A subject you would go back and study

Aishani, our daughter, always surprises me with her curious food-for-thought questions. A while back, during her ongoing exams, she posed an interesting question to me: “Papa, if you had chance to go back in time and study any subject, which one would it be?“. She has seen me as someone who loves Mathematics, as I am quite explicit about my liking and subjects. So, she was curious to know if I would pick up a different favorite subject, given a chance. A nice question, indeed. Given my current interests and trends, would I be inclined towards a different subject, say history or even Chemistry? This was one of those “What would you advise your younger self” type of question, and it really got me thinking.

I have always been a very studious chap, and I have always enjoyed reading books and appearing for exams. What I now realize is that teachers have had a big role in creating this love for the subjects. A passionate teacher can shove down a complicated concept easily. I didn’t like Mathematics in primary school. Our Grade.8th Maths teacher induced this love for the subject that remained for rest of my life. The same goes for History and Physics. As they say, a solid fundamental, especially during high school becomes very important. Unless it somehow becomes a natural inclination, we rely on the teachers to invoke a passion for the subject. So, would you go back and re-learn any subject from a passionate teacher?

Science is a vast subject. There are subjects like Biology and Chemistry from the mainstream science that I absolutely despised. There was no way on earth I would end up being a doctor. Interest towards astronomy and anything out of the “comforts” of planet earth was very limited. I gravitated a lot towards Physics and Mathematics and finally ended up loving Computer Science. Now, although the teacher who introduced computer science in Grade.8th wasn’t so gifted, this subject was a natural inclination to me. Would I change course to something else, with respect to science? No, not at all, I am more than happy with the choices that I have made here.

We had this broad subject called Social Studies, that encompassed History, Geography and Civics. I did pay good attention to history lessons, Geography not so much, and very little, in fact no interest at all in Civics. Learning about the constitution, rules, etc. were boring. Given the current situation, I think I would have learnt the civics much better. Learning about the democratic system of the country seems very important to be a better citizen. History books have been the center of debate recently – Do they really give correct information? Was it biased? Was it history written from western point of view? and thousand more questions. These days we have alternate histories, videos, books that fuel our appetite in whichever direction we want history to be told to us. We could unlearn and re-learn as required.

Then there are these language courses: We had English, Kannada, Hindi. English, well, was one of those naturally inclined subjects for me, and I fell in love with this one. I started poetry and writing in English very early. Given a chance, would I study more of other languages? Maybe! I would have studied Sanskrit perhaps, although we didn’t have this subject in our school back then. Probably I was so engrossed in academics, that I didn’t give any importance to our local language Tulu. I stuck to Kannada for local day to day conversations. Now, I cannot converse well in Tulu. Being such a colloquial and fun-loving language, I am quite embarrassed not being able to fluently speak this wonderful language. Yes, if I could go back in time, I would focus more on Tulu, and be a proud Mangalorean.

Academics is one thing; the general street smartness and social skills are another. My grandfather ran a grocery store in the village, and after his death it was run by my uncles. When all uncles were occupied for some yearly rituals, I, then a boy of 12-13 years, was asked to sit on the cash counter, sometimes even skipping school for a day. I would always be furious with this arrangement, and I sat there in the shop, halfheartedly, just hoping for the day to get over quickly. Given a chance, I would like to go back and enjoy this time at the shop, pick up a business skill or two, on how to engage with customers, managing staff and general idea of what people are looking for – things that they don’t teach in school.

There are also the extra-curricular activities that happen in the school. Participating in sports, music, literature, and other festivals allows us to soak in more than just the academic stuff. Although I am passionate about sports and fitness right now, back in school, this was least important to me. I didn’t enjoy the sports meet, and I participated only because it was mandatory. I did participate in drama & few stage performances, but it wasn’t so important. I was lucky to be leading one of the schoolhouses, and I think I did well here. No regrets in this department overall, I must say.

I think this is fantastic question for everyone, and I urge you all to ponder over it. Deep dive into memory lanes, time travel between now and then, and see what subjects you would enjoy learning and learn to enjoy, it might just surprise you. As they say, “a lot of water has flown under the bridge“, maybe if things were different you would pick up a different subject, who knows! You might have perhaps majored in different subject altogether. Well, if there is still passion and urge to learn, there is still time you know. You could study right now the “subject you would go back and study“. Enjoy!