In the present time, most of the students want to pursue a degree in engineering, medicine, and economics. Such courses might look attractive in terms of compensation but honing mastery into such subjects/domains is not everyone’s cup of tea. Such courses require special aptitude and mental ability to make it big in life. This is the reason many students are stepping out of such conventional career boundaries and moving towards many other exciting career opportunities.

There are numerous off-beat courses available in India, which one can choose to turn his/her passion into profession and earn his/her living with dignity and respect. Few of such off-beat courses are enlisted here.

Tea Taster

Indians love tea. This beverage is almost termed as the elixir of life in India. If tea refreshes your mind and you can’t live a single day without sipping your favourite tea than nothing could be far better than tasting all kinds of tea and making a living out of it.

Tea taster is a very specialized career option, which is considered as one of the gifted careers in the world today. If your taste buds can differentiate and understand the contents of tea then you have a great chance to succeed as a tea sommelier.

A tea sommelier not only tastes the tea but also provides valuable advice to the tea growers regarding tea cultivation, manufacturing, and branding. Such professionals convey various ways in which tea can be brewed in order to achieve a particular taste that can set right chord amongst the tea lovers.

There are many certificate and diploma courses available in India (spanning from 3 months to 1 year) that anyone can choose to hone mastery in this field.

Gerontology

Aging is a natural and inevitable stage of human lifecycle. As people grow older, their needs, expectations, behaviours, and body functioning attain changes relevant to the age. But studies reflect that most of the times, even after having good intentions, we are unable to righteously care our elderly one. No matter how better a family member or social activist is in helping elders, there is always a gap between what is exactly expected and what is being delivered. To fill this gap and in order to assist elders to live better and healthier life- this field of gerontology has been developed. Gerontology is a study of the social, psychological, and biological aspects of aging.

If making a difference in someone’s life invigorates your conscience and makes you feel happy, then the career option of a Geriatric is right for you. As a Geriatric, you can provide high-quality and person-centred care for older adults.

There is a huge demand of Geriatrics in the world today and several NGO’s and community service organizations always search for a trained Geriatric professional.

Puppetry

Making people laugh or portraying a serious social concern in the form of storytelling is a challenging art. However, when the same thing one has to perform with colourful costumes, memorable characters and mesmerizing script, that too through puppets then such art requires a greater mastery in it.  Puppetry is one of the oldest forms of entertainment in India where 18 different forms of it exists in almost 11 different Indian states.

Puppetry is more than just playing with puppets. Nowadays, puppetry is also being use to teach students various critical topic in a humorous and engaging ways. This art which many believes has been on existence for over 5,000 years was in danger of getting lost, however, it is again gaining recognition and appreciation. There are many Indian universities that offers certificate courses in puppetry and a puppeteer can grab various freelance projects when one hones mastery into this art form. However, this course is mostly pursued by people who have passion towards puppetry.

Food Flavourist or Flavour Chemist

Flavours, whether it is natural or artificial, add taste to the food and invigorate human senses. It is an important aspect (in food processing industry) which creates a ‘wow’ factor and persuades customers to come back and buy the same product again and again. This is the reason there is a huge demand of Food Flavourist or Flavour Chemists in various industries.

This job is closely related to chemistry and those who are interested in learning and exploring the properties of various chemicals can opt for the said course.

In this job, a candidate has to understand various aspects concerning different aroma chemicals, essential oils, and plant extracts. Such aspirants should have the aptitude to mix various ingredients in order to make a unique mouth-watering flavour that adds taste to any dish or beverages.

A flavourist can find job in various sectors like food & beverages, cosmetics, fragrance, amongst many other business verticals.

Photonics

Those who are very curious in scientific study and research- Photonics is a great career option for them. This course offers the concepts of optics and electronics to students. Basically, it is a field that deals in photons (elementary particles of light) and help students understand the techniques of emission, detection, transmission, and modulation of light. It is considered as the technology of 21st century just like electronics was considered as the technology of 20th century.

There is a huge scope of career growth in this career track. A photonics graduate can start his/her career as an assistant to engineers and can climb the success ladder to reach towards the top positions like research directors or principal engineers. There are ample job opportunities available for a photonics graduate in telecommunications industry and various R&D departments.

Eagle Photonics, Kwality Photonics, SpherOptics, J2 Optronics, Optiwave Photonics, Sterlite optical technologies amongst other are some of the top recruiters that hires a photonics graduates.

As a trained photonist you can certainly find a lucrative job in both private and government organization. Since, there is a huge short fall of trained professionals in this field while the demand is more.

— Ashwini Deshmukh