"Wouldn't you have done the same....??"..

"What a bunch of dumbf**k losers..!!!" I bellowed, when watching the pro-reservation guys continue to fart after the SC's verdict for a stay order on the OBC reservations...

One one side we get to see the AIIMS students celebrate a second holi upon hearing the news (Perfectly understandable...I might have done the same...Even more so if I happened to be writing the medical/ Engg. entrance exam(s) this year..!!!!) & on the other..we still see pro-reservation students on the same campus (yes...people who are unfortunately(?!?!?) from the "backward" categories) talk about how this is gross injustice to the "backward" classes & how this will lead to further monopolization of centers of excellence by "forward" classes...
But enough has been said on this issue already...I shall choose to muse over something else but not entirely unrelated to what has happened..

Following my delightful (WTF..!?!) response to the pro-reservation asswipes... One of my friends then tells me .." It isnt entirely their fault...Wouldn't you have done the same if you had been in their place..???"

"Wouldn't you have done the same..??" Hmmmm...well...I cant see myself making protests over establishing quotas...But I would be pretty dishonest if I said that I wouldn't support (atleast on a sub-conscious level) reservations if I had something to gain...& this wasnt/isnt just something thats at stake..it means the difference of getting/not getting a seat in IIMs/IITs/AIIMS etc etc...(I change my mind...I might have even joined the protests with so much to get & nothing to lose..!! :D)

& this opinion would seem like a natural one (nay...it wud be the ONLY opinion) if u were indeed one of the "backward" classes... But what if I chose to tell all u people about a friend of mine who was above all such petty thoughts..& rose far & above to prove that reservations dint matter to him...???

This friend wasnt an "OBC" but a so-called S_ , a category whose reservation isnt even a subject of contention anymore in the Indian society...a guy so brilliant...that he could ace any institute even in the GE category... The only colleague (if thats what I can call fellow students/friends whom I have been with, in person) who I unambiguously acknowledge to be the only person superior to me in overall capabilities & excellence...The guy with whom I shared honours in the maths Olympiad & in the Reynold's scholarships and many more wherein I just wasnt in his league...& so it was hardly wrong to assume that he would make it real big...

However, around the time that I had to attend my counselling at IITM following JEE...I got news that my friend had not made it through the finals of JEE...but thats not where the story ends..he did not make it in the GE category...however, for the rank he had secured, he could have named the college & course he wanted & got it too..all he needed to do was to invoke the reserved quota that he had every right (yes...I would have used it had I been in his place)...But..as I came to hear eventually..he said that he dint need reservation...& he would prove so...!!!!!!!

At that time..I really dint care whether he had proven himself to the world...But he had more than proved himself to me...That a human being who could have so much faith in his abilities, that he was so ambitious to scale the very best & biggest (as his talents rightly deserved) but could also embrace the true spirit of equality & realize that his future would be built..not on his birthrights...but his limitless potential...

& not surprisingly...the inevitable happened...he ended up getting AIR 10 in JEE'04 and went straight to IITD Comp Sci... fairytale stuff na..?? :-)
Hats Off to you buddy...!!! For showing me that respect is earned not just by "getting yourself a seat" but by proving to the world that determination & ability neither asks nor needs anything else to convert itself into achievement...

I only wish there were many more like you in our country..(even a few would do wonders in fact)...
To explain to our "political leaders" that a reservation system which only increases the magnitude of the reserved quota is not the way out to acheive "equality"...
To tell the f**ked up CM of Tamilnadu...that with all the money & time lost along with a gr8 deal of other intangible losses... many schools & perhaps even a few good colleges could have been set up for the "OBCs" he cares for so much...(Apart from telling him that an 82 year old wearing shades doesn't make him cool...It just makes him look what he is...A Fat-Ass Pimp..!!!!)
True...that much of my animosity comes from the fact that I had to wait for over 2 hours before I could finally get into a bus from Chennai to Trichy...thanks to an artificial emergency created by the bandh to "protest against the injustice done to the backward classes"...It comes from the fact that people, who usually never reserved their seats were appalled that every single bus that parked itself in the stand had already been over-reserved...which meant there was nothing available to travel in...
I might well have had to wait till the next morning..had I not sneaked into the bus...& when asked by the conductor for my reserved tickets..flashed two new notes which told him better than all the tamil I knew...that by letting me a seat...he would gain a week or two's supply of beedis or a bottle of the cheap desi liquor or whatever other luxuries our "honest" bus conductors indulge in..
But the looks on the faces of the few old men who had to stand all through that 8 hour journey was not lost on me...the pain, the frustration & the discomfort that should never have been theirs..
Is this how we demonstrate our love for the "backward classes" of my country..??Are we really fighting for their cause by depriving the economy of crores...atleast some of which could have been put into their service..??
As the political d**kheads play out their gimmicks to appease the electoral pool...I could not but help think about its implications... The gentleman sitting next to me complained endlessly about how this OBC thing is all a big farce....that reservations & entire debates held based on Neanderthal records of the year 1931 held no relevance today... that this country is doomed, damned etc etc...& we had to get out to get what we deserve...
An year ago...nay..even 8 months ago...Whenever someone asked me if I would consider taking up lucrative options overseas...I would stand proud & pronounce that I want to work in my country...the economy is growing...blah-blah... I will not join the "Brain-Drain" etc etc
& although the above isnt entirely untrue...its no more a secret that the best jobs only go overseas... & it is the greed of money, of a superior lifestyle & of "equality" based opportunities that has prompted me to not even regret the fact that I shall be going overseas 2 months later....
& yes...I hope His example shall show my countrymen that there are still proud Indians around who believe that it is the spirit of determination & excellence that makes us truly equal....& not a set of retards who revel in showing people how to celebrate our "backwardness".



P.S. : Those of you who know the guy I am talking about...Plz refrain from mentioning his name..& for those of you who don't ..Plz dont bother with his identity...But hail the man for the magnitude of his belief in equality...