What??? Why??? Are you sure??? Have you thought about the future???

Woah!!! Take it easy mom, that’s all I could say to my mom for the first two minutes after she got all hyper because I’d just dropped a bomb on her saying that I don’t want to be a Chartered Accountant(CA). It was very natural on her part to react the way she did, for a parent the kid’s future is like the most important thing in life and when they find out that their kid doesn’t wanna pursue a course in which he/she has already invested 2-3 years of his/her life it makes their blood-pressure go on a roller coaster ride. That phase somehow passed and came the time when I again thought that I’m gonna drop a bomb on my mom once again by telling her that I’m quitting my job to pursue Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) offered by Mumbai University, Kalina Campus.

To my surprise this time, she didn’t get all hyper and paranoid. Was she alright? Should I take her to the doctor? These were the kind of thoughts that ran through my mind when she was saying something to me very calmly which I obviously didn’t hear because I was in a shock myself.  “Hitesh!!! Say something, I’m asking you something,” she screamed and I heaved a sigh of relief because she was fine, she just screamed at me Yayyyyyy!!!!  The only thing she asked me was whether I knew what this Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) thing is going to give me, whether I knew where it’ll take me two years down the line.

For the first time in my lifetime I had an answer to one of her questions about my future, in fact even she was amused that for the first time in my 22years of existence I had an answer about the future. So what did I tell her??? I made her sit down on the couch looked her in the eyes and not trying to be too dramatic told her “Ma, I want to quit my job and do Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) because this degree will help me get rid of the tag of a field switcher. This degree will give me the finishing touches I need to excel in Public Relations and two years down the line it will put me on my path to success, it will give me that edge I need to edge out the competition, to reach that position where I won’t be just another guy working in the industry but I’ll be one of the bigwigs, one of the frigging thought leaders of the Indian PR industry.”

“I hope you are not doing that PR thing of yours on me to just convince me and you’re not going all melodramatic on me just to tell me after a few months that you’re bored of the course and want to do something else. Believe you me if I hear anything of that sort you’ll have to book a block for yourself on the footpath,” she said in her typical fashion. Man!!! she certainly knows how to bring me back to reality.