Draw your own line

You know what the problem with the world is? No one dares to differ. Everyone has to walk on the line that "society" has drawn for us. A little diversion from the path is considered deviance. People loathe those who try to be different; those who try to make their voices clearly heard amidst the din of noise; those who try to draw their own lines for themselves. They make sure that they frown upon these deviants and make the world a living hell for them. All they know is that these are deviants flouting the societal laws, but no one tries to figure out why. They think they are the torchbearers of social norms, and they fail to understand that each individual comes with a different set of answers to those existential questions that most people have in common to ask themselves. Even the loved ones join hands against the deviants that were thrust on them in the name of genealogy. They are concerned that this blood-related deviant would “go astray” if they show any signs of individualism. But what if they don’t? What if there is a possibility, remote though it “sounds”, that these deviant buds bloom more fully in a different soil, consuming different water, different air, and still be part of the same tree? And what about their concept of blooming? What if success to them does not mean whiling away in the plush chairs of their AC office chambers, but being in a place doing what they are good at, trying to be at peace with themselves, not blaming anyone else for the mess that their life is? What if success for them is not growing up in a world that measures success using the paycheque as a scale, but in a world where the sole purpose of life is not being successful, and doing what makes you happy is successful.

But instead, why are we made to repeat other people’s mistakes, and prevented from making our own? When we make our own mistakes, we have ourselves to blame; but when we repeat other’s blunders, it is a whole culture that grows blind to the fact that it is a mistake. Everyone is too busy following the line to point out its crookedness. They believe that if everyone else is doing the same thing, then it must be the right thing to do. The tendency to make decisions that are popular rather than meaningful (refer Janis, in a phenomenon called “Group Think”). And as such, we fail to understand that we are living other’s mistakes, and reliving them, and encouraging generation-to-come to do the same. All the beginnings and endings in the world will be the same…

People say that there are so many options and alternatives available today, as a justification for having followed the herd in their times. But what is the point of having new options if we cannot deal with the neglect of the existing ones? Many of these “new alternatives” will be lines drawn over the existing ones, and most of us would trace our steps forward on these lines. A large part of these “new alternatives” would have a few deviants drawing their own lines, ridiculed by society as they struggle with their lines in a culture unreceptive of individual lines. Maybe I stretched the metaphor too far, but that is exactly how far this farce of follow-the-herd attitude has been extended. But my point is not to be different for the sake of it, or for standing out. My point is, be what you decide to be, and be accountable for that decision, whether or not a 100 people agree.

Educate me

Today I am going to talk about our flea infested education system. There are millions of complains that I can list down, but I will talk about the issues I am facing today, right now…

Maharashtra government’s new rule, starting from this year onwards: you have to have your roots in Maharashtra to be a “valid” candidate, which means, your father and mother need to have been born and brought up in Maharashtra. This is so uncalled for. My mom was born and brought up in Mumbai, my dad came here when he was 16 yrs old, I was born here, and stayed here all my life, but still that doesn’t make me a “valid” candidate.

What does that change about me? Why does my place of birth really matter in my education? Why should everything else but my marks be of such a huge concern?

Why cant we grow out of our regressive tendencies? Why are we still trying to live in the dark ages? Why cant merit be the driving force of our country instead of caste and creed and race and place of birth and all the other irrelevant factors? Why am I denied privileges just because my father was not born in a particular place? Why should I suffer? I may be more eligible, meritoriously than a person who has his “roots” here…

Why is merit underplayed so much? The government’s policy towards eduction is so myopic? If I am born and brought up in Maharashtra, why do I need to show my domicile certificate in the first place? Aren’t my school, 10th, 12th, degree certificates proof enough that I am and have been a “permanent” citizen of Maharashta? This is just dirty politics, conveniently wrapped up in the label of administration. It is just to eliminate “outsiders”, and even when the people are very much part of the state and the city, this is just one way of being partial.

The education system is one organization that you expect to be objective in its approach and in handling the matters at hand. But evidently, that is not the case in this country. We boast of having so many IITs and world class facilities there. How much are we concerned about other subjects that are not considered vocational? How much have we done for the field of humanities? Are there any institutions like IITs that promote subjects like psychology, sociology, history and so on? This is exactly what encourages herd mentality in students. All people want a career in which they can grow and be satisfied on the professional front at least. But then if there are no career options in the subjects that people are really interested in, then they might opt to pursue courses that do ensure a job, irrespective of whether they are really interested in the field or not. The vocational institutes then churn out robots who rote learn their course materials and become doctors and engineers who just cannot live without elaborate textbook definitions, and are blissfully unaware of the true real-life relevance of their subject matter.

It is an unending saga, and no amount of complaining and grumbling about things is going to help anyone. We just compromise on merit and overrate the importance of every irrelevant thing like caste, race, religion, place of birth, zodiac signs, grandmother’s birthdays, birthmarks on your siblings, your great grandfather’s case history and your neighbour’s retirement plans.