Member-only story
About Me — Debdutta Pal
I like to live inside my head, strongly dislike rules, and yeah, I write about stuff
I grew up in a collectivistic society, where the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” wasn’t open-ended.
The only acceptable answer, especially for those who performed better than average at school, was a Doctor or an Engineer. When I announced at fourteen that the field of medicine isn’t the right fit for me, I was met with several sad and disappointed eyes.
After all, who would inherit my Father’s Stethoscope? — This was a real question posed to me, intended to guilt me into submission.
My personality was not in accordance with my gender’s guide book, and I refused to comply with most social conventions even though I had the potential to excel. This confused most people, especially my Mother.
Why didn’t I change? Why couldn’t I just cut the undesirable bits? Why can’t I stop thinking for myself, start listening to her, and become extraordinary?
For most of my life, I have fought an endless battle with the regressive and patriarchal society around me so that I could just be — myself. Individuality and freedom were always out of reach, and I could never explain why it was so difficult for me to give these two things up.
