Arjit Agarwal has been obsessed with wildlife since the age of two and even published a book on his favourite animal, the leopard, at the age of 16. Before he signed up to study Ecology in a college in the US, he was clear that he wanted to spend a gap year immersing himself in wildlife parks. He planned 14 safaris for his gap year and managed to gather work experience with conservationists, naturalists, and rangers through this time.
Arjit’s favourite trips were to Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh where he had some incredible leopard sightings as well as to Masai Mara in Kenya. Bandhavgarh National Park| Photo Credit:Sourabh Bharti/ Getty Images To defer, to take a gap year, a year off, a bridge year — these are ideas that used to be scary for many, but are now being contemplated by many young people at the cusp of adulthood. Taking a gap year between high school and college is not common practice in India but more people are open to the idea now than ever before.
“From our experience, there is a slight increase in students taking gap years as opposed to earlier,” says Nitin Jain, co-founder of On Course, an Indian educational consulting firm. “There are lots of reasons for this. A gap year used to be considered taboo but now that feeling has diminished.
There was this idea that college admissions would be harder after taking a gap year but that myth has been busted. Lots of students get into college after taking a break,” he adds. In fact, Harvard Unive.
