Mad, Weird and Ridiculously INSANE

I was 22 years and 57 days old while started arranging these short and sudden thoughts that just spontaneously came out of my mind, which I thought that I must share. Well there may be many who may think that my age is too immature to publish such a content, but there are few who may still give a chance to peep into the words below, just  to feel, actually what I have expressed despite the quality time that they may spent for something else with much more ‘outcome’. 

                From last weekend onwards I was into re-reading FIVE POINT SOMEONE by Chetan Bhagat, in which I get some pleasure and sense spending my time, after duty hours. Hats off to Rajkumar Hirani to picturise the theme with ever memorable shots. I must say that every parent, especially Indian parents with their child of the age, struggling to get themselves into college, must read this book and watch this movie at least once. Else they would miss something which their own child would like to tell them- but scared to tell or might have told- but ignored as ever.  But it is a harsh reality to be realized that still there are parents who want their children to be white collars with five or six figured salary and not at all feeling to ask their own young ones, just for one time that whether they are happy with what they do, and what all they go through with the job. End results are even harder to be realized that every year, engineers who are not able to solve their own problem are finding solutions for someone’s and doctors who actually start experimenting their incomplete knowledge acquired with live human body to learn something about their profession, are getting passed out from colleges all over the nation.

The tragedy

                In the book, character named ‘Ryan’ met with a situation that he missed an opportunity to solve out his innovation that could be accomplished as a project, because the professor took away the chance for a silly reason that he is a FIVE POINTER. During my college days I too had a very similar experience. Let me tell you it first. I am quite a patriotic person, where I always have a dream to do something good for the nation. Many call this attitude to be 'insane' because this is 'modern world!', but I think who thinks like that is insane (in my defense). By the way, if the time is in positively progression, then when this so called ‘modern world’ does really happened? Anyhow, the overwhelming feeling to do something for the nation is in its peek and was regularly disturbing my mind about 2 years back, while I just entered the 5^th semester with handful of supplis. I had an idea that sounds technically possible for me and would be an asset to the national defense, for the military officers with whom I discussed the same. With the height of hope and confidence in went through the office door of our Hon. HOD of Mechanical Engineering with an artificial smile attached to my face, for presenting the idea to him. Well that would be the first time in my college life that I met him for consent. More than a permission I had an ‘unwanted’ expectation that I would get a real help from the most eminent person in campus ( I thought then) from whom I can seek advice to make my dream come true. Well unfortunately the conversation didn’t even lasted for 2 minutes inside that ‘office’ (which you may call ‘hell’ for the straight thinkers) and ended up in melancholy. Well his replies were quite so funny to be remembered always in life.

               

“Waat is this yaaar…. This is impoosible…..” “Rajath…. How many supplis do you have?”

                I quietly replied the mystery figure.

                “You aare, weeek in acaademics… Youoo, must concentraate, moore in acaademics”… “other thaan this impoosible ideaas”

                                                                                               //'suppli': code word for backlog/arrears

I closed the door behind me on the way back to the classroom even without thanking him. So indecent! Not closing the door, but not thanking him for his kind advice. This is not the only one comedy in my life happened in that office. This was the only comedy scene where I was only there apart from HOD. I and my project teammates (most funny guys with different attitudes and humor sense) had several other occasions in the same office cabin which made us laugh our asses off (only after getting out of the office), later remembering those minutes spent with him.

                Even if those couple of minutes made me depressed for over a year, I am really thankful to him that he is the one who made me thinking. Particularly thinking about very two words from his dialogue!! ‘Academics’ and ‘Impossible’. Preachers, lecturers, professors, healers, counselors etc do say that ‘nothing is impossible for human’. Should I believe in that or not? Probably it is true because human beings are an extra ordinary species in the animal kingdom. Because humans are educated. Yes! Education is what made human extra ordinary. So does the system generated for this entire education process. In early ages, by the time the formal education process started, education aimed for a good life, later education for employment and now education for slavery. What could have caused such an evolution? 

Paradigm Shift

                Let me wander through the history. Not from the origin of species but since the humans started getting civilized and ancient universities formed. I believe that, apart from the languages and sciences, ‘life skills’ were also taught in that era. May be life skills were one among the subjects in curriculum. It is clearly understandable that no one believed in the word impossible because if they believed, this world wouldn’t have advanced in various fields so far as of now. Later the education became more systematic and various changes happened. The breakup in the students’ journey to acquire knowledge was classified with the marks they obtained. After school if the student is below average, they can end up their formal studies and join some minor vocational program; if the student is average, then they can take the arts and science courses; if the student is above average, then they can join for professional courses. If the psychology tells that every person is unique, then why such a classification is needed in the merit basis? The students are being immensely pressurized just to win more marks, never caring what positive outcome that they can get with those glittering grades what all stress they would face to win those.

