The Non-drivers

I met up with a friend of mine from school the other day. We were meeting after two years and we were both studying the same thing so just for conversation sake I asked her the dreaded question… ‘What are u going to do after graduation?’ Her exasperation and piteous expression answered the question and I felt a kind of sinister joy in knowing that she belonged to the same league as mine…the league of the non-drivers.
We then started talking why this question is so dreaded to us when most people can write thesis on the topic. She could not be called dumb by any stretch of imagination, she is studying in one of the most reputed colleges of kolkata, she had always stayed in the top 5 in our class (without trying to be) and her poetry is beyond the realm of at least my understanding. Yet I find her in the same spot as me. Somehow, the first day of class never spelt ‘the first day towards examination’ for us, nor have we ever planned beyond a day, in fact plans scare us and we scare plans. Somehow it seems we never quite caught the wagon of competition nor have we ever tried to chase it, not that it is a good thing at this time and age. But the fact remains we have always been the cats sitting on a wall singing merrily…watching the rats go by.
I am filled with wonder when in retrospect I remember all those people and their planning. I had this one friend who would take part in every activity possible whether she was any good at it or not, something I could never do. I used to admire her for her enthusiasm. But by the time I reached my last year of school she let me in on the secret. She did all that (ever since I can remember) to have a good collection of certificates not for the sake of collection but as a passport to a well-reputed college. By that time I was way behind her in the game. Even if I had known this trick earlier, I wonder, would I have been able to acquire certificates just for the sake of it?
Well she managed to achieve her goal and
I am really happy for her. And I wish the same for all the drivers and over-drivers…I truly admire them. So kudos to the mba tuitions and montessory training classes and the MCs and whatnots in the making. But I wonder what is to become of us ‘non-drivers’. Will we ever be able to study only for examination sake? Will we ever be able to plan for the future and stick to it? Will we ever overcome our phobia of plans…will they overcome theirs? Will we ever be able to join the race or at least the chase? But the bigger question is will we ever want to?