A Talk from Collins Corner
Be a Doctor or Engineer. Make your future settled.
What! Are you doing Literature? What will you earn with it? Can you be stable with such a course?
When the majority of us live in a society where Engineering or Medicine graduation is so glorified that other courses and their purposes are diminished, here is Enosh Collins who went against the flock and proved himself successful. Dropping out of an MBBS college after 4 years is not a cowardly decision. You need to be brave enough to choose your path especially when there is none to support you. “Expressions and Opinions” gave Enosh an opportunity to speak and express his views on various subjects.
You are an MBBS dropout who chose Literature and now a writer, English teacher, and many others. Why did it take 4 years and how did you make it happen?
I was and am always wild. The saddest part of my story is that I learnt a lot of literature, English and skill in MBBS and not in B.A/M.A English. I am obviously referring to extracurriculars.
So, the right question would be what was I doing for those 4 years?
I am a Pianist, I started before I turned 10. I played a lot of Piano in MBBS, I was starting bands and performing live all the time. I was playing a lot of Football too. I was acting on stage, winning debates on stage and was showing my mettle as a public speaker.
I obviously read a lot of novels; it is funny how Sidney Sheldon was the one who convinced me to quit MBBS for art. I watched a lot of movies and series.
I read a lot of Psychology, which was a part of the syllabus as well. I was awarded the G.S Nijjar award for excellence in Clinical Psychology in 2012. It is hilarious because I was on stage on achiever’s day despite failing in 3/3 subjects in University exams. I failed in all subjects in 1st year, Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry.
I finally cleared MBBS 1st year in my 4th attempt. I use this fact to surprise my students now as a teacher. I have had more academic failures before hitting 20 than in an entire classroom, true for most academic classrooms.
To be honest that is tough. MBBS is tough academically. Doctors deserve way more respect. It is not just the syllabus, answer sheets are checked by doctors, and they are strict. No leniency when human lives are at stake.
I was sure about Literature and writing since I was a kid, barely 12 years old, I used to read a lot. So, I had no doubts about what I wanted to do, it was my parents who said they will not financially sponsor non MBBS courses.
So, I quit MBBS, then did a start up in spoken English as my father said he won’t pay any fees for any course. My father asked me to become a peon or receptionist. (No offence to those professions.)
One of my relatives finally paid for my fees, I joined B.A English…
PS: Sorry for such a long answer, I am a storyteller, it is my profession. Lol.
Writer, English teacher, pianist, guitarist, football player- out of these which one suits you the best?
Writer. This one’s easy for a change, a much welcome trend, lol.
But, I stand out more for being a Pianist, coz it’s really hard. Forget playing the Piano well, very few can even play the Piano in the first place.
And although I write poetry, write about everything, it is my FOOTBALL analysis that get me a lot of views, from an SEO perspective.
Not just me, all writers have to be a “jack of all trades.” Writers don’t imagine stuff out of thin air. As much as you would suspect, they live a full life, full of colour and failures and then they write about what they know.
In India, the majority of the younger population chooses either Engineering or Medicine willingly or not willingly. In most cases, parents decide what their child should pursue and they argue it is for the sake of their kid’s future. What do you want to say to such parents?
I have nothing to say to the parents. Their money, their call.
I do have a lot to say to young people. (Above 18 young adults.)
When you want freedom, you can’t expect support from parents. It can’t be a young person’s idea, or an old parent’s money. Nope.
I wanted freedom. I got it. It’s harder for girls in India. I pity them in this regard. So, if I am getting freedom, doing whatever I want, why should my parents pay fees?
Why should I get their money?
So dear young people you choose, Do you want freedom or money? You can’t have both. My first startup was spoken English, my qualification back then was only12th, it was a resounding success.
I dream of becoming a writer. I have written daily, publicly since 2017, and it is read by 7.2 million people. But it does not really pay, I worked as a professor/teacher to pay my bills after M.A English.
In 2020, young people want to become freelance content writers overnight and cry when they get paid less or don’t get paid. Nothing comes easy, nothing comes free.
I am happy to get a chance to write, happy that readers are reading, why do I want money for that?
To be honest, I am willing to pay the audience, willing to spend money, if it could get me a bigger audience.
Content writing is not writing, it is the biggest myth. Both are very different. Trust me, I too have been researching SEO for a while now and am kinda an expert on it.
SEO is for reaching more humans for the first time, but no SEO can make humans like your writing, that is on you. On platforms with dislike/downvote features, if people dislike your writing, no SEO or algorithm can save your writing. Sorry.
Racism is not something that you encounter only from foreigners. In our country, South Indians (I don’t like using the word) are generally addressed as Madrasi regardless of their exact location. And residents of Northeastern states are treated as aliens. If I say so, what is your opinion on this?
Love this question.