                Once I met an Israeli guy at Mercy estate bar at Cochin where I and my friends often go to grab a beer during weekends. He introduced himself along with his profession- 'HR recruiter', where he does recruiting for job seekers from countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh etc to firms located in the west. Quite a money making business! I remember he told me: “there are lot of graduates with good marks here in this nation but does not have the talents to work within a challenging environment”. What the heck? I bought up in a nation where the term ‘talent’ meant ‘marks obtained’! Any student with more marks is called to be more ‘talented’, even if the literal meanings of those words didn’t have similarities.  In short, the type of persons that the recruiter mentioned, feels that a lot of things are ‘impossible’ to them. So in which point of the change in pedagogy, the feeling of impossibility entered human brain? 

5 Mistakes….

Mistake1. Despite of what someone really wants to be in his/her life; the parents force them to be something the parents want.

Mistake2. The parents show them the dreams with what all they can achieve by entering a profession after being a graduate in the subject which parents wished.

Mistake3. Since humans has some feeling of self respect, wish and taste; at some point in the student’s life he/she may fail to meet the marks requirement demanded by the parents, then the parents compare that particular student’s mark with someone who scored much more better.

Mistake4. Whenever the student complaints that he/she is feeling hard to follow up with some subject even after trying hard to learn it, parents tell that “oh… it is a silly excuse you just found”.

Mistake5. Teachers do divide and rule policy in the very same class room where there are students who are struggling to follow something that is not able to grasp, permanently leaving that particular students insecure with the discipline of study for the rest of his/her life.

                Now how many more reasons do someone may need to start thinking about ‘impossibilities’ when the parents themselves buried their young ones in hell? - Anything that is to be achieved beyond the limit of hope and confidence is ‘impossible’. If the parents do the 5 mistakes to their young ones, then they may be subjected to permanent damage to the personality they possessed as said from the part of psychology.

The Attitude   

                I remember once I was a school student and a very hard debate was going between my mom and aunt. [Venue: Kitchen, my home. Time: when the birds goes to sleep]. Well, they both are ‘teachers’ (a highly respected profession by the society) by profession and the debate subject was education process. For your information there was no moderator and you can imagine how worse things can get in between two ladies. There was that terrible quarrelling sound coming out of the kitchen, which literally made me and my uncle’s casual chat to be terminated. As my uncle grabbed a magazine, I scooted off to the kitchen with most the humble question that a kid can ask to any teacher. I asked   “aunty, why do you beat students?” the reply was as simple but lengthy. Aunt: “I have got beaten up by my teachers in my school days, so why I shouldn’t beat my students?” Even though it wasn’t the apt answer to the question I asked, I could perceive the mentality behind it, of such teachers(say 99% of the total teacher community). Thanks for the reply anyway.

                Do you think blackmailing is a sin? A mistake? Something that no one should practice? Immoral? What really any student need is a little push with some encouragement. But instead what happens in most educational institutions are threatening! In school days it would be with the cane stick as if the students are cattle, in college days with the so called internal marks as if the student doesn’t know anything about term justice. With this attitude of teachers, exactly what does a student understands? That they are doing a favor to the teacher or they are doing something that is going to be good for them itself?
Lets keep apart the pressure that student might have gone through, for now. Anyhow, a teacher, who is supposed to be a good friend for all students in common, is delivering a very bad message indirectly. Injecting the thought of cruelty straight into the students’ brain! Purely unethical!! No wonder why many turn terrorists after schooling. 

Run with GPA/Percentage/percentile/grade mentioned in CV/Resume……. Student->Candidate

                After several year long runs with heavily loaded pressure inside the brain, exhausted in the competition, one day any graduate may enter with all his resume and certificates, with a lot of confusion, fear and hope in mind, to the job selection criteria. Then he realizes that the marks gained, heat faced, efforts taken are all again in vain. I don’t know why, something that disrespects theory of relativity is being followed by 99% of the recruiters in my nation. This is totally nuts! To understand that one must know the term ‘cut off’. Yes of course, you may have noticed it in those employment ads. Companies give limits in mark basis for the job offers. Like, “May be applied only by the students of minimum 70% aggregate”. Does this make sense to you?

