At last. Finally. Ultimately. Aakhirkar. The occasion to write the second installment of the Khoya-Payaa episode has come. Sud and me had previously tried to write a blog post on what we think, were the most sober gang of girls in the class, aptly known as the Sharafat Ali gang, but we had some reservations, owing to which the project was scrapped. (Sorry Guys!)
Moving on, what happened in the past few months? Some tragedies, some ecstasies, nevertheless a few visits to ‘Home Sweet Home’. Starting with the tragedies,
1. I was screwed in my trimester exams. My CGPA is somehow holding itself together at an unimpressive 6 (i.e. minus the 2 papers whose results are yet to be announced..yes, I am trying to justify my incompetency.) I’d request the college to atleast follow a Jhatka policy instead of Halaal. Ek baar me maar ke kaam khatam karo yaar, tadpate kyon ho?
2.Something worse than this also took place. I was, (according to the college) Penalized (but I prefer the word Burglarized) by 500 bucks. My fault, I went home without soliciting a permission from the warden and well, you know, a myriad of reasons, or should i call blames, thrust upon me. Don’t know why it happens, the more education I acquire, the more disappointed I get. Add to this my recalcitrance, my inherent allergy to authority, the situation gets even more ballistic. For a long time, I thought that this was the problem of an authoritative capital-oriented system. Now, I believe that it’s my problem. The truth is, that I am unfit for the contorted ways of this world, or the what so called Duniyadaari. I can’t assume myself bending before each and every person, attesting my servility. Abraham Lincoln once said that if you want to test the character of a person, give him power. I, from my own experience, can say that 99% of the people fail. I don’t know how such unobtrusive authority can create bold entrepreneurs. It’s only fit for breeding salesmen. The problem does not belong to schools, b-schools or other institutes alone. Take MNC’s for example. Each of their departments is a charade.
Finance – Dupe the Government and Tax authorities.
Marketing – Dupe your customers. (Customer is the king, though a foolish one!)
Human Resources – Last but not the least, these pesky little employees create a lot of fuss, so let’s teach these people a lesson.
And this, my dear, is the world of MBA. The Persians used lashes to control people. MNC’s use silk boots. The biggest lesson I have learnt is that either you can do Business or practice Ethics. Business and Ethics don’t go together. All rest is bullshit!
It makes me think that the world is an ugly place to live in and ‘Humans’ is a disgusting race, because no one, absolutely no one, can exhibit such savagery. We call for fairness, justice, equality….the first thing you are taught at a B-School is whatever your salary package is, multiply it by 10 - This is the output, in terms of money, the company seeks from you. There goes the fairness, the justice and the equality… When I heard this, for the first time in my life, I realized the true value of socialism. I considered it as an obstacle to development and what not. Now, I realize why Karl Marx said that Capitalism is self destructive. It deserves such an end.
You must be thinking that I am crazy, trying to understand socialism in a b-school. True! Writers are governed by strange capricious rules. The great one’s are called lunatic, the smaller one’s fools. Now consider another hilarious or rather ridiculous incident. My dear college arranged a function in collaboration with SPIC-MACAY named “Viraasat – 09.” By the end of the third day, the public had started calling it “Panavati - 09” (panavati means liability). In addition to this, there was a strange demand from the organizers’; they wanted to perform overnight on 24th October and as usual wanted some eyes and ears to grace the occasion. So, as usual, the attendance was made compulsory. I don’t know whose avant garde brain was behind this, but just explain me one thing; How can you teach culture under compulsion? And if you think you can, then what is the difference between you and the Taliban. The tools of intimidation are different, but the threat remains the same – Subjugation. Complete and absolute Subjugation. Probably, the next time I would hear the name SPIC-MACAY, I would be running as if my house’s on fire.
Most of our life is spent in being driven by others. First our parents, then schools, then those nagging class teachers, then colleges, then jobs, then bosses and lastly, the x10 factor. George Orwell once said, “The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. At the age of thirty they abandon individual ambition – in many cases indeed – they almost abandon the sense of being individual at all – and live chiefly for others, or simply, smothered under drudgery. ”
Undoubtedly, a man who speaks my mind, except for the fact that the age of thirty has now reduced to twenty something. The most effective way to control people is to kill the spirit. It’s very effective. I suggest you watch or read George Orwell’s 1984 and The Wachowski Brother’s film V for Vendetta to better understand what I am saying. The truth is, that unknown to us, a Big Brother is always watching over. The next time you feel the rush of youth, look inside yourself and try to find who are you afraid of? There would always be a Rat coming towards you.
Though I tried to start this post on a jocular note, the events have taken a serious turn. For me, writing is a way of happily crying my heart out, and this is what I was doing for the past 2 hrs, when I should have been studying for the OLT. Many a times, one small incident can have drastic repercussions on your vision of life. It’s funny how life can be both so appealing and disgusting at the same time. It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it. No matter how good, bad or ugly this world is, the one thing I won’t do is run away. I am not an escapist. Whatever vestigial part of good persists, it’s enough to make life a worthwhile experience. The biggest battles are fought inside the human mind and so am I with myself, consistently, perpetually. Regarding culture, I appreciate the initiative, I sincerely do, but according to me, any such compulsion defeats the entire purpose of Cultural Awareness. To conclude, I would like to pass on a sound piece of advice, not by me, but a great woman,
A culture is made – or destroyed – by it’s articulate voices.
- Ayn Rand.
