Looking for the Rainbow

The cafe was quiet and peaceful,only a handful of people were present.Maya  saw Vastav watching the news on the TV with utmost attention which was debating on Nepotism.Vastav showed contempt and said-" Nepotism should stop,it's disgusting....Well sorry got carried away with the news,by the way  What did you say you like? Literature?? You must be a day dreamer,what's in Literature? It doesn't have the charm of solving equations or understanding the theorems.You people are lucky to write stories and poems and score marks."
The words stopped disturbing Maya now,since she was in school and was asked to speak about her favorite subject in one of the school extempore competition,she has faced this.Her friends would make fun of her,some of her teachers called her and told her," You are a bright girl, Literature is fine but look at the vast expanse of Science,it offers tremendous scope and opportunities." Some of her relatives at family gatherings would pass suppressed laughters when they saw Maya's parents discussing about their daughter's career.
She still remembers Megha Aunty's remarks-" She must be dumb,look at my Rohan,he has scored 97 in Maths and Physics,his teachers are sure that he will be going to the IITs.She is such a hopeless girl and I wonder what makes her parents stay calm? What is the future of pursuing Humanities in 2?"
Maya would often get to hear from her near ones,  " Oh!  A first class in Literature,what's so great about it, anyone can get it.We would have praised you if you had taken up Science and done so well."

Maya stopped sharing her happiness and achievements with people because she understood even when people talk about "Equality" giving "Equal Status", this seemed to be a fairy tale when comes to choosing career options.
She felt low when even after securing  distinction marks in English, History, Geography,her worth was questioned time and again.People called her -"Useless, Hopeless". The reason was simply because she tried to befriend the theorems of Maths,tried to love the Pungent smell in the Chemistry Labs,Gaze in wonder at the experiments with light in the Physics Lab but the Speech of Mark Antony at the funeral of Julius Caesar,the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Verses of Wordsworth charmed her more .She felt an irresistible pull hard to neglect.

Her parents too tried to make her fall in love with Trigonometry,the laws of Motion but Maya knew love can't be forced.
She couldn't stop herself from running under the Casuarina Tree seeking solace or Weep seeing  David  bullied in Salem House or wonder at the Beauty of the Nightingale.She felt alive,she felt fresh and it gave her the freshness that she longed for,her suffocation,her distress,her worries all washed away whenever she flipped through the pages of Literature.
Her parents too realized what she wanted and there after didn't force her for anything.
She took up English Hons in Graduation and then there came another episode of hatred and humilation.
Her neighbour had once remarked sarcastically-" If you don't know what to do in life,you take up English Hons.Its simple,write stories and get marks."
Her Uncle once brought a packet of sweets when his son had secured Admission in one of the topmost IITs,he ridiculed her father saying, " I had warned you brother,not to encourage her to read story books,see for yourself now.If she would have studied even a bit,she would have pursued Engineering or Medical."
Maya  wondered sometimes that why are people so obsessed with Engineering,Medical,IITs ? Why can't they just accept that every subject has their own charm.
She has seen many of her friends who some how managed to get pass marks,pursuing B.Tech just to please their parents or satisfy the parameters of being a 'good student' set up by the society.

So when she was meeting Vastav,she had never realized that she would be questioned about her choice of subject, because her parents told her that Vastav was a Professor and was highly educated and was soon leaving for his post doctorate in US. But Maya knew degree can't guarantee a person's character  or Maturity or even Wisdom.
Vastav himself had been a Professor for a long time, moulding so many young minds but he himself failed to mould his own thoughts when time came.
Maya politely sipped her coffee and said-" Well that's true, literature doesn't have the charm of solving equations or understanding theorems but you also have no idea about the origin of Language,it's history,you don't get to witness the charm of understanding Prosody or feel the Rasas watching your favorite Series.We never talk about the Theories of Sublimity or try to make you understand Poetics because I believe every subject is Beautiful.
Well yes,I am still shocked witnessing your hypocrisy, you showed disdain a few minutes back watching the news on TV talking about 'Nepotism',well what you have failed is to understand that you yourself are a part of this, while humilating 'Literature' and drawing parallels between Science and Humanities.
Don't worry,I am not shocked,well people in your periphery might be when you go abroad for your Post Doc,I knew that Maya and Vastav can never come to a common ground,but still I wanted to give it a try,just in the hope that I might be proved wrong,but you didn't disappoint me.Take care".

Pouring her heart out,she walked out of the Cafe, smiling at herself for being able to speak up and express everything she wanted to since long.
Her phone beeped and she saw the message of her best friend who asked her about the date,she smiled and wrote- "He wasn't my Mr Darcy,he was like the barren dry land of Wasteland,he was no less than a Dark Cloud but I have not stopped believing that I will find my Rainbow after the  dark clouds clear up and I wish to get drenched in the downpour to the tunes of Tagore."