                Students from different universities, attitude, background, taste and will, are being analyzed just on the basis of marks obtained. Bravo!! The dumbest think of modern Human Resource Management techniques. In fact what are the recruiters looking for? someone with talents, from whom the employer can absorb, or a consistent mark maintainer whom the company can train and make him a slave? Well it is a very hard question where we need to peep through the management of employment for getting the right answer.

Dear Job seekers,

            The table will help you to determine whether the company you applied is looking for a permanent slave or a permanent employee. It contains the classified list of acts that a recruiter may do in the interview.

In search for a SLAVE

In search for an EMPLOYEE

·         Definitely there would be a ‘cut off’ mentioned in the emplo-ad. ·         Apart from the scores you obtain in the latest degree, they may put constrains with your marks obtained in the final exams from the schooldays onwards ·         While you submit the interview stuff in front of the panel, they may go through your semester certificates first before reading the career objective in your resume. ·         Probably would never ask you about which was your favorite subject, but instead they will show you the marks of the subject in which you scored the least (as if you don’t know it) and asks you why you scored the least. ·         Would ask you for a bond. Since the bond system is getting banned, they would ask you for a caution deposit (illegal yet). ·         No questions will be there regarding from which the atmosphere you grew up can be determined. ·         Will definitely tell you a salary figure instead of bargaining for it.

·         Will definitely read the resume first to understand what are you and to check whether is there any room for you in that particular firm ·         Will ask you about your most interested subject and why you liked it. ·         They would try to understand your proficiency level in your favorite subjects. ·         Will asks questions to understand under what circumstances you grew up ·         Will ask about what all you will be able to do for the firm if they employ you ·         Probably they may bargain with the salary that could be awarded to you ·         Questions that aims to understand about your IQ, EQ and these days SQ also.

 

The Fast Track:

                One day I was waiting for my train on the way to home for spending my holidays. So excited and thrilled. I have a nature to interact with someone who sits next to me (their fate). So I found one, right next to me. A clean shaved, young, smart looking fellow, proudly wearing the T-shirt gifted by his firm (probably to show others where he works) typing something in his laptop and looking so curious into the monitor. I wondered why someone would work this desperate in a journey. I could not bear my anxiety to know that what is he working so keen and so I waited for him to close the laptop lid. Nah… It isn’t happening. He picked up few calls in between and was reporting something to someone (probably TL or boss) in rapid fast English. I felt like Rajdhani Express just passed by.  Meanwhile my train came and I noticed him arranging his luggage for entering the train. I am so lucky that this guy had a fate to sit next to me in the train. I waited till he settles down. As he exhales after being settled, I self introduced me with a smile. Well he was also kind enough to say his name. Since I was anxious enough, I asked him why he was working while waiting for the train. FYI there were a lot of college girls, dressed modern, in a cheering mood, (probably on a tour) right in front of us in the platform. Well he replied smoothly that he needs to send his report of visit to the office at Cochin before he enters the office at Chennai. Wow. Exciting! This guy gets to travel a lot. So it was my very next question. I asked him, how often he travels. He told most of the time he keeps traveling from one station to the other. 20 days of a month and rest at his office at Chennai. As a person who likes traveling a lot, I got even more anxious to know what actually his work is. Well he said that he works for a leading travel and tourism company in the nation and he keeps traveling to the centers in various cities to do research, auditing, training and inspection. I couldn’t wait to ask him about his educational background to get such a job.

                This is the part where I got shocked! He holds a BE- Civil degree from Anna University, Holds an MBA specialized in finance from Bharatiar university. I could not get any connection between his UG, PG and after all his job title. All my focus turned how he ended up in Tourism Management! He was so kind enough to explain his student life. Since he could get good marks in the 10^th, even though he was interested in literature, his parents forced him to take science group for higher secondary. Ignore the miserable days struggling with science subjects and somehow he maintained to win a distinction and landed in an engineering college (as per family advice). 4 years of college life, he mentioned something that he never wanted to remember.(yeah, imaginable! a person who likes grammar, poetry, prose buried in between setsquare, scales, drawings and a lot of equations of stress, loads.....)  It is quite so predictable that the days which are meant as most colorful, must have been the worst than he expected. Anyway he told, he managed to pass in all those subjects and came out of college and the 2^nd run began, in the streets of Chennai, Bangalore and   Hyderabad with a file filled with his certificates to get a job. He failed to please the interview board every time and was losing confidence along with it. I remember he said then “even, it is possible to overcome the pain in not getting flunked in the interview, but the very itchy questions and criticisms from the family and neighbors are totally intolerable”. “I was screwed as hell so in order to save my ass I had to join for higher studies, no way for taking up science again so I opted MBA, after all it is becoming a fashion to tie the MBA degree with the name”. So he packed his backpack and went for the second face of his college life after one year sitting at home, preparing for aptitude tests that literally made his tummy bulge out.  By the time we met also he had that projection of luxury even if he is lean in physical appearance. Anyway as per him MBA life was more hectic than engineering. Everyday hell lot of assignments, home works, over night preparations etc. He proudly said that he got 74% aggregate for MBA (I really don’t know how to understand his excellence from the marks he scored from that university). I felt the confused proud expression while he said “I got this job through campus recruitment”. On further investigation in very low voice I came to realize that he is not at all happy being in the job even if the employer offered him well. He said that much of his freedom has gone. He can’t feel the light of the day time. What all is there in front of him is the target and report. (Felt like a terrorist say, “I toasted this much ass today and he here is my report”). I was helpless; I didn’t know how to make him relax, would have offered a beer at least, but no way since we are on a train. I went totally mad on thinking about what he aimed for, on what he got educated and at last what he became. Later I came to know that this is not the only person with this situation. Comparatively majority of job seekers in my nation skid off from the right track and pursue with new track and as an end result, they end up in such misery. No wonder why that Israeli guy said that dialogue. No wonder why he is not getting the real talents that he is in search of. 

