The Great Indian Tragedy

My birthday this year brought with it a lot of fun and frolic with the additional dose of surprises courtesy my dear darling and eccentric friends. One of the many wonderful things that came my way was a book I had been dying to lay my hands on ... The Palace of Illusions - the tale of the Mahabharata told from the view point of the woman who many believe had been the cause of the epic battle. 

Flipping through its pages on the flight back home I thought back to the summers spent in my grandparents home, the time when I became hooked to mythological tales or Amar Chitra Kathas as I knew them back then. Across ages, cultures and times mythology has been a very effect tool for instilling values in society, more so  than the religious texts that most people bowed down to.  Amongst the many stories of my childhood, the Mahabharat was the one that had gripped my imagination the most. To anyone who has been an avid reader, it is a marvel that majority of the plots of books across genres, authors or languages has its roots in one of the many sub plots of this great novel. Dealing with the complexities of human behavior and emotions, the varied human traits exemplified by its characters, and the eternal cause of strife - pride and vengeance, the Mahabharat has it all. 

The Palace of Illusions is a tale of a woman whose life was unconventional in the extreme - her marriage to the Pandavas, being gambled at the hands of Yudhishter, the ill treatment meted out to her at the hands of the Kauravas, her exile and her subsequent thirst for justice or vengeance has been written with great honesty and can be easily related to. Draupadi's story holds true even in today's world as is apparent in the trials and tribulations faced by women in the different walks of life and the tendency of people to lay the blame on them for all of their misfortunes. 

The recent sting operation on police personnel in Delhi has brought to light another analogy to the infamous "cheerharan". This time around it is the unfounded prejudice and excessively apathetic attitude of the very people who have been appointed as sentinel to the victims of rape and harassment. In most cases the victims of these horrific crimes end up having to endure even more humiliation and character assassination at the hands of those that they approach in the hope for justice. In addition to being let down by those with the power and authority to protect them, the rest of the world too turns a blind eye like Dhritrashtra and acts impotent like the Pandavas parroting the view of the police that the victims had somehow provoked such an act of revulsion by means of their behavior, clothes, appearance or by the mere act of being female. How then can they explain the assault of children, or women in sarees or in the remote parts of the country ??? How can someone else be responsible for the vile actions of another individual ??? But alas the tragedy of the world today ... no one really seems to care. People will be more concerned about "where the Bachchans had dinner" or "who Ranbir Kapoor is dating"and somewhere in some corner of this country someone's agonised cries will again go unheard !!!

JEE : To Be or Not To Be

The past weekend brought with it a lot of eager anticipation, nervousness, hopes and dreams across the nation to culmination with what might probably be the last ever IITJEE examination. Started in 1960, this examination has metamorphosed with passing time to gain its current status as one of the toughest exams to crack worldwide. Though it has contributed significantly to the global standing of the IITs for its very low admission rate that that would not be my primary argument in favour of JEE as I too am among the vast majority that is resisting the scrapping of this exam in favour of a common entrance exam from next year.

Having myself been an aspirant of JEE and also a current student of IIT Bombay I can say with confidence that preparing for it was a remarkable learning experience contributing significantly to my knowledge above and beyond the scope of my school curriculum. Even today the weeks preceding it were filled with guiding our juniors, critically analysing the paper and waiting for the results that would bring in fresh faces into our campus. You might pass of everything I saw hence forth as being sheer sentimentality on my part and a desire to retain my institute's elite status and would be correct to some extent in thinking so. But it stems more from a hope that India does not throw away its recognised supremacy in higher education for agendas that are not really for our profit or welfare.

The proposal of the HRD ministry for a common entrance exam and the proposed pros of the same are riddled with problems that are too glaring but are being ignored. The govt. claims that one common exam would reduce the stress for students as well as curb the "menace" of coaching institutes which is in itself a ridiculous notion as only one shot at admissions would tend to increase both of these for it would now be a do or die situation. The other proposal of giving weightage to 12th Board marks is excessively impractical as there is a wide variation in the marking trends of the numerous boards that exist in India and the correction of board papers has time and again been brought under the scanner for all the scams that plague this process.

Why then is the govt. so determined to abolish a world renowned exam and bring in its place a system that is not only impractical but also does not have the backing of the states who refuse to do away with their entrance exams or bring about a uniform board and are well within their rights in a federal system to do so. Call me a conspiracy theorist but the only logical explanation seems that the impending setting up of Indian campuses of foreign universities has triggered this chain of events. And to please the powers that be "IITJEE" is being offered as the sacrificial lamb in a tragic attempt to reduce the IITs status and dethrone them from their position as premier institutes to accommodate these new arrivals...

Here's hoping we don't need to say "R.I.P JEE" !!!