Nothing Special

Sorry folks, it has been long since have I have scribbled. But what to do!!! I am tethered to such a place where finding internet is as easy as finding penguins in Sahara. I'll continue this blogging as soon as I get back to Delhi....
Life sucks, it truly does....trust me:(

Survival

They talk about religion, they talk about faith, they talk about science and technology but what eventually matters is the struggle for survival. Nothing else matters to man more than survival when the dark clouds of demise start shrouding. And it is during those times that anything that aid his cause of existence is celebrated. Morality and ethics take a backseat when our endurance is interrogated. This is perhaps why a crime committed during self-protection is not considered beyond the horizon of humanitarian laws.

Religion and science ought to be embraced as long as they assure better living conditions for the whole ecology. No sooner than they become a burden and hinder the smooth flow of the system, they are thrown out to make room for some other useful tool for easy survival. Rigid and brittle customs and ideas always make way for flexible ones. Change is the law of nature and anything (and anyone) daring to go beyond this eternal convention is shown the exit door.

We always use things (and ideas) around us. Don’t we? That’s what they have been created for. Who cares about religion if it can’t cater essential daily meals to a man? Likewise, why will someone endorse science if it can satisfy the basic needs of a man? The first thing that a man worries about is the source of fulfillment of his basic needs. Everything like humanity, brotherhood, charity, holiness are taken care of thereafter. Many call it selfish attitude but that’s the way it goes! My-survival-comes-first attitude is what man has honored till now. Let’s see how far this aureate attitude can carry us. There is and always will be a huge gulf between ideality and reality. What do you say?

Random

Life, as they say, is full of many more surprises and eldritch events than those in the most enthralling fiction one would ever come across. Just when we think that it is the end of the richest and most eventful experience, life promptly throws one more opportunity to attend something new, something unexpected. On the similar lines, when everything seems to be going right and we feel ourselves to be the best and luckiest person around, Someone makes sure that we know that dreadful times can be just around the corner. A great leveling act…isn’t it? I need to meet this equalizing person (person???).

We always gauge life in terms of victories and defeats, gains and losses, good(s) and bad(s), successes and failures, love and hate, and what not! But the subtle difference between the above mentioned terms is that while all other terms are relative, love and hate are always absolute, to say the least. There are zones beyond the periphery of gains and losses, beyond the boundaries of good and bad, beyond the fringes of success and failure. But everything and everyone seems to lie within the set of love and hate. Right from the first look, we tend to form a certain degree of respect (or disrespect) which gradually changes as we come across it thereafter. The scale of respect (and disrespect) can always be modified into that of love (and hate). Where shall I keep that equalizing person on this scale? Never thought about it! See, I am (of course, pretending to be) too busy a person!!!(lol)

Anyway, coming back to the topic of surprises that life presents, the weirdest of all is the microscopic amount of time (microseconds???) one needs to change his view about something. Knowing the kind of moody (read insane!) person that I am, one can easily guess how quickly my finger moves on the love-hate scale. And delivering no surprises, I woefully inform that the worst hit person in my game of pointing-finger-on-scales is none other than yours truly. Can’t help! Rules of the game are fixed and the show must go on. Casualties are part and parcel of the game. No matter if the injured (or killed) person is the mentor himself. That’s what the audience enjoys. Entertaining the world at one's own cost has a delight of its own.

"That’s the spirit my boy!!!", Someone whispers into my curious ears every now and then.

Words

There are phases in one’s life when empowerment of speech becomes the most appreciated gift of God to him and he just seeks acceptance of one last wish, which, according to him, is as important as the gift of speech---the presence of one such person who can listen all his thoughts, all his feelings, all his plans; that too without making any comment, without yielding any solution, without rendering any appreciation, without pointing any flaw. He solely wishes to read all the remarks, solutions, admirations and transgressions through the medium of continuously changing emotions on the face of the silent listener. Those births and deaths of different horizontal lines on the forehead, those narrowings and widenings of the eyes, those frequent changes in the curves traced by the lips of the trusted listener are supposed to generate indispensable, invisible words that the speaker’s eyes can easily decipher. The idea of transferring thoughts from our own mind and heart to someone else’s using audible words as protocol and then deriving response in the form of facial words brings holy peace to mind and soul…Trust me…
It is just a matter of finding one such person! Easier said than done...:)

Discovery

We live with ourselves 24 hours a day and we still struggle to define ourselves. We find it difficult to guess how we will conduct in a given situation. We live in an environment where we need to prove our credibility, our potential, our transcendence every now and then. And the worst part of the job is that we always need to establish ourselves in the eyes of those whom we love and believe in. We are constantly gazed at by the eyes of our community and surroundings. We are always on trial!