I grew up in Gujarat, the only dark kid in the class, people made fun of me in class based on my skin colour. But it did not matter at all. Here is the secret:
EQUALITY
If I was kalia,(blackie) then someone else was a fatso, someone else is too thin, one is too tall, everyone had a nickname, which means all of us kids were equal.
These insults were our way of communicating and it made all of us close. I developed a thick skin before I turned 13, it is super helpful now as popular writers get trolled a lot.
Point being, those overprotective schools do all the damage, creating a sensitive generation. They are somewhat like spoilt brats. I grew up in a Govt. school, I was tough before I turned 15, now rest of my life seems easy.
Conclusion: we all better become less sensitive and tough during our childhood itself. I have no problem with the Madrasi tag, I love it actually. As long as people talk to me, I am happy.
I would dread a day where I walk into a room and people give me the SILENT TREATMENT just because they have a problem with me.
If you ever had an opportunity to change the Indian education system, how will you want it to be?
Why does the system need to change?
Students can change. We need to stop depending on the system and learn on our own. I have this dialogue:
“GO TO SCHOOL, LEARN FROM LIFE.”
My message to students is that they should KEEP THEIR EYES AND EARS OEPN, learn from their surroundings, learn from everything. Coz failure is okay but failing to adapt with the times would be lethal.
I am a writer today, coz I have been reading truckloads of novels since I was 8 years old. So why would I blame the system?
Did the system ask me not to learn extra?
System is designed to reward mediocrity. If you want to get the best jobs follow the system. If you want the best minds of your country working for you, ignore the system, learn from life.
This is also famously knowns as the BACK BENCHERS ROCK concept.
Women safety is one of the biggest debates in India, as per your opinion are women safe in India?
NO, they are not safe.
Women’s safety is an issue globally too. But it’s worse in India and I take responsibility for that. Problem is not the rapist or the criminals they are in every country. Problem of India are the cowardly spectators who do nothing.
Problem is with the parents who don’t support their daughters and take them to Police Station. Problem is with the MIND MY OWN BUSINESS attitude of the common man in India.
When it happens to you / your family, everyone is gonna mind their own business.
Man holding a woman’s hand with her consent is a big sin in our country. But marital rape is glorified saying it is normal. Have you ever felt that consent needs to be given more awareness in public?
Yes consent obviously needs to be talked about more, NO MEANS NO as goes it in the famous movie, Pink, starring Amitabh Bacchan.
Marital Rape though is a tough topic for me. I am a kid, I am not married.
All I can say is in such cases, we need to SUPPORT DIVORCE more. If such reasons, marital rape, sexual abuse or domestic violence leads to a divorce, I think everyone should support a divorce for that particular person.
PS: That is my personal opinion.
Marital Rape is a dangerous concept because of the judicial aspect. How do you prove marital rape?
How do you prove consent within a marriage? If criminal charges are filed, how do we bring evidence?
If more laws protected women from marital rape, would it be too easy to send innocent men into prison?
Again, I am a kid, I lack knowledge in this area, it won’t be fair for me to talk about this topic publicly.
Is marriage necessary for 2 people to live their life together?
This is a tricky question. I am well read, well educated. I am well aware of the latest trends, morality standards, I am up to date with the latest lifestyle. I believe in not judging others, not advising others, not giving others suggestions.
Such questions are about WEST vs EAST. The west is a guilt culture, INDIVIDUAL is at the center. If you do something wrong morally, you should feel bad about it as an individual. That’s it. Such cultures are termed, INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY cultures.
India, the Middle East, parts of South East Asia and Africa follow, SHAME CULTURE, also known as COLLECTIVE IDENTITY cultures. Doing something morally wrong, will bring shame upon your parents, family, caste and entire community.
We have to respect the culture we live in.
Personally, for me, I am a theist, so irrespective of how cool I am or how modern my thinking is, I CHOOSE to obey the religious scriptures when it comes to me.
For me, there should be only one girl, and there should be no relationship outside marriage. Again, this rule is ONLY for ME, based on MY belief system.
I don’t judge others based on rules for me, I don’t preach about my rules.
Why do you think society stands against the LGBTQ community?
This again is a very tricky question for me because I am a theist.
I know the latest trends, the overt promotion of gender fluidity. At the other extreme, some of the scriptures are clearly against homosexuality.
So, what do I do?
I don’t care about the social media stance on this one. I don’t run into people daily who are openly homosexual in front of me in real life. If and when my acquaintances or friends come out, I will start thinking and then decide.
I do think about the hatred or hurting aspect. I surely am against hating LGBTQ community or hurting them or attacking them.
To be honest, I know nothing or too less on this topic, I don’t know why I always procrastinate thinking or researching on this topic.
My official answer is I DON’T KNOW. I AM SORRY.
