Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

It is extremely embarrassing. It really is. I never asked anyone all this, I made my own way.
I don’t really blame them, they are just confused parents bewildered by the choices their children face today, things unheard of in their time. And so the instant they see/hear of anyone in IIT, they make a beeline for them. Which, for targets like me, I daresay is excessively embarrassing. I mean, isn’t it crazy to ask someone you don’t even know to literally make the decision about your child’s future? At office, I am being bombarded by requests to meet someone’s daughter, someone’s nephew, and heaven knows what else so I could “guide” them regarding the direction they should take. At least four guys have taken my number claiming some relative of theirs had kids who would like to be able to talk to me. So far, the only people calling are these guys themselves (even after incessant snubbing...shamelessly desperate, I tell you...) And these poor little kids are usually either in their 10th or they have just finished their 10th.
This lady from office dragged me to her house (“It’s just 5 minutes away, I’m sure my daughter will benefit if you brief her about things, I’ll drop you back, blah blah”) last evening and I was unceremoniously seated in front of a 10th class-goer. For a while I didn’t even know what to say and the kid, I daresay, was equally flabbergasted. And then I had to, for lack of other things to say, launch into a detailed (and horrendously boring) narrative into what I thought her choices should be. I kept stressing that the choice was hers in the end and literally begged her to consult others before she decided, coz I didn’t want to be burdened with the idea that I might just have screwed up with her life :D I kept thinking she would jump up and strangle me for being so hopelessly boring, but when I saw that she was actually hanging onto every word, I thought my own intestine might just jump up and do it anyway. Sadly enough, nothing did happen except that the lady got me an interestingly green drink in a mud pot, which I promptly devoured in the hope that it might do the trick, and that she was bored and wanted me to stop. At the very least, I hoped I would choke on it...Again, no luck. The drink tasted like muck, too.

And my mum laughed her ass off (no, no, I mean figuratively speaking) when I told her people were asking me for advice. She told me she thought those people needed help. Professional help, if you get the drift...