At times, this scenario makes life difficult and repressing as well. We are usually scared of what our loved ones would think of us if they come to know the literal human being inside us. In order to confront this arduous job of pleasing others, we generally wear masks and feign to be virtuous in front of others. In fact, the masks continue to change as we encounter different people. And continuous compliance to this pretence for a certain period of time buries our original face somewhere deep inside us. We tend to forget and sometimes, ignore what we actually are made up of.

In such a play script, some of our inherent feelings get submerged and are often not allowed to come out. There are certain forces and urges inside us that are blocked down for the sake of shamming. The posture of a rebel, a maverick and an outspoken person are asked to take a backseat for maneuvering this delusive task.

Why are we always asked to alter ourselves in order to shift into the comfort zone of the society? Do we constitute the society or is it the other way around? For how long shall we live pretending ourselves to be benevolent towards the wily society?

We ought to discover our actual character before we completely lose ourselves. But knowing ourselves is generally as difficult as detecting water in a desert. One way to let the dormant energy inside us pop up is by arguing with ourselves in rugged situations. Let us be honest to ourselves; fight against ourselves; and even be cruel to ourselves just to know what steel we are made up of. Character is defined by what we do when left alone. And we must adopt the same rules while being constantly stared by vicious eyes of the society. Let everybody know what we actually are. No fear, no pretence, no hiding. If you love me for what I am---Great. And even if you hate me for what I am---Great!!!

49.5%

49.5% - This number has succeeded in bewildering and to some extent, scaring masses over the last couple of weeks. Though I wished to write about it just after the declaration of this vicious reservation policy, I took my time to hunt the pros and cons assorted to it. I googled and came out with some interesting but blue results.

Let us first see what exactly this reservation policy holds in its core. I will not reserve myself just talking about 27% reservation for what they call OBCs but include few issues related to 22.5% reservation for SC/ST category as well. This highly-talked-about idea of reservation of seats in different institutions handled by government was first pronounced by Dr. B R Ambedkar, the creator of our constitution. It might be an interesting fact for few people that Dr. B R Ambedkar himself was a part of the backward section of the newly independent Indian society. He had probably witnessed the problems that the people of his community suffered with and hence, thought of erasing those problems by aiding them with this reservation policy. When this policy was first implemented, it was decided that it would be ceased once those socially backward people come at par with the non-backward section of the society.

No problems till now! Indian society moved on with this reservation policy and the backwards went on enjoying the reservation and slowly we reached the stage while V P Singh was enjoying his few golden years of his life as the PM of the largest democracy. Mandal commission had submitted its report about the socially backward and uneducated class of the society in 1980 and based upon it, reservation was supposed to be implemented during V P Singh’s era.

Let us see what Mr. B P Mandal had to say about Indian society. According to him, there are as many as 3743 castes and communities belonging to the OBC category which constitutes 52% of the Indian population. Moreover, it was already declared that around 25% of Indian population belongs to SC/ST category. So, class 2 Mathematics says that around 75% of Indian population is backward%, oh yes you read it correctly, 75%. Fantastic result! Isn’t it? There are few more such antic results to follow. Carry on.

There are 11 indicators which form the backbone of the results of the Mandal Commission. They are subdivided into 3 categories—Social, Educational and Economic. The 11 indicators for deciding OBCs are:

Social

• Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others.
• Castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labor for their livelihood.
• Castes/classes where the percentage of married women below 17 is 25% above the state average in rural areas and 10% in urban areas; and that of married men is 10% and 5% above the state average in rural and urban areas respectively.
• Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 25% above the state average.

Educational

• Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5 to 15 years who never attended school is at least 25% above the state average.
• Castes/classes where the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5-15 years is at least 25% above the state average.
• Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25% below the state average

Economic

• Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25% below the state average.
• Castes/classes where the number of families living in kachcha houses is at least 25 % above the state average.
• Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50% of the households.
• Castes/classes where the number of the house-holds having taken a consumption loan is at least 25% above the state average.

Though these indicators may sound perfectly normal at first look to many people, it has a number of loopholes which can be (and are!) easily exploited. Few of the above mentioned points are quite acceptable but some of them are very hazy and hence, controversial.

In 1990, the amendment in the constitution for 27% reservation was proposed in the Parliament but it broke the backbone of the government and Mr. V P Singh had to eventually resign.

Everything settled down. No reservation for OBCs but SC/ST categories continued enjoying the gratifying 22.5% reservation. 2006 arrives and this time, Arjun Singh comes up with a similar proposal for 27% reservation for OBC students in government educational institutions including IITs and IIMs. Here again, furor and protests rose from every corner of India. People who advocate this policy argue that this reservation policy for the OBCs would eventually lead to upgradation of the socially and economically backward section of the society. On the other hand, people who protest this policy say that it would dilute the high standards which these education institutions have set over the last fifty years. No denials. Valid points from both the sections!

