The Big 'Q'

There are times in life when we have to undergo pains and suffering (where both the terms have their usual meaning) especially during physical illness or emotional trauma.

Though these tough days disturb your regular schedule, they actually make you think beyond the same. Though they take you away from a simple and tranquilized life, but they make you realize the true worth of it. Though you are the weakest you can ever be for these few days, they make you stronger than usual to lead the rest of your life.

Though we have to suffer for sure, but to adjudge the whole experience as good/bad is something that 'lies entirely in our own hands'. It is easy to say, but very difficult to realize it, especially when it is needed the most.

This is the crux of everything. At 'all' times in this game of life, we should ask ourselves what I call The Big Q which says, "Right at this very moment, am I the player who is deciding his own moves or am I just sitting back and waiting for things to happen to me?" Answering that question for yourself will bring you back on track (if at all you are drifted). Bingo!

Is that all? Hmm... not exactly. The smallest and yet the toughest part still remains. How do we remind ourselves to ask The Big Q to ourselves? Some say it comes with practice, others prefer to set certain things which can act as reminders (say an unusual mobile wallpaper or something). And I'll say you are the best judge for yourself :)

Science or Commerce ???

A recent statistic says, "Out of a total of 261 students taken in for the post grad. MBA program at IIM-K, 236 were engineers and 12 were from commerce background." Sounds stunning. But what may be the reason?

These MBA institutes take some Common Aptitude Tests for selecting the students clearly indicating that the engineering students have stronger aptitude. Why is that so? Is the graduation education that different for the two streams? Not really. Then what?

I remember my uncle saying, "My son got 65% in Class 10th boards, I don't think he'll be able to cope up with Science. I'm putting him into Commerce." This may not be always true (thankfully!). But isn't this true in most cases?

If majority of students with stronger academic skills take up Science (mostly PCM) at 10+2 level, they will end up doing Engineering thus amounting to the mammoth 236/261 ratio in MBA colleges. I am not neglecting that there are Commerce students who do well too, but only to the tune of 12/261.

What compels the society to make this Science-Commerce discrimination is out of the scope of my interpretation but isn't this the root cause???

It definitely must be the moral duty of the society to stop creating such differences and instead promote the interest of the student, not just between Science and Commerce but also for other areas like Arts.

Sounds simple. But how does a student decide his interests? In case of doubt (which generally is the case), they tend to follow what is prevalent thus falling back into the vicious circle.

We need a radical change in the education system and the first and foremost step must be 'awareness', not just for the students but for their parents too. They need to be well informed to do proper counselling of their teens. The education system should also complement them in giving the children an overview of 'all' the future options available.

It is only then that we can look forward to an all-round development, not just of the individual, but of the society itself.

PS: The writer himself, an Engineering student, is preparing for management entrance exams. So he has tried his best not to involve any personal stuff into this :D

LOVE AAJKAL

There was a time when we all loved the 'love' of Heer-Ranjha and Laila-Majnu. Even today, we look upto them as the so called 'ideal' couples, but somewhere within, we know that we cannot be them. Not just that we cannot, but simply we do not want to be them. What's the big deal in making them our ideals then? Our ideals today are Neha-Sameer and Priya-Raj who handle multiple opposite sexes to (probably) finally come together.

Come on man, be practical, who wants to spend an entire life 'waiting', hoping for him/her to come, someone whom you only saw for a fleeting moment! Life moves on and if we stop in today's fast-paced world, we lose everything, possibly even the so-called 'one sided love' we were waiting for. This ready-to-die love may have well suited and flourished in the era in which Laila-Majnu existed, but things have changed now, and so should love.

There was a time when Dalton ruled. Atom was indivisible. And people believed. But, today we laugh at it. Similarly, Majnu would have said that his heart was indivisible and wholly contained the love for Laila. Can you say that today?

Today atom is divisible. And so is the heart of a man. It has different chambers. Not for different women at the same time (though it is the case for some sick fools), but for different things including a woman. Sameer now says, "Neha I have secured the most valued chamber of my heart solely for you, but I do have other chambers to look after. I do loads of social networking, have other friends whom i like to share a drink with, etc. It is definitely you, but not just you." And Neha loves him for the frankness and lots more.

The question is, have we forgotten the age-old die hard love? Or has it been confined to a smaller special chamber in the heart (and still exists carefully cradled in its raw form)? I would personally agree with the latter, but only if Sameer assures me that he understands the value of the 'most valued chamber' in his heart. And I will be happier if science puts a stop on further subdivisions of the atom.