ALL INDIANS AREN'T BORN TO BE DOCTORS

M. Night Shyamalan is undoubtedly a talented
film director and potentially a great one, though
some critics thought his last movie
"Unbreakable" should have been called
"Unbearable."

He’s perhaps the most famous Indian-American,
especially if you exclude that incomparable
businessman whose voice is heard all over
America: Apu, from "The Simpsons."

Moviegoers should be glad Shyamalan,
writer-director of the 1999 mega-hit "Sixth
Sense," resisted his parents’ expectations. Like
so many Indian parents, they wanted their son to
become a doctor. After all, they were both
doctors and so were ten others in their family.
The Shyamalans, apparently, were born with
stethoscopes in their ears. Instead of saying "It’s
a boy!" the excited father would announce, "It’s
another doctor!"

"Medicine was in my genetic makeup,"
Shyamalan recently told Rolling Stone magazine.
"As an Asian child, it comes as natural as driving
a car."

If Shyamalan actually believes that, he’s
definitely in the dark. Perhaps that’s why he
changed his middle name to "Night."

It’s a good thing he didn’t become a geneticist.
He’d still be examining his DNA through a
microscope, searching desperately for that
"doctor" gene. I can just picture him making a
big announcement to his assistants: "Eureka!
There it is! The ‘doctor’ gene! I knew I’d find it.
No, wait. That’s just a particle of curry powder
from my lunch."

If medicine comes to Asians as naturally as
driving a car, what about all those Asians who
have no clue how to drive? While it’s true that
many Asians do become doctors, Shyamalan’s
statement only serves to perpetuate a myth:
that we’re somehow predisposed to medicine.
Not that I have anything against doctors. We
need them badly. I certainly don’t want to find
myself on an operating table with a doctor
snarling at me: "Aren’t you the guy who wrote
a critical column about doctors?"

I just hate to see Indian youths being pressured
to become doctors or anything else. These days,
so many are specializing in computers and I
can’t help wondering if they're all passionate
about that field. Or are some just passionate
about making money?

As a youngster, I felt a lot of pressure myself. Of
course, my mother did give me several career
choices. She said I could become any of the
following: surgeon, cardiologist, ophthalmologist
or pediatrician.

Needless to say, I eventually disappointed her
and became a writer. I’ve learned how to use
colons well, but fortunately never have to operate
on them. My mother still regrets my decision.
Several months ago, after she cut her finger in
the kitchen, I applied a small adhesive bandage
to it. "You did that so well," she said. "You should
have become a doctor."

Yes, I thought, I could have become a great
doctor. I could have erected a big sign outside
my medical practice: "Melvin Durai, Doctor of
Minor Cuts."

It doesn’t help that so many Indians of my
generation became doctors. Every time my
mother meets one of them, she probably thinks,
"That could have been my son." And every time I
see one of those doctors driving a Mercedes, I
think, "That could have been my car."

Actually, I’m not envious of them at all. I’m happy
as a writer. And I dream of the day when all
Indian children can explore their interests and
talents without constraints from parents and
society. Then perhaps more of them will sing like
Lata Mangeshkar, write fiction like R.K. Narayan,
and direct films like M. Night Shyamalan.