state of mind

another day...still figuring out what work to do. Have to finish reading a 100 page document before tuesday and present my valuable inputs in the meeting. I definitely don't want to spend the weekend reading 100 pages on internet architecture and database connectivity so its time to follow up on my new found hobby.

Met Nikhil after ages yesterday. He was always the smart one. Used to top the class in BVCOE.. went to IIM B..and always managed to keep in touch with his photography and books and sports and social issues...i always felt like the poor country cousin...barely managed to scrape through 4 years of engg. in Mumbai university with the usual share of KTs. Could only manage a NMIMS (not that i regret it at all). Didnt show enough dedication and determination to wait for another year to give my CAT and try for A, B or C...i was always happy hopping into a rick and going to b school...eating yummy home cooked food while my batchmates were forced to digest hostel food or had to survive on the food dished out by cooper hospital canteen...

So me , nikhil and dj decided to head for dinner. he was in quite a bad mood. In fact yesterday was the first time i felt that he might actually hit someone. He was really upset with the HRD ministers decision to extend 27% reservation for OBCs to IITs and IIMs. I dont want to get into details of the decision and its modalities. Am sure enough people are writing about it right now. What really touched me was the story of this guy (apna nikhil)..who has come from a middle class family...always worked hard for everything in life...braved the peak hour mumbai locals..changed trains to reach college in faraway belapur...and had a paid seat...because most of the free seats were for reservation candidates....if anyone deserved a free seat it was him. Not becoz he is my friend or a very nice individual. Becoz he is the only example of a perfect student i have ever come across in my life. Brilliant in acads. Goalkeeper of college football team. A great fielder and decent batsman in cricket. An enthusiastic participant in debates and quizzes. Managed to organise a couple of decent tech fests (with very very limited resources and HUGE amount of dificulties)...always helpful..did his bit by mentoring many junior students (dj was one of them).

Our man does not complain that he did not get a free seat. He happily pays the fees (50 grand for teachers teaching in marathi, classrooms with no fans and tube lights which don't work and half a classroom full of students whose IQ was well below the retarded level..actually the same applied for the profs too). He takes a loan from his relatives to meet his educational expenses. Here in college he sees his classmates zipping around in fancy cars...eating and drinking (lots of it) at fancy places...taking their vacations at places like goa...and above all failing in every conceivable subject there is under the sun (even communication skills). These are the students who fall under the OBC category and have been allotted a free seat because their ancestors were oppressed by upper caste people in the past.

He gets into IIM B later and then TAS (still maintaining the simple lifestyle) but very happy with the fact that at least now everything in life is fair. People study and get jobs on merit and not on the basis of their caste certificates. And then comes the stupid old HRD minister who wants to implement this crazy ordinance (or act...whatever it is). Now Nikhil is worried about his kids..never ever did he want his kids to struggle in life as much as he did. He can afford to pay the high fees but he cannot come to terms with the fact that sooner or later there will be reservations in schools...in private companies..everywhere. maybe the stupid government will have reservations in trains (bcoz their ancestors were made to travel standing) and planes (becoz they didn't exist in those days, so the deprived classes should be given a chance to sit and travel in them). Now he plans to migrate to the US so that he does not have to worry about the quality of education and opportunities for his children.

Many might think its a hasty decision. Taken purely on the basis on emotion. Life out there is also not easy. Why would someone want to live like a seocnd class citizen in some other country. If we have casteism here they have racism there. But thinking from his point of view..i feel the decision is justified. Today its the IITs and IIMs...tomorrow its the schools and day after its private companies..trains and airplanes might sound a bit far fetched but its a distinct possibility. Merit is losing prominence here and the government is acting as a catalyst. Agreed there are lots of opportunities here and indian companies are doing as well. Agreed that many indians are returning from abroad to find many exciting challenges here. But think about our children. Will he ever be able to send his children to a good school if there are 50% reservations? There are only a handful of good science and commerce colleges in the city and its is quite difficult to get into them (reservations already exist here). Will his dream of sending his kids to the IITs be fulfilled here? I don't think so. Instead of improving the infrastructure and the level of teaching in technical institutions here the government is more interested in fulfilling poll time promises.

This is creating an even bigger problem. The lack of technically qualified and competent people. We are creating a new beed of incompetent and quota educated people which is going to seriously hamper the competitiveness of our country. Consider a kid who got through to a good public school due to the quota system. Then he gets into one of the best engg. Colleges because of his caste certificate. He hardly scores 50% marks in the entrance but is pusjhed thorugh. If he manages to survive the 4 yesrs of rigour he has a seat waiting for him in one of the IIMs. Once again we give him the benefit of doubt and assume that he will survive the 2 years. Once again the kid will kind a 8-10 lakh per annum job waiting for him in a private sector company. The question is how good is this kid. is he capable of handling the responsibilities given to him. Will he hold his own against the best in the business? Very debatable.

So this discussion went on and on for a coupe of hours. Me and DJ majorly inspired by RDB thought that as responsible citizens we should do something. But could not figure out what...maybe someone could help us out here. People across the country are planning marches and protests. I will defiinately join them. Cases will be filed in the sumpreme court. The apex court might also give a judgment in out favour. But then what. The government will go ahead and pass a constitutional amendment to make the judgment redundant. And no politician in his senses will dare to oppose the bill. Becoz coalition politics demands that every 6-8 months u have to submit to the whims and fancies and childlike tantrums of your partners who in this case happen to have considerable clout in the hindi heartland. So every citizen with a coinscience and a will to make a difference should vote fopr the right candidate. But how many of us actually have the patience to stand in the scorching sun to cast our ballot. How many are directed to the right poll booth...how many have faced no difficulty in obtaining a voter id card..its surprising that despite informing ward officers and poll officers about our change of residence we are shunted from one poll booth to another to cast our vote till many of us give up in frustration. How come slum dwellers never face such a problem?

i await comments from friends who read this. In the meantime i am in constant touch with nikhil to help him figure out his plans of migrating.