Life Being Traditional

I went to school when I was five years old, to high school when I was ten, junior college when I was 15 and senior college after that, and then university. With all this, I haven't done anything new. I took admission in school when I was five because my father had done the same thing at that age, went to junior college after school when I was 15 because my eldest brother had done the same thing at that stage of his life, went to university after college to pursue post graduation because lots of people in the locality had done the same after graduation.

During graduation, I was a little inclined towards spirituality for which I had to get a lot of blasts from my mother. She said this was not what people normally do at that age. During the college days, I used to watch a lot of Hindi movies. My eldest brother used to catch me every time and blast at me; reason: this was not what people do at that age and I should study, study and study.

I was very depressed, thought only my family members didn't let me do what I want even though I was old enough to vote in the elections. However, after discussing with my friends about the matter, I realized the case was even worse with them. I felt that life had become so traditional. We had to live in a way because most people had lived that way, and that had become a standard.

As a result, inter-caste and inter-religion marriages are considered a sin in my dynasty. People are surprised when I tell them about the fact that I will not accept dowry in marriage. Forget about people, even my would-be-in-laws don't want to believe this. According to them, I have to accept dowry because it's a social norm. Hah! Truly, life is so traditional.

I have opted writing as a profession, and have many friends who always give me very good advises. One of those advises is that I should have long hair, because most people in this profession have their hair long. Some people in my family don't like me having long hair. Their logic is that none of the male members in my family ever had long hair. Ah! Why is life so traditional?