NAME SAKE

NAME'SAKE'..

by Srikkanth Dhasarathy Rajendran on Thursday, 29 December 2011 at 17:16

                           The youth see a door where others might see a wall

                                                                                                                           -MARK ZUCKERBERG

 “ SIGN UP FOR FACEBOOK” IT’S FREE……….Read the screen on Avantika’s PC monitor.

                          Avantika was already in a hurry. She was reciting the points she had memorized the earlier night on the topic given to her by her teacher. “RESERVATIONS IN INDIA”

                          So, she left the ‘FACEBOOK’ thing to be taken care of in the evening. Afterall, it was considered uncool if you still had not signed up on facebook.

                         Avantika reached school on time. Once again, she went through her notes and proceeded to the class feeling confident. Even though, Avantika was a bright student, she was nervous. Had it been to vomit complex Chemical structures, Mathematical equations , Laws in physics, it would have been child’s play for the traditionally taught ‘south Indian school kid’. But, here, she was obliged to have an opinion of her own, which was considered ‘dangerous territory to trudge’among students and teachers alike of the Indian Educational System.

                         Aishwarya, Anamika, Anusha and then Avantika was next. She cursed her parents for naming her with the first letter of the English Alphabet. Her turn came eventually, she adjusted her glasses, shoved the hair on her forehead, went and stood in front of her class.

                         Avantika gave the usual welcome note addressing all the students, the teacher, the blackboard, desks, wall, notebooks etc…….

                        [ Podhum di! UN la kuda ivlo periya welcome note kudukka maatanga, matter ku vaa!!!, murmured a ‘group of boys’..The teacher’s stare made them silent.

                        I am here to speak about the ill-effects of RESERVATIONS in our country, started Avantika.

                        Reservation compromises merit and quality. How would you like an Incompetent Doctor who got through a quota operating on you? Would any of you like that? How embarrassing it would be if we produce Poorly Qualified Engineers from our Premier Institutions like IIT? Avantika gave a convincing look as if expecting an answer..

                       “Al……. As Avantika began to start her next point, a voice interrupted her. It was her teacher’s.

                       Avantika, "‘Reservations only get the person/s in case a place in the institution . Reservations are not responsible if the Doctor who passes out turns out to be Incompetent". That means the MEDICAL EDUCATION SYSTEM is flawed. I don’t think anybody would ask a Doctor if he/she got through a quota before being operated. Going by your point, I think the Medical Council of India should have a serious look into this, if what you said is true, said the teacher sarcastically with a smile….

                       The class clapped in resonance. Either the teacher made a valid point or more students loved Avantika getting embarrassed.

                       Avantika started again,”Also, Reservations  are only due to the vested interests of the politicians of India who wanted to use it for their Vote-bank politics. Come on guys!! This is the 21st century. All are equal. We, youth should not allow this narrow-minded thinking of our ancestors to influence us…”

                       Avantika, “Do you have any idea about the ‘Ancient History of India’? The class divisions in the earlier Indian society, Any vague ideas?

                       No ma’am!!! blurted avantika…

                       Ok, let me put it to the class in a simple way. Take this classroom for instance, I divide it into four groups. You belong to the group of people which do not enjoy the right to get educatedaccording to the land of the law, certainly not created by GOD, but by another set of peoplewho considered themselves pure. Say, this exists for centuries together, where do you see thesocio-economic status of your forthcoming generations to be?certainly, not in a position to be proud of, The Teacher answered her own question and continued,

                    And that’s why reservations have come in the first place..Avantika. That too, as we all know, 75% of the Indian population lives in VILLAGES. And the caste system still plays a major role in most of the Indian villages; Most of the youths don’t even have access to Primary Education. Those who are lucky enough to get through high school don’t even have an idea about the premier institutions like IIT’S IIM’S , AIIMS etc….while on the other hand you people start taking classes from 9th grade itself. Most of them are first generation/ second generation students as far as higher education is concerned. I can understand the agitation of the city bred youth, when their hardwork gets runover by Quota, But, “we can say that we are just having the taste of our own medicine” quipped the Teacher.

                     Again the class went in an uproar, this time Avantika too joined in unison. She was cursing the teacher in her mind. She forgot all her points and was desperate for the class to end as she wanted no more awkward moments. As if God heared her prayers, The bell rang. The teacher left and Avantika sat through the rest of the classes for the day, silently.

                      She returned home, tired, physically and mentally. She refreshed , sat in front of her computer, opened the tab.”SIGN UP FOR FACEBOOK”. She filled up the necessary details, uploaded a picture of Kristen Stewart as her Profile picture( UNIVERSAL LAW# 109 ) and sent a friend request to her ‘Teacher’ along with requests to her classmates.

                        The ‘Teacher’ , after finishing all her motherly chores, signed into facebook and checked the messages from her classmates, now in different parts of the world. Had a few chats with colleagues and just when she was about to sign off saw the ‘Friend request’ . It  was from Avantika.

                         She smiled and thought avantika’s words, “21st century-equality-narrow-minded thinking of our ancestors” ‘ YOUTH FOR EQUALITY’ it seems, so much for the outcry of castes in the country , and accepted  her friend request.

                      “Shyamala Suresh” and “Avantika ‘IYENGAR’ are now friends.

                      How broad-minded? If youth like Avantika, taught in posh schools, mature enough to use social-networking sites use their CASTE/COMMUNITY names as surnames. How do we expect the Rural students , to whom our part of the world and our lifestyle are Alien, to have lateral thinking?

                   This is such a ‘hypocritical world’ she said to herself and went to bed.

P.S ---> Personal touch:   After years of Education, I’ve learnt that , For some ‘Ignited minds’their Dad’s name is not something proud to carry on or maybe they consider it ugly, so much that they would rather use some caste/community name as their surnames.

                  I appeal to the youth of my generation, Please don’t do the same mistake which our ancestors did. You are just taking it to the next level, knowingly or unknowingly Its Hypocritical if you dont want caste based reservations but would want the caste.

                 The little biology we have learnt has taught us that all us homo-sapiens are made of cells, blood and stuff; the only difference being the "external packages and expiry dates".

                  If I dint make any sense to you, I am hereby happy to say that you just beat my“VACCUM CLEANER” . It stopped sucking long ago.

                        After all, there is a lot of difference between 'HUMAN BEING' and 'BEING' HUMAN!!!!