Confusion

Kritvik Bhatt

“So, what have you decided, mate?”

“Huh?”

Aakash and I were on one side of the badminton court, Aaryan and Rohit on the other. It was about six in the evening, man, and the gray sky was about to turn dark in some time. There was a little darkness everywhere and the lights of the park around us were turned on. We were at one corner of the park, just beside the sidewalk, with a thick layer of bushes and stuff between the badminton court and the sidewalk.

There was also a public chair of metal on our right, just in front of the thick layer, for some reason. Maybe it was for people who wanted to just watch the match and not play.

“Stream. In class eleventh,” Aakash explained. “What have you decided about that, mate?”

“Ya don’t gotta reply to that shit, pal,” Aaryan said as he waved the shuttlecock and hit it toward us. “Don’t pressurize him about that shit, Aakash.”

“Pfft! Pressurize?! Wow!” Aakash laughed as I hit the shuttlecock—standing on his left. “For real, mate, it’s high time—he needs to decide upon that, or else, society's not gonna leave him peace.”

“To be honest, I kinda agree with that motherfucker,” Rohit commented as he stood beside Aaryan. He turned to me and said, “Why d’ya not decide on one?”

“I… I don’t think I have enough knowledge about that…” I shyly replied as I turned to him.

Rohit nodded. “Well, we gotta provide ya the knowledge then.” He then turned to Aaryan and asked, “Whaddya say?”

“Ya see, pal, this asshole has enough knowledge. We told him everything the other day,” He commented as he hit the shuttlecock. “He is a fucking kid, so let him be for some time.”

“Mate, you dumb or what?” Aakash commented, hitting the shuttlecock. He then turned to Aaryan. “We gotta help him with this shit.”

Rohit moved his arm up, waved the badminton at the shuttlecock, and it came running straight toward me. I moved the badminton up and swung it to the front, and the shuttlecock went toward Aaryan, who was in front of me, on the right of Rohit. “Man, don’t worry. I’ll talk to my parents over this stuff soon and then make a decision soon.”

“Don’t ask your parents first, asshole,” Aaryan said as he hit the shuttlecock. “Every adult insists on their kids taking non-medical, ya see.”

“Yeah,” Aakash agreed as he hit the shuttlecock back toward the other side. He then turned his head to me. “Mate, it’d be better if you know about every stream, get as much information as you can, and then decide on one before asking your parents about this. Decide for yourself.”

I nodded as I turned to him. Shuttlecock came running and hit the ground between us. I turned my head down and bent down to take it up. I turned my head to the front and was just about to flick the shuttlecock in the air when I asked, “Non-med is just about science but without biology, right?”

“Right,” Aakash said as he looked at me.

I turned my eyes to my right at him and asked, “Then why would every parent insist on taking non-med? It doesn’t seem that extraordinary, for some reason.”

“Pfft! The hell?!” He broke into laughter. “Ahahahahajahajha…” He bent down, his hands on his knees as he laughed off. “And you guys were telling him to take a decision!”

I smiled. “What?!”

Rohit smiled and commented, “Ya motherfuckers said ya told him all the information he needs. Where the fuck is that?!”

Aaryan said with a smile, “Perhaps we gotta do a lot of teaching today, ya see, right?”

“Maybe,” Aakash commented with a smile, straightening his back. He then turned his head to me. “Mate, we gotta start.”

“We gotta start with non-med, right?” Aaryan said. “First, let’s clear this doubt, and then we should proceed.”

“Yeah,” Aakash nodded as he turned to the front. “Mate, I don’t know why, but non-med is overhyped.”

“Perhaps we told ya that,” Aaryan frowned a little in doubt.

“I don’t remember. Let’s do it again,” Aakash quickly replied to him, his eyes still on me.

“Yeah.”

“Non-med is tough. So, only the toppers take that shit.”

I frowned in doubt. “But why is it tough? Shouldn’t all the streams be equally tough?”

Aakash shook his head. “Dunno.”

Aaryan then started to explain to me, “Ya see, non-med students can apply to this fucking prestigious university or shit named IIT—Indian Institute of Technology. To get inside that shit, ya gotta pass the Joint Entrance Exam, or JEE—JEE Advance, actually. There are two JEE exams, and JEE Advance is the tougher one.”

I had my eyes on him as I nodded. “Damn…”

“Med students gotta give the NEET exam, which is similar. But it’s not like that in other streams, ya see, like in commerce or arts.”

“Commerce students gotta give CA exams, mate,” Aakash added as he turned to Aaryan.

Aaryan turned to him and said, “Asshole, that’s your choice, right? Ya don’t need to give that shit if ya don’t wanna do CA and decide on B.Com. or some other shit like BBA, ya see. But, if ya are a science student and need admission in some science shit ya gotta give these exams.”

“Yeah, right.”

Rohit then turned to me. “Once ya get into IIT, yer life is set, motherfucker.”

“Yeah, pal. Their job packages start from twenty lakhs per annum, ya see,” Aaryan turned to me.

“Commerce is a good choice too, mate, if ya wanna get into the business side, like sales,” Aakash told me. I then turned to him. “Commerce is filled with math and business.”

“It’s boring, pal. It’s got the fewest career lines.”

“Nah, mate,” Aakash turned to Aaryan. “It has a lot of career lines.”

“Yeah, motherfucker, but all of that shit sound fucking same, ain’t it?” Rohit told Aakash.

