The Default way

I worked primarily as an English teacher in Alwar Public School, Alwar, from 2000 to 2005.There were many hats I wore there, but that is incidental to this anecdote.

One usual day, in the lunch break, Soham approached me while I was about to enter the staff room . I was carrying a pile of books to correct. He called out, ‘Maam’

I stopped and looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

‘Ma’am, what does default mean?’

I smiled and asked him, ‘Which subject?’ Now he looked at me queerly.

Soham was a bright child and a doubt coming from him was not meant to be brushed away lightly. Such queries are few and the teacher looks forward to them.

‘In computers?’

‘Well it means that the way things are meant to be. You can choose to change or customise.’

‘Why is it then called default, if that is the way they were meant to be?’

I shrugged my shoulders, smiled and moved on, ‘That you find out, and let me know the answer.’ He never came back with the answer, nor was I expecting him. The topic was closed.

It surfaced again in my mind 20 years later, when I sat down to write on : To be or not to be. These realization dawned on me: One, life is about a choice; Two, it is always lived in context.

Shubhashish Singh Rehal, my son, a You Tube mentor, who is making waves with his own brand IAS Primers, is a perfect example of a person who did not live a default life.

In fact, people who want to make it great do not become so if they follow the default way. The default way of living is to take life as it comes. Be contended. Be religious. Thank god for all His blessings. Listen to sermons. Basically it is an automated passive life.

Was this supposed to be the default way? Maybe yes; maybe no.

One can choose to be the way they want to be. It does not have to be : Raja ka beta raja banega. You can choose not to tread the default way. You can take charge of your life and live a life of your dreams. All bio pics, be it Mary Kom or Dangal and even Secret Superstar(it is not a bio pic), showed there is no need to live the life in the same cast your mother and father lived. You can choose to live the life you want to live.

It is possible only by finding your unique default way! Or I could say customize your way. It is in fact a loud outcry: To make yourself somebody you will have to find your own path or calling or passion. This will indeed never happen in the general default way.

Normally there are more restrictions, more disapproval on a life that is lived differently. I remember, my father saying:’ Why do you want to be Principal of a school, there are too many responsibilities.’ I smiled and said, ‘Well, because I want to be one.’

It is all about your aims and your aspirations. You can be the way you are and be happy about it and be oblivious of others being smarter than you or choosing to take the course that is the most important to your own self.