This is the more creative me side and the other is more logical rational and objective as to what i was to be a lawyer and go to law school " The constant tap of a foot keeping beat. Nails cut so short that they can no longer grow past the skin that surrounds them. These are all characteristics of a piano player. I have had a love-hate affair with the piano. I had different suitors of course; the classic American baby grand piano, the modern plastic keys of the electronic keyboard and the exotic, fragile harmonium of India. In Indian classical music, the synonymous terms for beat and scale are taal and raaga respectively. Although both have the same notes, the striking difference between a raaga and a typical scale, is that the creator of the raaga has the ability to improvise. One can create a variety of melodies within the same framework and still be considered a scale. Often in my life, I found similarities between me and the music I desperately tried to master. My life has been one ever-evolving raaga, complete with interludes and conscious wavering from the well known tune.
Coming from a family of doctors, the medical profession was synonymous with success and altruism. I was constantly pushed into the field of medicine. Albeit I had an interest in science, a phrase that often reverberated throughout our home was “----”. In chemistry, I felt like the elemental ore being described by the professor. That when extracted from deep caves there is an immediate need to be made into a metal. The forte of my relatives further insinuated that I needed to be purified and polished like a doctor. But more often than not, I think everyone forgets that a metal ore is the natural state of a metal. Besides containing the obvious metal, the ore contains other important elements. Like a metal ore, law encompasses all parts of our lives, our health, well-being and role in the world, not just one specific thing.
I always felt inclined toward law because skills of rhetoric, logic and knowledge are the only things that can help you win any battle, physically and mentally. I felt no need to be changed from who I naturally was; I fought to keep degree ___. I have always been inclined to help others but with a fair hand. Often what I felt was lacking in medicine was that no amount of pills, surgeries and medical research could help improve, protect or measure the human spirit. Of course medicine improves one’s health and well-being but what I craved for was the more permanent laws of society to govern and provide justice to our ever-changing human wills. The human spirit is something to be treasured from the beginning, just like the metal ore in a lake. Society is rankled in broken justice systems, where the guilty are let free and the innocent are behind bars. More often that not, once an innocent is proven guilty, it’s hard for anyone to see that they are better than a piece of scrap metal. In my experiences at a family violence clinic, I found the women there full of spirit but were broken down in a way that not even a doctor can fix. These women needed justice and as a simple volunteer I wanted to do more than provide a warm hug, stamp papers and listen to the disheartening stories of the calamity in their lives, I wanted to act to change it.
Law is not a concrete, well-defined subject at all times. It is highly complex and intertwined leaving one has to constantly evaluate and justify why something is right and wrong. At any moment one’s view can be declared invalid. Like the notes of a raaga, law seems deceivingly concrete, but there are a multiple ways to interpret the notes. There will be times where society will not like the melody you create or defend. Like the three pianos I’ve encountered in my life, law is a career path that I feel fits my personality as close to as how natural my fingers feel touching keys of ivory. Whether the sounds are created by keys attached to the steel strings of an American grand piano, manifested electronically by the creators of the keyboard, or produced by air flowing through an Indian harmonium, the important thing is that these sounds all create music. So in my own raaga, I create my own interpretation of the purpose of life. As an orchestra conductor directs his audience to the right notes, I want to someday fulfill the conducting position of a lawyer, by becoming a musician of law."
