This season of results is on brink of taking the exit door but not before taking a huge toll. Grief, grievances, complains, and if people are to be believed, revolutions are brewing to give a perfect salute to this barbarous season. Of course, wind is not the same for everyone. Few must be basking in the glory of success but certainly at the expense of other 99% of the people. Meet me, an average Indian student, unfortunately blessed by Indian Education System. I am not at all accusing this system but the combo of “Average + Indian Student” just doesn’t go down well in this system. It was not that I was not being made aware about this fact when I was in school.
Scoring 80% wasn’t used to be enough to fetch even a warm-wish of a teacher or a pat on the back. Little did I know then that these little things were silently preparing me for world beyond NCERTs. I spent my school days taking treat from the toppers and formally applauding them whenever being told to do so.
My little above 80% in 10th had qualified me for Science section and that was a badge of honor in itself. It is not you but figures that dictate your path. As soon as I entered Science section a new dream was inflicted upon me, “IIT-JEE”. Toppers of previous class were the torch-bearers and were leading their way to prestigious coaching institutes, taking several other students along with them. I kept wondering, whether to attend schools or these 4-5 hour long classes. Attending both was clearly out of question because that could have been a crackdown on my life. To me, HC Verma could never complement Pradeep’s or Comprehensive (Sorry for making things a little incomprehensible for students of other streams). So finally I decided not to follow the herd and concentrate on one thing, school.
My attendance rose without having any significant impact on marks. On the other hand, attendance of IIT-JEE aspirants were touching new lows but still they managed to get decent enough marks. My complacency has had a record of adjusting itself according to prevailing circumstances. I had a believe, however mighty the ship is, keep it in harbor as long as you can. I didn’t take into consideration the cargo which was stacking up. A cargo that had to be carried off whether you like it or not. After my 12th I had an option of either choosing an average Engineering college or drop 1 year to try my luck for IITs, which is mecca of Engineering. Thinking anything beyond Engineering was like signing up for one way trip to Mars. So, dropping one year was the only viable option.
We Indians are at the peak of optimism. Despite knowing the fact that only a handful would make it to reputed IITs, hundred thousands of students sacrifice their one year.
Mediocrity vanquished aspirations and I ended up getting admission into a college that I could have got without dropping. I was confronted with one more decision to make. Which stream to choose in Engineering? I am Ph.D. in making wrong moves and somehow my love for Counter-Strike dictated me to take “Information Technology”. I trashed my interest, which I had developed in mechanics during 1 year-drop, in favor of a virtual castle where I was the king with a handsome package of around 7-8 lakhs in Infosys or TCS.
An unaware lamb could walk to the butcher to seek food. Harsh realities surfaced soon and CTRL, C, and V inadvertently became the most tapped keys of my laptop. Students like me get fed up pretty easily and hence are most vulnerable to start seeking moksha at an early age.
Boring lectures and lecturers, assignments devoid of any value additions, and exams just to remind that figures are all that matter soaked 4 years of Engineering. Somehow, getting placement didn’t turn out to be that hard. The only catch is, despite being only an Average mind, I thought I deserve something better.
Here laid down the foundation stone of yet another dream, IIMs. Now, I will not only molested on the grounds of getting bad score in competitive exams, but also on my academics, which I tried hard to screw up.
Once again, a train running late or perimeter of triangle or 6 friends sitting in circular pattern will decide where I crash my future into.
A lion has to fight with just 2 or 3 opponents to win the heart of lioness. Lucky!!