The After Effect

                Who all are being affected due to this entire insane system? It is not only the children but also the parents are. Can’t you notice the increase in old age homes showing up in our nation every day? (It is quite a nice business though, peaceful and safer than baby day care). It is not that the children had provision to accommodate their parents with them at home, but it is a fact that they can’t find time to spend with them. Due to the frustration of work awarded by the so called MNCs to the employee, he/she might enter the house, mostly after dinner time, being a total paranoid. Where in their ‘time schedule’ they can find some quality time that can be used to spend with their own family/loved ones?

                No wonder why some low standard news publications exaggerated that, they could find contraceptive devices in the restroom of some IT firms. It is quite predictable about what made those employees to do something that require enough privacy and lot of peace, right in the heart of a place where controlled chaos goes off (IT hub). Health issues are quite so common in such industrialized world. As far as a ‘cooperate company’ is concerned, they are least bothered about the physical and mental health status of their employees (result and report is all that matters for them). Just for blabbering, few firms promote some health club and work out parade, but from the day by day increase of the sales of medicines aimed for lifestyle diseases, shows that no firm is bothered at all. (Well good for the pharmaceutical mafia though). The healthcare industries and health insurance companies are taking advantage of this scenario to its best. Now healthcare packages are available with almost all multi specialty hospitals. Because at least 25% of the net savings are being spent for health 'maintenance' by considerable number of employees now a days who gets sick with life style diseases.

                One of my friends who got passed out with flying color marks in electronics and communication engineering and got selected in one of the best IT firms in India. He was taken to Mysore by the firm for training.  Whenever I called him over phone, it just kept ringing. No response from the other part. He studied like 16 hrs a day during college life, often ignoring the bling, booze and Biriyani party… One fine day, I could get him over phone and asked how he is doing. He is quite so happy to say that he is employed now in a reputed firm with good salary offered. So I too felt happy for him and asked what does he do now? The reply was quite shocking. He is again studying for 15hrs per day?! (Good to know that now he got relaxation for 1 hr from earlier schedule). He said he lives in a very well designed campus with shopping centers, playgrounds, health clubs, cafes, parks and even theaters inside  “but no time to hang out at all, because I will get exhausted by the time I will come out of the class and there will be assignments also apart from revision of everyday’s covered portion”. Well that is awkward!!!! The years spent in the college, the knowledge acquired during those years, the efforts taken to maintain “percentage” is all for getting a job, not for applying 'in the job'?! And now, one must learn again to start doing the job. Even more terrible fact is that my friend is doing something that he is not interested in, that too for the rest of the life because his field is like one way in.

                Of course situations that are being passed through, have great influence in someone’s mentalities. In each and every moment one that pursues his/her student or employed life, is restricted and controlled externally. Limitations are being given to the freedom of thought and right to speak. Even if they cross the limits (mostly for their own sake) others pull back to the same dumb system. Some restrictions are for good and some for non sense! The decades long process of education and the entry procedure for employment in one man’s life is something that slowly poisons human brain with the concept of impossibilities. AND YES THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IS THE CATALYST. I hope by now you would have understood how the ‘academics’ is related to ‘impossible’. Thanks for the time you spent with the content and please proceed in doing with something with more outcome.
           
 Courtesy to my dearest, code named 'AMMU', because of whom I started writing  this.
                                                                                      I dedicate this work to her.