The Merit List

There is a subject that has been questioning our minds for a long time. Maybe since the time when we joined a school. Just like an army is trained for years and years to face a war situation, the students are trained for 10 years of their schooling to face the board exams, which often are described as a ‘necessary evil’. This results into changing the mere definition of a Merit List into a paradox, that though exams are not a very good means of judging the potential of students, they are perhaps the only way of doing so. As a student myself, I always wondered if exams really are the only way of judging the potential of students ? Even if its not the best way to do so ?

Thanks to the media, you must have heard or read about the growing number of suicide cases among students, the primary cause is the examination oriented Indian education system coupled with a heavy-hand domination by teachers. Are the chits of papers and those numbers more valuable than our life ? Students, in order to achieve their goal i.e. a respectable position on the merit list, become book worms and miss the simple joys of life and sometimes their friends too. Seeing their condition, the saying, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ starts making a lot of sense.

I think there should be no merit list, because the ones only to succeed in 10^th are those who follow the principle in Marathi that says “Ghoka ani Oka” which translates to ‘just learn by heart and write it all in your answer sheet’, and that to in JUST 3 hours. What an achievement !! After all, the marks that we achieve are most of time based on the personal bias of the teacher or judges.

The problem has its roots connected with the guidance from parents and their economic structure which doesn’t allow them to give importance to personal interest. Let me explain this, a student may not like theoretical learning, thus getting low marks in exams, but he or she maybe a practical minded person. And another student may not be able to make quick decisions because he is not practical minded, but has secured the merit list with his theory. If these two students were to apply for a job, the latter would always be preferred.

A close but gloomy example that I would like to mention is that of a girl from our friends circle. She used to study 25 hours a day and was a definite candidate for the merit list. Her mom left no chances of scolding anyone who created any kind of disturbances. Finally she scored a whooping 91% marks. Gosh !! Anybody would have jumped with joy ! But this girl cried in agony for she missed the merit list by 3 marks. The next year was spent without studying because she was in a state of depression. I further add that the merit list is responsible for developing an inferiority complex among students. It also leads to irony, jealousy, unwarranted competition among the students at a premature stage, when their vision is not focused on a practical approach to life.

Though I know and agree that the competition is heating up day by day and our students have to be nurtured to face the same, I feel that we are losing more than what we gain. We are gaining an OPPORTUNITY to get a well paid job. I say opportunity because just like the girl I mentioned earlier, you can’t be sure of the end result no matter how much you have worked towards your goal. Evils like politics, bribery, corruption or sheer bad luck are always going to pull you down. Hence to gain an opportunity, we are losing out on small but very important things in life like practical knowledge, basic physical fitness, mental balance and most important, a peace of mind. All this, just for some flashy numbers on the most important piece of paper respected in our country, the Merit List.

Newspapers today

It doesn’t matter whether your toilet has a normal flush-and-water system, or a tissue paper system like the U.S of A. The most important piece of paper at the start of one’s day still remains the newspaper. For most of the businessmen around the world, the newspaper comes as a light brown paper with black text and loads of charts, but for the rest of the world it is black and white. But is today’s newspaper just black and white ?

When we think of the colors black and white, it can mean a lot of things. But I feel the newspaper should be black and white for one primary reason. The newspaper should only show the world the truth. And truth always comes only in a black or a white, there are no greys in between, or even any other color for that matter. But today’s newspapers are much more ahead than just showing us the facts.

We all are aware of the fact that in order to keep the newspaper’s cost so low, they have to rely heavily on the advertisements. But if you look at the extent of advertising done with today’s newspapers, you would feel that you are not reading the news, but an Ad-agency’s portfolio. More than half of every page is filled with advertisements for new products, new offers from the local market or an online store and even huge full page adverts for some Megastore which offers you commodities at prices lesser than retail.

But no newspaper will go a step in the other direction and investigate the validity of the advertisements they print. Today’s newspaper wont carry any report how these megastores con the public by selling them market surplus. They don’t carry any reports about the hidden costs behind the attractive loan and EMI schemes on offer. After all the newspaper’s business comes from these colorful patches on every page. Turning on to the showbiz section, you will frequently read about the yearly earnings of film stars, but how often have you read about the daily earnings of a common wage laborer or the illegal earnings of the traffic police. That fact of the matter is, newspapers today are becoming more commercialized.