“Kinda,” He told him. “But it still has a lot of career lines. BBA, CA, B.Com., and B.Com. honors are filled with shit, mate. And there’s a shit more that starts with ‘B’ and then ends with any random letters. It’s got a shit lot more than non-med, if you try to count.”

Aaryan nodded as he looked into his eyes for some seconds. “There are twenty plus engineering courses, asshole. And then B.Sc courses too. About fifty.”

“Commerce got the same number, mate. Search on Google.”

“Stop with this shit, motherfuckers,” Rohit walked a few steps to the center of both of them and then pointed his index finger toward me. “We gotta focus on this motherfucker. Whaddya say?”

“Yeah,” Aaryan then turned his head to me.

“Maybe we should believe for now that both the degrees got the same number of degrees to pursue,” Aakash proposed as he turned to me.

“Alright,” Aaryan commented back, his eyes still on me. “But, if ya don’t get into IIT or any other good college—”

“Y’are seriously fucked then, motherfucker,” Rohit added. “Because y’are now in a degree ya don’t wanna do and it ain’t gonna pay half the shit ya were expecting.”

“Right.”

“And then, ya gotta do the fucking job ya fucking hate for the rest of yer life, and ya can’t even get out because ya got no shit or money.”

I nodded.

“Right,” Aaryan commented. “That’s why I’m gonna try getting into a good college. Because if ya don’t get a good one, ya don’t get a good life.”

Rohit turned to his right at Aaryan and commented, “Motherfuckers then start teaching shit.”

Aaryan nodded, his eyes still on me as I waved my head from him to Rohit to Aakash.

“We’ve covered every one of them, mate,” Aakash commented. “Now let’s get on to arts.”

“Motherfucker, liberal arts is heaven,” Rohit commented with a smile. “In arts, there are about fifty or some shit subjects, and y’are supposed to choose any five or six ya like. To be honest, most people go for the easy ones where they don’t needa study, and that’s why people think arts is for dumb ones.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Aaryan commented. “Dumb ones take arts, like us, because it got easy subjects.”

“Mate, some are tough too,” Aakash told Aaryan.

“Yeah, pal, but most are fucking easy, ya see.”

Aakash nodded. “Hmm.”

I had my eyes on Aakash, and then I turned to Aaryan. “It’s getting more and more confusing, man. Damn.”

Aaryan smiled. “Well, this shit is really confusing.”

Aakash turned to him with a smile and said, “Yeah.” He then turned to me, started to walk to me, and asked, “So, mate, what have you decided?”

“I don’t think he’s decided already, pal,” Aaryan told him.

Aakash then turned back and walked back to his position. “For real, he gotta think about this shit a lot before he takes on one.”

“No doubt, I’m not taking arts, because I don’t like social studies. Commerce is business, so, for some reason, it kinda puts me off, man. I think I’ll take non-med, since I’m okay with math and science,” I announced, my head tilted downward. I then turned to Aaryan and asked, “What if I wanted to do both biology and math? Is there an option for that too?”

“Y-Yeah, pal…”

“Then I’m doing both med and non-med,” I told him with a smile.

“The hell?! Are you dumb or what?!”

My smile faded as I turned to my right at Aakash. “Damn, what?! For some reason, I feel like I can do it.”

“No, man! Taking both biology and math is the worst decision one could take.”

“Shut the fuck up, motherfucker,” Rohit told him. He then turned to me and said, “To be honest, motherfucker, since ya now know about all this shit, ya should talk to yer mom and dad about it and ask their opinions. They might tell ya something new. Then take the fucking decision.”

I looked straight into his eyes and nodded. “Okay, man. If you say so.”

“Yeah, I now feel like talking with them once now should be okay,” Aaryan said.

“Well, then, let’s play a match now. I’m fucking tired of this shit,” Rohit announced as he walked a few steps back.

“Well, what have you decided on, pal?” Aaryan asked Rohit as he turned his head to his left at him.

“Arts, man. My father got a big business, so Imma be handling that shit after twelfth. My stream doesn’t fucking matter to me.”

“Damn,” I commented. “No doubt, it’s great.”

“To be honest, it is, motherfucker,” Rohit gave out a little smile.

I then flicked the shuttlecock in the air with my badminton, and it went straight to him.

Rohit smashed it hard and it came running like a bullet toward our front. Aakash quickly sprinted to the front and gave a drop. Aaryan was quick to run to the front, he bent down, and then the shuttlecock was up high. I turned my head to the top, walked a few steps to my right backward, and then hit it toward the other side.

“It was getting damn confusing, man. I didn’t know what I should choose and what I should pursue in the future, for some reason. No doubt, when I heard about Rohit, I thought that I kinda wanted to be in his position too—to not worry about all this stuff. Everyone was worked up about this stuff in my friend circle, and, soon, this stuff was gonna head to my home too, man, obviously. But, man, another thing I had to decide on was if I should go with Sana to JenCon or to Aaryan’s birthday party. And, that stuff had me thinking, too. And now this. And, man, I kinda felt that… all of this… is just the silence before the storm, for some reason. A… A lot bigger storm was coming into my life. And it was gonna change the dynamics of my life forever. I just… had this feeling, man. I just had this… bad feeling about all of this stuff—about boards, about streams, about the JenCon. And, all those bad feelings… were about to come true. No doubt.”