The Day Merit Died
"To,
The entire Alumni Community of IITs and IIMs
Is the new generation responsible for the atrocites laid upon a certain section of the society, on the basis of caste, several decades ago? Should the generations to come suffer from the same fate that the section of society called OBCs suffered then? If this is not ""Divide and Rule"", then I do not know what is.
I write this letter today because I feel deeply grieved that the country's future is being held to ransom by corrupt politicians who can even kill to get their votes. CNN-IBN asked a very apt question yesterday. Can any politician in India afford to be anti-reservation? The Opposition in the Parliament, as an unwritten rule, is supposed to oppose anything and everything that is proposed by the party in power. And they do so religiously. But this time around, when it has come to reservations, they know that doing so will jeopardize their vote-banks. Not a single squeak has come from the Oposition.
I write this letter today not to elaborate more on the sorry state of affairs in the Indian Politics, but as an appeal to all the giants in the industry, to look at what is happening to their alma mater. IITs, IIMs and all the other major institutions in India are being held by the scruff of their neck and forced to go down the path that will surely lead to degradation of their value as an institution. When merit is killed, there is absolutely nothing that can save an IIT or an IIM or any other institute for that matter. And what has the government done? It has been succesful is making every Indian conscious of who they are working with. Today everyone who is not in a reserved category looks at the person sitting next to him and has only one question. Is he an OBC?
For several weeks now students have been on a hunger strike. Several students have been injured in the merciless police lathi charges. All the students have screamed their throats dry to make their voices heard. But what did we get in the end? The government has stabbed every student in the back by its decision to implement quotas by 2007 even after appealing to the protesting students to have faith in the government.
Several bright students are being denied admissions to prestigious institutions only to fill the votebanks of the politicians. Undeserving students who are fortunate enough to have troubled forefathers in the form of OBC/SC/ST laugh their way through these colleges. And what happens in the end? Either they drop out or they manage to scrape through, thus reducing the quality of the output from these colleges.
I am not against quota if it makes sense. I am not against any reservation carried out on the basis of some logic or some figures. But why should we all take the decisions meted out by the government as they come? Why shouldnt we all oppose illogical decisions which are politically motivated? Mr. Arjun Singh in an interview with Karan Thapar from CNN-IBN was clueless when he was asked basic questions on which the decision should have depended. Our honorable minister was not able to answer a single question.
Its an earnest appeal to the complete alumi community to come out in the front and help the students. You are ultimately helping save the future of the country and of your companies that recruit these bright minds. Let the government know that their decision has major repercussions and that they have hit the wrong chord. I am not appealing to you to take decisions based on emotions, but on the basis of facts and figures available in the public domain. The government is not helping the lower classes by giving them reservations, but on the contrary pushing them deeper into the abyss.
Regards,
An ex-IIT KGP student.
Update #1: The quota row is reaching the doors of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
A 22-member delegation of striking medicos met President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and appealed to him to not sign the Bill proposing to bring 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in elite educational institutions.
""We have said that if this law is enacted we will commit suicide after seeking permission from the president,"" a student, Kapil Mishra said. (Source: IBNLive.com)
Technorati Tags: IIT :: IIM :: Alumni :: OBC :: Reservations :: Arjun Singh"
Down with Arjun!
"These are the old days,The bad days,
The all or nothing days. They're back.
There's no choice left...
.... Its blood for blood and by the gallon.
And thus goes Marv from Sin City. If only the same would apply to the situation here. Maybe it would if all were to wake up. The people of India have waited long enough and hard enough to withstand these corrupt politicians who won't even think twice about selling their own mother for two pennies if they are getting a hundred votes. The talks of which party is good and which party is not are over. Everyone's been there, done that and ruined India along the way.
Lets take the case of the recent controversy of reservation which is blowing hot and is threatening to engulf the whole nation. It all started when one petty politician, who wasnt in the news enough before and wasn't in the good books of our firangi leader Sonia Gandhi (seems like we have finally outsourced politics also) wanted desperately to 'change' things wherein he hit upon a jackpot of an idea to divide India on casteist lines.
Little did he have a clue about how it will backfire (Read all about the background here). It has backfired and quite badly. Look at the unrest everywhere. Students from all fields, medical, engineering and every other branch have revolted against this. And how?!!!!
Corrupt police officers have been caught all around accepting bribes and the levels of their frustration are increasing. It all shows in the merciless thrashing and caning of the doctors/engineers of tomorrow. These students who will be the future of our country are being whacked for no crime of theirs. Evil breeds evil. I won't be surprised if some of these get involved in organized crime at some point in their life. Grudges like these can never be alleviated.
India is poised for a civil war. Winds of change are blowing and its perfect weather to launch a counter-strike against the government. India needs a dictator. Maybe not someone as fanatic as Hitler, but someone who can control the whole country and hit these politicians where it hurts the most. Their livelihood. But first we need a civil war. A war that will destabilize the entire administration. Its bound to happen sooner or later.
I remember a quote in Outlook Magazine many years back which was something as follows and which is very apt for the occasion:
In this world order,
Sovereignity has no border,
Yankee Doodle has his way,
No one else can have a say
Technorati Tags: Reservations Arjun Singh OBC"
End of Days
A solemn cloud floats in the distance as if orphaned from the rest of the clan. The branches chatter away in unspoken words as the wind blows south. I stare out from the third floor of my hostel as the last evening trudges its way past the dusk. And I want to live through it all once again. Do everything I did in these two years in this one night before I leave.
Friends part only to meet again, but at this moment I wonder if the person who wrote that was a lunatic. On second thoughts, probably he was too optimistic in the moment of departure. The two years seemed like an overture to the life as a student.
The two years here have given something that my hometown could never give me. The freedom to live and the zest for travelling. An undying desire to satiate my appetite for seeing new places. Living life on my own. It was a two year long hiatus from the hustle of the city and the travails of luxury. But this place exudes a charm that no city can give you. You crib about this place but eventually fall in love with it.
Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
Relax said the nightman
We are programed to recieve
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave
Only I wish it was that way. Nights out drinking with friends, no care for any day but this. We all dread the day we have to leave. The final walk into the department we studied for two years. That last bend on the road that led to our hostel. The 2.2 kilometres of track I spent endless nights walking with the girl I loved. The late night snacks at Chhedis and the arguments we used to have over sutta and chai. All the gossip sessions and the mail-wars added some spice to an otherwise mundane place. The laughs we had at the cost of the people who taught us. The 40 winks session in the class while the professor droned on and on. Sneaking out of the class when bored and the rush for the attendance.
And half and hour later we packed up our things
We said we'd send letters and all those little things
And they knew we were lying but they smiled just the same
It seemed they'd already forgotten we'd came
Now we're back at the homestead
Where the air makes you choke
And people don't know you
And trust is a joke
We don't even have pictures
Just memories to hold
That grow sweeter each season
As we slowly grow old
But I take with me memories that will last me a lifetime. Habits that I love to hate, but still keep them. Voices of the same old friends shouting out from their balconies. Late night sessions when we could talk about anything under the sun. Those wrestling bouts we had for fun and the aftermath of those. The drunken nights handling a few drunk people and sometimes getting drunk yourself (in my case, I used to get drunk mostly and was the master entertainer). Seasons will come and go and we'll grow old. But these names and the memories that they gave me will always remain. So long my friends. I'll see you all again.
Same dances in the same old shoes
Some habits that you just can't lose
There's no telling what a man might lose,
After the thrill is gone
The flame rises but it soon descends
Empty pages and a frozen pen
You're not quite lovers and you're not quite friends
After the thrill is gone, oh,
After the thrill is gone