Small news is blown up to infinite proportions for no reason. Take for example, the news of some teenagers barging into the PM’s compound, or a small kid falling into a pit, or some cities in America facing a complete black out for a few hours. Did this news really require so much attention ? Then is the favorite section of every newspaper in the world – War and Riots. The journalists today can write pages together on this subject. Then why not about people who help victims of natural or artificial calamities ? Why is it that only multi-national corporations and celebrities make it to the newspaper for their charity claims ? An Iraqi newspaper once had a Palestinian woman kissing an crying orphan as its cover page photograph instead of the war photos. The war was left to the last pages because they wanted their people read about the good things first. Why cant every newspaper take such an initiative. Why cant newspapers think more about giving the people the news that really matters to them ?

The sports section is no different. All you will read about is cricket, player rants, player endorsements and player facts. Other sports news will include news from other poular sports from around the world like Tennis, Formula 1, Chess and Hockey. Why cant the Indian motor sport, Indian football, Archery, Weight Lifting, Arm Wrestling etc. get coverage ? They make it to the news only when some sports person is caught for things like drug dose or ranting against something or someone. Why isn’t the progress of these sports covered instead ?

During festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Festival, Christmas, Id etc, you will see our newspapers flooding with articles on the festival, the Indian culture etc. But where do all these ideas go when articles on skimpy clothed party animals are printed ? The most coveted section of the newspaper today is the Page 3. Parties, Page3 celebrities, scandals…this is what is gaining popularity. News today is being used to market products, make people famous, cover parties, put forth gossip or even make use as a political tool. Newpapers still live up to their name and do give us the news. But what is the news ? Is it really what we want to know ? Or are we being made to read what they want us to read ?

The difference between a theatre play and a movie is that the theatre allows you to choose your line of sight. You decide what you want to watch and hear during the play. But in a movie, you are forced to see through the Cameraman’s eye. He decides what you are supposed to see. But still the motion picture gains more popularity over the theatre because its considered glamorous and happening. Same is the case with the newspaper. Its us the readers, who have unknowingly supported its transition into a glamorous and commercial thing. We are responsible for reflecting a wrong ‘want’. And the publications are more than happy to give us what we asked for. We added color to the newspaper and hence the facts are no more just black or white.

Am I sorry ?

It was a dark evening. Grey clouds hovered all around. The atmosphere was getting so grim that even the clouds were weeping. Sunlight was trying to console them but in vain. I was in my room going through all the old photos. My memories were killing me. They were adding to the sadness of the day. My heart was paining even at the thought of it. But I had had enough. How long could I live with this burden. How long could I keep it that way. The effects were showing on my face. My sadness and stress was showing on my face. There was nothing I could do. The whole room started feeling like an asylum. I didn’t want it this way. Something had to be done. A one shot solution. I was fed up. The thoughts of using a sharp blade were haunting my mind for quite some time. A few cuts in the right places and it would all be over. Should I do it or should I not, was questioning my shrinking mind. What would my friends think if I took such a step? Would my family take this shock? I didn’t know what to do. Browsing through more photos from the past couple of years worsened the things. I had to do it now. I had been through enough dark memories. I had to take this step. No matter who thinks what, I had to go ahead. Enough thought and said.

My shaky feet walked me to the bathroom. I picked up that blade. A sharp new blade. It was going to my only weapon to take this step. I wanted to finish it all with the least possible pain. I knew this would be the last time I would feel such pain, after that, all would be over. I made the first cut. It was a little painful. A cold shiver ran down my spine that was bending over the wash basin. A cut more and it didn’t pain the same way anymore. A couple of cuts more and there was no pain left in me. I was just creeping towards the end result. With all the cuts, I could see it slowly flowing away. Falling drop by drop on the basin floor. Its dark color was contrasting against that of my skin. I knew a final set of cuts would finish of things. As was doing this, I looked towards the mirror. All my old memories were slowly fading away. A change could be seen in me. The blade had helped me take the brave step. It was a new beginning. The way people would look at me had changed. The blade had certainly made a difference. It did its job to perfection. I had finally and cleanly, shaven off my moustache and frenchie.