I was never certain what I wanted to be in life, as my parents always wanted me to achieve greater heights, and I, always wanted to enjoy the beauty of life from the roots itself. Whenever asked, what you want to be in your life, or want is your 'AIM', I always answered with something that everyone thought was cool, "A Pilot". I used to say that with a proud tone. As time went by, I realized that becoming a pilot needs something more than just ambition, that thing is money, which I belong from a middle-class family in India, didn't have in much abundance. Not saying that we were poor, no, but to become a Pilot in India, one must be 'Rich'. With that, plans changed, and my passion tilted towards by "Little brother of Physics", that is Engineering.
An Engineer is all Indian parents dream about. It is like God has set it as a default mode in most of our parents. Seeing me interested in Engineering made my parents very happy, even so, that they gifted me with something that changed my entire life. A camera. My new eye. I started visualizing the world with a new view, through my viewfinder (See what I did there with the wordplay xD). And this made me rethink my entire life. I was back to square one. Who I really want to be?
Not being able to decide which way to go, I started doing both. Study and clicking photographs. To be honest, I was good with studies, so to satisfy my parents with good grades was not a big deal for me, but to really earn the knowledge was the biggest challenge. You see, marks are not equal to knowledge. A topper may have even less intellectual powers than a backbencher if he mugs everything he writes. I was learning. Earning real knowledge. That meant Engineer was still a thing for me. And at the same time, I was learning a lot about photography as well. Through Facebook and Twitter, I contacted some professional photographer from Eastern Europe and compelled them to help me pass the beginners phase of photography, which they in a period of 3 months I passed, all thanks to them.
When I was in my 11th class, I was selected to represent my country, India, in Japan, along with 52 other students from around the whole nation, under the programme of JENESYS 2.0, I got the real chance to try my photography skills, with the beauty of Japan around me. After returning I participated in an Online International Photography competition organized by JENESYS, and won. Yes! I won. With my knowledge, I was able to travel Japan for free and also in Japan I was able to win an international competition. This made me think that why do I need to choose between Engineering and photography? Why not both? Why can't an Engineer be a photographer? With this in mind, to change this stereotype, I studied hard, cracked my exams and got into one of the best University of my country to become an Engineer. With 2 years into my course, I am 2 years close to becoming an Engineer, and also shooting people and travel places to capture time. I have my own production house now, which I and my fellow Engineer-Photographer friends have started, my pictures are being showcased at exhibitions, people are paying me to shoot them and I am enjoying the best of both world.
Yes I am an Engineer, and also a photographer!
You too can become one like me.
Just follow your passion.
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