As another 6-hour study session(?) produces no results whatsoever in the gruelling and in my opinion completely pointless procedure of semester examinations, a number of random although fleeting thoughts flash across my mind. The girl in the front row at our examination hall, the amount of stuff I hadn't done, the time I had left for the exam, the reason why I was still awake at 4 am. It was somewhat disturbing that all my seriousness about IInd year Mechanical Engineering at VJTI was concentrated around the end of the semester, particularly in the last few hours. I felt almost like a prisoner on Death row, desperately doing anything he can to avoid the inevitable. A thought, completely random at the time, but remarkably sensible, sane and even philosophical, teased me like a physics professor teases his students with a problem he doesn't solve because his lecture ended.
Does this really matter?
Does it even matter that I have a 7 pointer whereas most of my friends flaunt 9's? Does it matter if I don't give a damn what my pointer is? Does it matter that I prefer knowlede to information? Does it matter that I think the education system has reduced us to a bunch of hard disks(albeit inefficient ones) expected to download information off books into the 4 terabytes space reserved for it?
When I look around me, I see people who have the best grades in college, but whose knowledge of the subject resembles that of a chihuahua. I see people whose knowledge surpasses that of most seniors. The way they think, the way they react to situations, the way they analyse their lives in a crisis is fundamentally reverse of the former group. I believe myself to be more in the latter (because I'm definitely not in the former group).
To tell you the truth, I can handle the fact that getting good grades has become a substitute to understanding a subject. But what I cannot bear is that the education system has now sought refuge in the lethargy and moulded itself to use minimum energy and cause maximum damage to inquisitive minds. We have moulded our belief of engineering to learning something in that book and something else in this one.
I do not have an opinion on how anyone should define themselves as engineers(or do I?). But I have a problem. After I get my degree from one of the most sought-after, prestigious insitutute of India, what do I have to show for it? Just a lousy paper in my hand signifies my life's work, without any knowledge of the subject whatsoever?
Just a passing thought, you know.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Ok guys, this is my first blog, so I wanted to make it good. I think this is one of the most pressing issues….correction…..this is THE most pressing issue faced by our India today. I thought that a start was necessary…
I read in the blog of one, Nidhi Seethapathi(great blog by the way, check it out if you want…) that all of us live our lives, not the way we want to, but the way other people feel is “cool”(sorry….cant think of anything funny to say there….), because of which, we see around us a bunch of “teen stereotypes”, if I may say so myself. Just to let you in, there are the I’m-busy-being-cool-so-don’t-bug-me types, the don’t-or-sir-will-get-angryyyyy(read and he will get angry with me too for standing next to you…oh my god oh my god…..) and of course the I’m-pretending-I-care-but-I’m-pretty-much-either-1-or-2 types…
Following this blog, I read the blog of one, Anaghaa Venugopal(I’m following this blog, check it out…) that also says that teens are perennially trying to be cool and fit in…and…you know…in general…get to know the homies…be part o’ the hood! And God knows to what lengths they go to achieve such idiotic goals…..
Apart from these blogs, many other blogs at many other sites as well as this one have suggested the same thing. Because of this incessant herd mentality that Mumbaiites(people in general, actually) are getting used to, there are many effects that are being seen, among them, boredom(slight on their part, we don’t really get bored of it…..the laughter always makes it easier….), unnecessary attention to mindless pursuits, general I.Q. lowering…..
But on a more serious note, there is one effect that is causing me a lot of distress. It’s indifference. Indifference to everything that “the guys” don’t like, indifference to all that is not “my group” material, indifference to things that really matter….
Today, the brain drain happens more because of mistakes on India’s part than victories on the US and UK’s. People want to take care of themselves, their family….and believe me, I don’t blame them. It’s right. It must happen. If it wouldn’t have, I’d be surprised. But is it their fault that they want to go to a place where they are offered a better future rather than living in a garbage dump for the rest of their lives clinging on to the hope of something second-rate? NO!!
Do you not think that it is a fault of the nation’s government that we cannot stop this brain drain? If we can, then half….no….all of our problems will be solved.
Rather than all the crap that the politicians do today, if they could put their heads together and work as a team, then all our problems would be solved.
But no, all these people do is blame each other for why our country is the way it is, try to pull each other down to hoist themselves up to the place where the most money can be earnt and then say, proudly, “INDIA IS A ……DEVELOPING COUNTRY!!!”
