I think I sensed an affinity towards English in the fourth or fifth standard when an essay I wrote was heavily applauded and appreciated by my teachers and classmates. After that, it came on to me again as a subject I’m good at in the seventh standard, when I placed first in a writing event that comprised girls from classes 6-12. So yes, I came to believe that English is my forte. Writing to me has never been a job. It’s something I do out of love, passion and excitement. I feel that I express better on paper than in life and it’s something that acts as a driving force in my life. Ideas come to me out of nowhere and I jot them down in a diary that I never fail to carry.
I decided that I want to pursue journalism when I realised the fact that apart from English and creative writing, history and politics enthralled me. History has been one of my favourite subjects since class 5. I’d always imagine the events described in text books happening in front of my eyes and somehow I’d never have to memorise, the information always stayed with me. I’d always score highly in history and that somehow encouraged me to pursue it further.
So after my ICSE, I took up humanities. People always questioned me that after scoring well in my tenth and being a ‘good student’, why did I take up humanities? I decided that I cannot answer these questions with words, but with success in whichever field I chose.
With political science being introduced to us in the eleventh standard, my ideas of pursuing the media became stronger and I made up my mind early in class 11 as to what I wanted.
To be honest, even with the media being one of the most important aspects of the world now, in India people still look down upon choices of studying the ‘arts’, as they refer to it. However, I can say for sure, that it isn’t an easy option or an easy choice. Hard work is essential wherever excellence is pursued, whether it’s science, commerce or humanities. So, I’m happy that I’ve chosen something different and I’m really excited to pursue my field with utmost dedication and hard work.

Written by Meghna Banerjee.