From your point of view, what is the motive behind a woman getting raped? Is it because “SHE” tempted him with her attire, creating situations, etc, or “HE” had no self-control or simply thought it was fine to do so?
This is a very weird question; I wish you did not ask me such a question.
I don’t know any rapists personally; I don’t know how they think.
As a former student of Psychology, I have some exposure to recorded data in clinical studies. Problem is, these studies record what the rapists said, how do we know if the rapist was telling the truth or not?
If we are talking about the average male, how does visual stimuli affect them?
But this question is about rapists, I would have loved to answer a question about the average male and their thought process. Problem is, how do we know that rapist think in the same way as the average male?
May be the thought process of the average male and a rapist is entirely different.
I do have one message/request for women worldwide. When it comes to sexual desire and arousal specifically, men and women are really really different. So dear women, please EDUCATE YOURSELF about MALE SEXUAL AROUSAL, the THE EFFECT OF STIMULI ON MALES.
Bottomline is, this discussion is not about CHOICES or DRESS-CODE at all. I believe, it’s your life, your choice, why should I or any male comment about it?
But I am talking about AWARENESS. About EDUCATION. I request women to find out what men think about sex, how men think about sex, and what effect women have on men exactly.
VISUAL STIMULI affect men very strongly, it does not affect women in the same way. But I am making it clear that this has nothing to do with self-control.
THIS IS IN NO WAY AN EXCUSE FOR LACKING SELF CONTROL.
But talking of self-control, obesity is related to self-control. Overeating is related to self-control. Irrespective of gender, most humans have a problem with self-control, that is a very important fact.
If we are dependent on other’s self-control for our safety, how safe are we?
Men get raped too, especially as a child or in prisons…
Millions of children in our country started their first day of school through an online ceremony. Amidst this pandemic situation that is what we can do for them. Still, our kids lose their opportunity to socialize, make friends, and learn to share, and many that they get from schools. How can one cope up with this?
Does coping matter?
We are in survival mode right now, just stay alive, nothing else matters. Everything else can be taken care of once we get through this survival mode phase.
I don’t blame governments or leaders or policy makers at all.
Why not?
Because I don’t think human beings are all that powerful. I don’t think we entirely control our fate. Sometimes there is nothing we can do.
Human beings have a lotttt of limitations, but we don’t talk about it.
When someone talks about endless possibilities, that is not reality, that is called an ADVERTISEMENT.
Do you think our children will lose their vision in life?
I think that is a very vague question. I am a right now, today kind of person. Living in the now always is one of my biggest character flaw, sorry.
I am a solution finder, a problem-solving person. For every problem, I FIRST ASK MYSELF THESE QUESTIONS:
1.How does it affect me right now?
2.What difference can I make or What can I do about this problem?
Future children vision is not in my hands. As a former schoolteacher, I teach my children to;
THINK FOR THEMSELVES.
I am not the kind of teacher who gives them answers or guidance for life. I teach students how to find answers, how to think critically.
I am sorry I have no idea about future generations, nor do I have much interest.
According to you, what is the most glamorized or normalized misdeed in our country?
In India, I hate the culture of blaming the politicians and blaming politics
This blaming is stupid sorry, democracy by definition gives us the power to affect leadership and politics, by hating politics we GIVE BACK THE ONLY POWER WE HAVE.
I teach my students to LOVE POLITICS and to ENTER POLITICS.
I tell them yes, may be ONE PERSON entering politics won’t make a difference, but if 500, 1000 think like this and they all enter politics, definitely a change can be made.
I have been active myself in student leadership or student politics.
This is my favorite quote:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”
a Quote Attributed to Edmund Burke
What do you want to say to the public through my platform?
Live in the moment, live for today, coz tomorrow never dies. Carpe` Diem.
This is related to another favorite quote of mine:
“Success and failure are both impostors, treat them the same”
This is a famous quote but not everyone has enough life experiences as me to understand this. What does this quote really mean?
When I cleared NEET without studying much and entered MBBS, the whole world called me a success. But I hate looking at blood, I hate diseases, I hate heavy books. I hate failing in exams again and again and again.
So, was it really a success?
I learnt a lot in MBBS, Piano, stage stuff, writing, wrote a song at 18 in Medical School. But people call me a failure in Medical college.
Now I am settled, with an M.A degree, job experience, comfortable salary, people call it success as well. Again they are wrong.
Sadly, I learnt very less from the syllabus, teachers, and the degree. Extra curriculars in arts college were useless. My classmates in Arts college had no interest in art or creativity. I read 500 novels at home during B.A and M.A English, other than that those years were a waste.
I hope now you better understand that both the words success and failure mean nothing. I have lived a life full of colour and drama, I can say that I lived every day like it was my last
If I die today I would have no regrets, can you say that?
Do you find him and his opinions interesting? Want to connect with Collins? Check out these links for his LinkedIn and Instagram accounts.