Three phone calls with relatives who are not doctors or engineers

Every time someone asks me "what after twelfth?" the room goes quiet and then my relatives list the same two options like it's a menu: doctor, engineer. Both are good, honestly. But I write poetry in the back of my chemistry notebook and I wasn't sure those were my only doors. So over two weekends I did something slightly nerdy. I called three relatives who do something else for a living, with a page of questions.

My questions were the same each time: What do you do all day? What's the boring part? What did you study? What would you tell a seventeen-year-old? No salary talk. I didn't want a number to decide this for me.

Call 1: my mama, who is a journalist

He works at a news desk. His day, as he described it, starts with a morning meeting where people pitch stories, and then most of the day is phone calls, checking facts, and writing quickly while someone is waiting for it. He said the glamorous bit (the byline, someone reading it) is maybe five percent of it. "The rest is checking whether the thing you were told is actually true."

The boring part: waiting. For a reply, for a document, for someone to pick up. The scary part: being wrong in print. "A mistake can't be unsaid, you can only publish a correction."

What to study? He said a mass communication degree helps, but that it's not the only door. What editors look at is what you've actually written and whether you can be trusted with facts. Read widely, write often, and learn to say "I'm not sure, let me verify."

Call 2: my masi, a lawyer

She practises in a court. I imagined dramatic speeches. She laughed for a full minute. "Law is mostly reading and waiting, with five minutes of drama." She reads files, drafts papers, waits in corridors for a case to be called, and talks to clients who are often stressed. Some days she doesn't argue at all.

How you get in: after twelfth, you can take an entrance test for a five-year integrated law degree (the national law universities have a common test, and other universities have their own tests). Or you can finish any degree first and then do a three-year law course. Any stream can do law, science students too. The early years, she said, can be slow and sometimes badly paid, and you build a reputation one case at a time. She said she reads more than she did in school, and that she is happier for it.

Call 3: a CA uncle (family friend)

He's a chartered accountant. His day: client files, audits, tax work, spreadsheets, and a very busy season around deadlines when "nobody sleeps normally." He said the practical training years (called articleship) are where he really learned the work, because you sit in a real office doing real files.

The path as he described it: register after twelfth, clear a foundation level, then an intermediate level, do the practical training, then the final level. He said it is long and tough, and many people need more than one attempt for some papers. I'm not going to guess numbers; check the official institute's website for the current rules, because he said they change.

What he liked: people trust you with their money's paperwork. What he didn't like: the seasonal pressure and endless rules to keep updated.

What the three have in common

Field	A normal day (from my notes)	How you get in	The honest bad part
Journalism	Meetings, calls, fact-checking, writing to a deadline	Any degree + writing you can show	Waiting, deadlines, public mistakes
Law	Reading, drafting, waiting for your case	Entrance test after 12th, or a law degree after graduation	Slow, uncertain early years
Chartered accountancy	Files, audits, tax, spreadsheets	Registration after 12th, staged exams, practical training	Long road, seasonal rush

Notice: none of them said "follow your passion." All three said something more annoying and more useful: go and spend a day with someone who does it. A day shadowing an actual lawyer tells you more than ten career videos. All three also said they are still reading and studying every week. Nobody "finishes" learning.

What I'm doing with this

Honestly, I'm leaning towards writing and photography as a base, possibly journalism, but I might change my mind in a month and I'm okay with that. I'm still doing my boards well, because every one of them told me the first filter is marks and basic discipline whichever door you pick. I didn't get time to call my designer cousin or my friend's brother who builds games. That's the next round.

If you have a relative who does something unusual, call them. Bring a page of questions. They'll probably be thrilled someone asked.