The Cult of Suffering manifests not in grand tragedies, but in the quiet, celebrated tragedies of our life choices. The most detrimental paths in India are not vices like drugs or crime. They are the socially-approved, “safe” paths that are unimaginative and, if we are honest with ourselves, cowardly.

This is the Tyranny of the Safe Path.

It is the silent, crushing expectation that the highest aspiration is a life free from risk, a life that is legible and respectable to the previous generation. The holy trinity of this tyranny is the government job (UPSC), the bank job (PO), and the arranged marriage into a “good family.”

Why are these choices, so often lauded as the pinnacle of success, so detrimental? Because they are a kind of death. They are the slow suicide of the soul.

First, it is the death of curiosity. The path is a pre-defined checklist. Get the degree, pass the exam, get the promotion, buy the flat. There is no room for exploration, for trying something and failing, for discovering a passion at twenty-five that you didn’t know you had at eighteen.

The Rails of the Safe Path: Trading curiosity for certainty

You are on rails, and the scenery never changes.

Second, it is the outsourcing of your identity. Your identity is handed to you, pre-fabricated. You are not a person with unique interests and a complex inner world; you are your designation. “He is an IAS officer.” “She is a bank manager.” It requires no internal work, and therefore, allows for no personal growth.

Finally, and most tragically, it is the bartering of your potential for their peace of mind. This is the core transaction. You are trading your one, wild, precious life for the comfort of your parents and the approval of your relatives. You are sacrificing your potential for their peace. It is the ultimate act of self-abandonment disguised as an act of duty.

The Resume-Built Human: Sacrificing curiosity and identity for social respectability

The person who follows the safe path is simply deferring their existential dread. At forty, the question will inevitably surface: “Is this it? Is this all my life was meant to be?”

Learning to “keep” your unconventional ambitions is the first step in resisting this tyranny. It is about creating a private space where you can explore the “unpressured options”—the “good enough” job that funds your passion, the portfolio career, the intentional sabbatical—before the world tells you they are not safe.