We're you or no? Did your parents encourage you to pursue a certain career or did you choose what you wanted to do in life?
I was'nt forced into it, i was subconsciously 'groomed' into being a doctor. My father and his father were doctors, from the very beginning everyone around me, my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, neighbours, even sabzi and fruit thella wala always called me 'chote dr sahab', and so I thought I was born to become a doctor. I was not given any exposure to any other profession, nor anyone ever suggested I could try my luck in some other field. I was very good at fine arts, but nobody actually encouraged me into developing my skills or experience in that field. Even i at that stage could not figure out what my natural talent was?
In the end, I wont be ungrateful towards my patents, I know they wanted the best for me (and also for themselves), I wont complain about what i became. I know I could have been happier in some of the other fields had i chosen them out of interest and personal choice, but i also know I might have done terribly poorly as well and been living an ordinary life trying to ends meet on a daily basis. It can work both ways you know.
I wasn't forced either but I had huge gaps in my understanding of my chosen field. If given a chance I'll probably choose it again but avoid the mistakes I made along the way.
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Nope No one forced any carreer, I choose it on my own, my Father made sure I learned my language skills well!
only thing I would have loved to do was to drive a Train, now that sounds like a lot of fun! never got a chance to do that 
Yes but I've internalized it and have no other goal or backup plan.
@redvelvet I had a feeling you were into fine arts, writing well itself is a form of fine arts and you are an accomplished writer.
Coming back to your story and its comparison, i wouldn't say i was very obedient, but from a practical point of view, I probably had no other option. I never developed any interest in engineering, or business or other fields. Funnily after specialising, from no where I had this immense feeling of missing out on so many things, being part of a very sophisticated highly specialised field with little if any inter-transferrable skills. Yet I developed interest in business, becoming an medical entrepreneur, and also developed fondness for machines, well at least all the funky stuff like robotic window cleaner, robotic vacuum cleaner, self-propelling lawn mower etc type of things that make my life simple. Of course you need money to start a business or buy those gadgets that came from the profession that my parents (?or I) chose for me?
In the end I'd cede my naivety in the beginning might have been a blessing in disguise!
@redvelvet I will say do publish the first story, I am 100% sure it will be brilliant. I do not know why you left it in the middle, you should have really focused on that one, no point wasting so much hard work, but you could still submit the revised version, or at least show it to a few publishers, you never know it might just work out well for you. Its up to you want to write with an alias, and preserve your privacy, but do make use of your literary talent and have it recognised
Alhamdulillah, my parents never forced me to get into a career they wanted or any other thing wutsoever.
But man, now i think, may be i could have become something better had they forced me to. Just wonder.
so redvelvet is a teacher !?
Those leftist lunatics! They all need an education from Trump University
not really, i didn't know any better what i was good at or wanted to do or interested me........wasn't good at maths or remembering names of bones and stuff......so engineering and doctor couldn't work.......so i went into accountancy being known as a dheet/chichhar person who would keep doing it untill success.
anyhow, i am not very passionate about my field of work, although i am good at it........but meh......making ends meet is more important here than 'follow your dreams' coz a man got a 101 responsibilities.....
My father is an engineer at heart who studied B-com. Growing up I had a natural tendency towards engineering which made my dad very happy so I took more interest in it. Opening my toys to see what was inside, opening up and fixing broken irons, toasters and clocks was something I liked doing and thought about going into engineering. We had almost never had to get an electrician or plumber to work on our home since I could fix it. Wasn't too sure if I wanted to be in mechanical or electrical.
When I went to school robotics had not shown up in schools in Pakistan yet. After intermediate (that would be 12th grade for folks that didn't get education in Pakistan) I had changed my mind and separated myself from engineering and was thinking about going into studying business (My family has been in the iron (sarya) manufacturing and sales(also I was working in the business at the time) I thought I would be better off helping the family. At the same time one of cousins opened up a computer shop (this was the time when a 284 computer used to be for Rs. 25,000). He also setup a training center inside his shop and asked me (Since there is a long time between inter and going to college) to take a class in programming and no one would taking classes and he was paying the teacher for nothing. I took 2 classes (DOS 6.22 and FoxPro Programming) and fell in love with it. Next thing I know I have given up studying business and went to school for Bachelor in computer science (although I was still working at our business during the day and studied at night). Been doing software engineering since then and never once regretted my decision. You know how people say do something that you love and you would never work a day in your life? That is true for me.
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I never wanted to be a fast bowler. But how can one disobey one?s parents?
So here I am.
I chose mine, which is writing and publishing, when I was 6-years-old. I was not sure if that was the calling I was supposed to pursue long-term. My parents had no idea what I wanted to do.
Oh that bold part is really good to know. Tell us more about that. What have you been writing and publishing? Always a big admirer of writers.
Sid_NY, I started with writing for a children's radio show in Riyadh when I was 16, which branched out into freelance writing for Pakistani magazines when we moved back to Karachi during Gulf War. After that had a long lapse of about 10 years. When my daughter was 9-years-old she was bullied on the school bus. To help her feel empowered and heal, I encouraged her to write her story. When it was done, I hired an illustrator then self-published her book. I promoted her work and she became a local celebrity for a few months (which I was afraid will go to her head!). At that time, I was doing WordPress and online marketing freelance work. When clients learned I helped my daughter with the whole publishing and publicity, they started asking me if I could help them too. That opened up more opportunities related to writing, in terms of book cover designing and ghostwriting. I have published books in various genres - memoir, fiction and children's, mostly. Ghostwritten couple of books, a fiction book, titled "Angel" for a gentleman who was suffering from Alzheimer's and a children's book, titled, "I Know How I Feel" for young boys (5 to 10-year-olds) to help them with emotional fluency.
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اگر امی کی چپل اس میں شامل سمجھی جائے تو ہاں ۔ کافی کوشش رہی امی اور انکی چپل کی۔ کہ ہم کسی کام کے ہو جائیں ۔ مگر ہم تھے سدا کے کاہل اور آوارہ ۔ وقت کے ساتھ ساتھ چپل بدلتے رھے مکر ہم نہیں بدلے