There are a few things that unite every Indian kid, regardless of where they grew up. The crushing burden of the annual CBSE exams, the existential dread of facing relatives at family functions, and that one question that haunts you from age five to fifty: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Oh, that question. It was never just a question. It was a social contract. A demand to specialise. To pick a single path and walk it, head down, for the rest of your life. Like you’re a train on a single track with no U-turns allowed.
I’ve heard it all, from the ambitious “astronaut” to the slightly more grounded “bus conductor.” (Hey, someone’s gotta drive the bus, right?) But here’s the thing that always bugged me. We’d all sit in the same classroom, studying the same history lessons and the same algebra, and yet we were expected to become wildly different things. Why would an aspiring scientist need to know about the Tundra region? Why did the future artist have to learn about the Battle of Panipat? It felt like we were all walking on a single road, but telling ourselves we were going to completely different destinations. It made no sense.
This philosophy—this idea of picking one thing and sticking to it—feels like it’s from a bygone era, like black-and-white TV and the concept of “job security.”
The world has changed. The old script has been torn up. Being a specialist is a risky business today. You spend 20 years mastering one craft, and then some random algorithm or a guy from Silicon Valley with a lot of money and a weird obsession with AI comes along and replaces you. Poof. Just like that, your entire identity is gone.
You know who gets this? The Bollywood actor.
Think about it. We’ve all seen it. The actor who started as the chocolate boy hero—the one we somehow tolerated in 90s rom-coms—suddenly shows up as a menacing villain, and he’s brilliant at it. What would they have answered as a kid? “I want to be a hero when I grow up.” And yet, life threw a curveball. They realised that to survive, they had to adapt. They had to learn a new skill.
And it doesn’t stop there. Look at any major film star today. They’re not just actors. They’re entrepreneurs, movie producers, textile brand owners, and restaurant chain investors. They’re a portfolio of skills, not a single profession. It’s no longer about, “What is the one thing I do best?” The new question is, “What all can I do?”
This isn’t about being good at just one thing. It’s about having the confidence to be good at anything you need to be good at.
The world is a pop quiz, and you never know what subject is coming next. The only thing you can control is the confidence to know you can study for it and pass.
So, the next time you meet a child, don’t ask them what they want to be. Ask them what they can be.
Because in today’s world, the answer isn’t a single destination. It’s a map full of possibilities. And a good map is all you need to get lost and found, again and again.
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