened when my 10th boards results came like a huge bomb – dropped in my neighborhood. I was considered to be one of the most sincere and studious students; the kind who goes to school from home, home to school – no friends, no playing and not getting into scuffles and a clean record; stark opposite to my brother’s.

A neighboring aunty hung over the balcony who was otherwise busy rolling out rotis for her family’s noon lunch.

‘Kitna aaya result Aye Ashwati?’ she screamed out, calling few others in the same process.

‘Aunty distinction hai’, I called out, comparatively in a lower tone, not saying my overall score. Why should I???!!

‘Arey yeh toh achhi baat hai’, she screamed out more, visibly disturbed, ‘Commerce lena hai ke science lena hai 12th mein?’

‘Science Aunty’, I replied back suddenly very exhausted. The whole year’s hardwork had paid off.

‘Maine toh meri chhoti ko bola tha’, she yelled back so that other aunties could agree with her, ‘Agar bhi tujhe 99.9% aaye tab bhi tu commerce hi lena. Science padhna zaruri nahi hai.’

I smiled at her shocked; there were three expressions going in a frame roll on my face – Shocked, Smile and Curiosity. When did the story of her daughter enter the scene.

‘Tu soch samaj kar hi decision lena’, she reminded me nodding very seriously, ‘Science nahi chalta toh koi ni; Commerce toh zyaada achha hai.’

I had to really stop her from trying to stop me, ‘Aunty muje Commerce nahi chalta; Science jyaada pasand hai.’

That wiped the smile and the temporary expert advise session. Without giving them any more opportunity to cross-question my decision, I ran inside.

Fourteen years later, now that I look at that incident – I burst out laughing.

Why oh Why?! Do thee do that?

Why did you give your precious words that was anyway going to go in the opposite direction. My entire family belongs to science, my elder brother had taken science and we grew up falling in love with science and the entire world or the housing society knew that. For me, it would have been the biggest jolt of life not to take Science.

But now I feel – I got a good laugh of that incident. It might have had a  petrifying past but no, it’s funny if you look at it from this side. People on the streets make them worth it all.