I am 18, I will vote this year, but I am scared. What if I bring someone who will ruin us further(either by corruption, insubordination, a lack of capability or just plain ******* laziness…..)?
Barack Obama has not even started his tenure as the first African-Amercan President-Elect that America has ever had, and already people are jumping in joy, ready to change, ready to work together as a people, as a FORCE.
I WANT TO BE ABLE TO STAND AT THE VOTING STAND, STARING AT THAT BALLOT BOX, AND WITHOUT FEAR OF ANYTHING, VOTE FOR A MAN OR A WOMAN WHO WILL MAKE SURE THAT MY LIFE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!
I WANT THAT!
Don’t you?! If you do, send me an e-mail. I would love to hear from a fellow Indian citizen!
And just to let you know on where I am going with this, I will do whatever it takes to make sure that my children can say, just as proudly as I say it, each and every timt that I do, “I am an Indian!”
And if it means starting a party, so be it. If it means the IAS, so be it.If it means the ATS, so be it. I am ready. I will not see another 11/26 in Mumbai. Together we can do anything, take India from where it is to where we want it to be!
Yes, we can!
Cheers!
I read in the blog of one, Nidhi Seethapathi(great blog by the way, check it out if you want…) that all of us live our lives, not the way we want to, but the way other people feel is “cool”(sorry….cant think of anything funny to say there….), because of which, we see around us a bunch of “teen stereotypes”, if I may say so myself. Just to let you in, there are the I’m-busy-being-cool-so-don’t-bug-me types, the don’t-or-sir-will-get-angryyyyy(read and he will get angry with me too for standing next to you…oh my god oh my god…..) and of course the I’m-pretending-I-care-but-I’m-pretty-much-either-1-or-2 types…
Following this blog, I read the blog of one, Anaghaa Venugopal(I’m following this blog, check it out…) that also says that teens are perennially trying to be cool and fit in…and…you know…in general…get to know the homies…be part o’ the hood! And God knows to what lengths they go to achieve such idiotic goals…..
Apart from these blogs, many other blogs at many other sites as well as this one have suggested the same thing. Because of this incessant herd mentality that Mumbaiites(people in general, actually) are getting used to, there are many effects that are being seen, among them, boredom(slight on their part, we don’t really get bored of it…..the laughter always makes it easier….), unnecessary attention to mindless pursuits, general I.Q. lowering…..
But on a more serious note, there is one effect that is causing me a lot of distress. It’s indifference. Indifference to everything that “the guys” don’t like, indifference to all that is not “my group” material, indifference to things that really matter….
Today, the brain drain happens more because of mistakes on India’s part than victories on the US and UK’s. People want to take care of themselves, their family….and believe me, I don’t blame them. It’s right. It must happen. If it wouldn’t have, I’d be surprised. But is it their fault that they want to go to a place where they are offered a better future rather than living in a garbage dump for the rest of their lives clinging on to the hope of something second-rate? NO!!
Do you not think that it is a fault of the nation’s government that we cannot stop this brain drain? If we can, then half….no….all of our problems will be solved.
Rather than all the crap that the politicians do today, if they could put their heads together and work as a team, then all our problems would be solved.
But no, all these people do is blame each other for why our country is the way it is, try to pull each other down to hoist themselves up to the place where the most money can be earnt and then say, proudly, “INDIA IS A ……DEVELOPING COUNTRY!!!”
I am 18, I will vote this year, but I am scared. What if I bring someone who will ruin us further(either by corruption, insubordination, a lack of capability or just plain ******* laziness…..)?
Barack Obama has not even started his tenure as the first African-Amercan President-Elect that America has ever had, and already people are jumping in joy, ready to change, ready to work together as a people, as a FORCE.
I WANT TO BE ABLE TO STAND AT THE VOTING STAND, STARING AT THAT BALLOT BOX, AND WITHOUT FEAR OF ANYTHING, VOTE FOR A MAN OR A WOMAN WHO WILL MAKE SURE THAT MY LIFE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!
I WANT THAT!
Don’t you?! If you do, send me an e-mail. I would love to hear from a fellow Indian citizen!
And just to let you know on where I am going with this, I will do whatever it takes to make sure that my children can say, just as proudly as I say it, each and every timt that I do, “I am an Indian!”
And if it means starting a party, so be it. If it means the IAS, so be it.If it means the ATS, so be it. I am ready. I will not see another 11/26 in Mumbai. Together we can do anything, take India from where it is to where we want it to be!
Yes, we can!
Cheers!
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