These Agra youngsters follow their passion full-time

Aviral Kaushik, 19, a resident of Paschim Puri, never enjoyed attending classes. He was more keen on singing and hosting events. And according to Aviral, this was no child’s indecision, he was sure about what he wanted to do in life. So when his friends began preparing, in the final years of school, for entrance exams to get enrolled in top colleges, Aviral chose to not follow them.Instead, after school, he enrolled himself for a BBA course and an event management course through distance learning. "I am doing the courses just for the degrees while pursuing my interests full-time," says Aviral, who is now running an event management company with a friend.
Aviral is not alone. A number of youngsters in Agra are choosing to not attend regular courses after school. Rather, they are pursuing courses through distance learning while working and training in the field of their choice. Aviral shares, "After class X Board exams, my family pressurized me to take up Science. I didn’t like the subjects and my interest lay in music and events. I started a YouTube channel where I used to upload videos of my singing. It was at that time only that this idea of starting an event management company struck me. And with a friend of mine, I started the company.” He adds, “I know what I want and this first-hand work experience will help me more in future than some subjects learnt in a classroom. Also, there is no surety if I will land a job even after finishing regular college. So why waste time doing something I am not keen on?"
Aviral Kaushik,an event manager, is pursuing BBA through correspondence
Youngsters pursue degree through correspondence to focus on their passion
Shambhavi Thakur, 19, resident of Tundla, started singing at the age of five. The youngster is currently running a YouTube channel and is pursuing BA (hons) in political science through distance learning. She is also undertaking a formal training in singing from Suresh Wadekar Institute in Mumbai, where she lives now. She shares, "I have been singing and performing from a very young age. My mother is a trained classical singer. But my parents never wanted me to pursue singing as a career as they thought it is not a steady and respectable career choice. In fact, this is the same reason why my mom also left singing and went ahead to pursue a career in academics.” She adds, “My family wanted that I became a doctor but I was keen on pursuing my passion, music. I started creating and uploading videos on YouTube. For my very first video, I got a good response with 2,000 views on YouTube. Then a live performer from the city, Raghav Chaitanya, asked me if I wanted to join his crew to perform live at events. I joined him and for a single event, I got paid `50,000. It was then that I was able to convince my parents that singing can be a steady career option too!"
Shambhavi Thakur is running a YouTube channel and is pursuing BA (hons) through distance learning
Mudit Sharma, an aspiring film-maker, is currently learning the art of film-making from an art director in Delhi. He has passed out of class 12 earlier this year and even before the Board results were out, he was already assisting the director. Mudit says, "Since I was in class 9, I knew I want to be a film-maker. Initially, I thought of getting full-time into a film-making institute and then I changed my mind and decided to assist a film-maker. I knew that even after a formal degree in filmmaking, I will need to assist a director for that real experience. I am doing a degree course through correspondence now as my parents think a formal education degree is must. This suits me as, at the same time with studies, I am able to pursue my passion at a professional level."
Shambhavi Thakur
‘I have to attend classes for two days a week, the rest of the time I can concentrate on making music’
Yash Srivastava, who finished school this year, has now joined a sound engineering course from Tilak Maharashtra University in Pune. He is a music enthusiast and produces Electronic Dance Music (EDM) at a professional level. He shares, "I have been producing music professionally since I was 14 and wanted to build a career in music. Having played in so many clubs and music fests, it was tough for me to decide whether to join a regular course after college and stop performing or to do a course through correspondence because I didn’t want to attend college and learn things I already knew because of my professional exposure. Therefore, I decided to join a course in sound engineering at Tilak Maharshtra University as they have classes only twice a week. The rest of the week, I can concentrate on making music."
Music enthusiast Yash Srivastava is producing EDM music professionally and studying sound engineering through correspondence