Let’s see the crux of the problem. A generally-category-student scores 75 marks in a highly competitive entrance examination only to lose the seat to a reserved-category-student who scored mere 55. Result—that general-category-student will never be satisfied with this policy of undue inclination towards a reserved-category-student. It will obviously germinate the seeds of hatred against students obtaining preference over him. Moreover, the institution has to admit a student who is less meritorious than few others students who wrote the examination. The only gainer seems to be the student who enjoys the admission in the dandy institution just because he belongs to SC/ST/OBC category. Talking about the profit of the nation, it gained a student who is far less meritorious; it gained the hatred against reserved people and thus, disunity! Nation got richer!!!

But, is that the end of the story? No, not at all! Let’s confer what that student confronts once he enters the high-profile institution. He is asked to keep pace with those students who scored around 90 in the entrance examination. The result is quite obvious. He finds it difficult to match the demands of a cruel environment and generally falls behind. In some cases, he even struggles to secure the degree in the specified duration. Is this the kind of progress they look for??? I wonder!

The scenario is not very different in other fields as well. Even in jobs, they scramble against people who are much more meritorious. But, there is an interesting result to follow. Among people having annual earnings more than Rs. 50,000 in government jobs, the average salary of a SC/ST category person is nearly twice of that of a general category person, thanks to ultra-quick promotions through reservation policy. Though it contributes to better lives for reserved people at the expense of general category people, what nation loses is the service of people who are much more meritorious.

The problem is that the fruits of this policy never reach the section of the society that really needs it. It is always enjoyed by the richer section of the reserved class which has the capability to earn bread on its own. The poorer class is always deprived of the yields of this policy and thus, its condition never changes. In fact, it always shifts from bad to worse.

But the million dollars is question is—what is the solution of this problem? How can both these issues be taken care of? We can’t ignore one of them for the sake of other. It is a well known truth that merit is not the sole property of the forward section of the society. If given a chance, the backward class can also gain the skills needed to match shoulders in different spheres. So, there should be certain reservation for the economically backward people (in form of certain seat reservation and free education) at the primary level, say primary schools, so that they get equal opportunities to read and write and learn and as the person moves to the higher levels, the reservation should be gradually diminished so that it results to absolutely zero reservation when it comes to job prospects. This option serves the socially and economically backward section of the society without the interest of the forward class being hampered. Moreover, the nation will also gain the best hands to serve it. I sincerely hope that such an environment shapes up where every person of the society, no matter which class or creed or section he belongs to, gets fair and equal opportunity and that will be in the best interest of the nation.

Different Dimensions

Recognition captures the top rank when desires of a human being are talked about. Every person has a concealed desire to be recognized as an intellect and it is often forgotten that intellect is not the only parameter that defines a human being. There are several instances when we do things that an intellect is not supposed to practise. Anger and shedding tears are just few of them.

We always seek reasons for happenings around us and that’s our only criteria for judging the reality. We generally ask questions like why, why-not and how before placing an event in an elite category called facts. Hence, we, rather unknowingly, formulate two sets in which we drop ideas; one being objective and other subjective. We, in our mad quest of realism and truth, assume that intellect is the sole and supreme module and anything lying beyond its range is baseless and hence, untrue.

But the basic idea still remains that every person, somewhere deep inside, is irrational because no person has ever been able to detach himself from plinth of irrationality which comprises anger, annoyance, pique and chafe. A man consists of several quantities other than intellect which define his wholeness. Emotions, retention, the power of making a choice are just few of them. None of the above mentioned components can individually define a man but all of them dissolve into each other to create a human being. The awe of being called an intellect submerges us into a sea where what we realize is a world of water called intellect and we sense no air of sentiments and emotions. We take pride in saying that we are trying to explore every corner of this sea but the irony is that we can’t even see the world that lies beyond the surface of this limited water.

We detest to be called sentimental or emotional people. We rather take pride in being called rationalists. Since the very beginning of human civilization, we presume feelings to be malign which make us fallible and fragile. On the other hand, intellect is considered to be divine. A more intellectual man is regarded closer to perfection.

As the civilization progressed, we even tried to define emotions and sentiments by the tools of intellect. But if we look within ourselves minutely, we realize that it is instincts and emotions rather than reasons and facts that we trust upon during the hours of crisis. In fact, instincts come more naturally to us than intellect. The spontaneity of instincts makes us follow them when we step into a territory of problems and scarcity. On the other hand, intellect needs some conscious effort and sometimes, contrivance as well to reach a conclusion. And there are times when we need to make a quick decision and that’s where intellect tends to crumble and hence, leaves us alone with our feelings and instincts.

A better frame of mind and a calmer attitude can make us realize that there is something more for man to respect than just intellect. There is not even a trace of doubt that intellect has served man to touch new heights but there are various other dimensions of human nature that we need to find out and trust upon. Then only we can hope for acceleration towards perfection.