Seriously, Who Made These Rules?

When I was a kid, everyone who knew how to talk said I am so weak that I'll fly away with the wind... But I have firmly held my ground yet. 

Father said if you watch TV or spend time doing anything but studies, you will have to beg... I did as he said, but there's not much gap between a beggar n me (in fact, most beggars are rich) 

Every relative said I have a straight nose, and big eyes, and everything is where and how it should be. So, I have a bright future... I'll be 30 soon, I still don't know where my bright future is hiding.

Teachers said you only have to study hard for this one year of 10th std... I studied hard from KG just to be safe, only to hear that the next two years after the 10th are 1000 times more important. 

Dad said you'll get a good score for engineering only if u sit for 14-16 hours each day... I sat for 14-16 hours; I still didn't get good grades. 

By my 4th year of engineering, everyone was sure, I was a disaster. After all, once a bright student couldn't even become job-eligible, let alone secure an on-campus placement... Got one off campus, better paying than the average package, and with a good profile.

Early to start, early to get married and have a meaningful life, they said... Now, I stand ahead in the singles queue that's thinning each day. (Not complaining at all about this!) 

She's a good girl, saves up all her money, doesn't spend a lot on herself, sign of a good future wife, it appeared... Invested all those savings and left the job instead, to travel and pursue my dream. 

She's so silent, so obedient, a perfect example of how a girl should be, they said... Shed that obedient skin so miraculously, the same people would now write my biography titled ' how to ruin your own life - 101'

People assumed I was sad and incompetent to have left my job. Told me to pray to God that everything will be good, someone will marry me one day very soon... Actually, that time was when I was the happiest, and felt proud of myself for having stood up for myself and taken my own decisions.

Travelling is for the strong-hearted, nothing is as safe as your home and your family, they taught us...The moment I come home, I start sneezing, fall ill every week. I fractured a leg just outside my home and broke a chin inside the home. Felt the safest, warmest, and most understood, with strangers than in the family. 

Writing a book? Here's another wave of madness... I could sense them thinking.

Writing in English? Who reads English? - now, I devise ways of telling how India is bigger than Maharashtra, and not all Maharashtrians are Marathi readers. (don't get me wrong, someday I do want to write a Marathi book) 

Even if you pay lakhs of rupees, no one will read your book, dad said... Sold the first 50 within a week without paying a dime... 

Nobody reads these days, I have readers who dm me with one clever word I wrote, one incident I have twisted well, and a pun hidden in the acknowledgements page of my book. 

My caring elders keep calling and say- published a book? okay, we let you do what you wanted to do, now get married, only few days left (because a women's life ends if she isn't a wife and a mother before 30) ... Here I am on the verge of 30, feeling like I have just been born.

So seriously people, who on Earth made these rules??? And why do we have to follow them? 

Tell me which ones are you sick of, will you?