vantage point

Saturday, August 19, 2006

A Reservation Update on Why to Update Reservation

Among the many new things that I have come across in my new college (earlier I went to St. Stephen’s college for two weeks), i.e., Bharatiya Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering (yes, I finally took up engineering……phew!!!), one is the movement called…surprise, surprise…’Youth for Equality’!!!
Now there were these two kids, a 2nd year & a 4th year who thought that they were mature enough for supporting this ‘national cause of concern’. They came and talked about the country being divided on the basis of casteism by this reservation, saying that we wouldn’t have been in this college if the 50% reservation would have been enforced (blah, blah, blah…) & urged my ‘dearest’ classmates to join their ‘reform movement’. They asked if we loved our country…….they might as well have asked us if we loved ourselves!
And lo behold, some of my ‘sweet’ ‘n shallow classmates grab the tails of these apes to follow their footsteps! Trust me, there is no ‘RDB effect’ working here, but only man’s inherited simian instinct at work.
Well…I’m not surprised by this copybook behaviour of my ‘friends’; nor am I surprised by the fact that how miraculously they never put on their thinking caps except for the times when they are required to do so for academic concerns.
What I don’t understand is that despite being of national importance & thereby being overtly publicized (I hope it’s not the other way round), this reservation issue has not yet found an equitable solution.
Now, why do the reserved categories need reservation? Is it because they feel discriminated otherwise? No! It is true that the discrimination, ironically, is only because these people have been classified into the reserved category. It is only a moral insecurity. So, is it because they are financially insecure? Yup, for sure! Then what’s the problem……the problem is that there are hundreds of General category students who are equally insecure financially.
These people are not getting justice, and can never hope to receive their fair share of formal education till the reservation is based on caste & not the financial status of the candidates.
In addition to the universities, the government can enforce a reservation for financially underprivileged children in public schools as well. If the government has not been able to reduce the poverty of these citizens, it may, at least, provide them the privilege of a good education so that they may become capable of changing their fortunes themselves.

The universal aspiration of humanity is to reside in an egalitarian society so that no man may suffer. We-Indians hope for the same. Amen!

Monday, June 12, 2006

The Rebel Drop of the Ocean

The desperate waves splash hither & thither
in the azure blue waters of the sea.
You would think they were desperate
to free themselves from the dark captivity.

The storm that blows above this sea
resides actually inside it.
The waves in the heart of the sea
want to see the world outside it.

At last a rebellion drop falls out
in its desperate quest for vision.
Still could not see the light of the day
for no worldly rhyme or reason.

Is the world outside a rainbow of colours
or a poet’s burning passion,
She could only imagine it-
her world was a dark congestion.

She couldn’t see the redness of Red Riding Hood
but could feel the sweet red roses.
She couldn’t see the blackness of Black Beauty
but could always feel her dark world.

Nobody understands her misery
or her young emotions in a swirl.
What can she do? She was born like this
Oh, falling tear of the blind girl!

The Waltz of the Soul

From the seventh heaven they come
those buoyant droplets of drizzle;
In diluting, they take pride,
this swirl of hues to an aquarelle;
Those hues that adorn his elegant form
creating an aqueous palette, a merry melee
The scarlet & the lime, the azure & the violet
together they all waltz away.

His jade wings spread out a throne
for his patina-covered figure
to welcome those first showers divine
that gild his crown sapphire.
All his hearts sway with the throne
to the mellifluous music of his soul
that blends the turquoise with the emerald
to make the rainbow whole.

The fragrance that the zephyr brings with it
of the damp earth & the dewy verdure
sends his spirits into joie de vivre
seeding his passion for a freedom calm & pure.
His colours dance with his wings,
His body dances with his soul
in his quest to evince his beauty-
unveiled by the waltz of his soul.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Some Misquoted Intentions of the Quota........& its Adversaries

She is a mother of three.
Despair grips her as she watches the whole life of her youngest child being arrogated away by a minuscule orifice in his heart. The child desperately needs a transplant.
Do you think the mother would snatch away the heart of her eldest child claiming that his brother has lived life the shortest, hence he deserves the priceless gift of life, not his elder brother?..............obviously not!
Maybe this example may sound a little melodramatic to you but that’s nearly what the Indian government has done.
Is it necessary to snag away something from one to give it to the other?
Is it necessary to uproot the verdure of one garden to make another green?
Our government is granting rights to certain under-privileged sections of the society by snatching away those of the others. No doubt, our students from the more prosperous sections think that their government could have done better than this in this competition-driven world.
The government could have granted additional seats to the reserved categories, i.e. by creating them, thereby making both sections happy.
And if some people say that the government doesn’t have enough funds & infrastructure for doing this, then they should take a peek at the funding of the education policy which has been increased almost by 100% this year for the ‘further development of the government & public schools’ which is a task that never gains its required objectives, leave alone a decent momentum.
Barring the woes of the red tape, what the government can do but keeps forgetting, is to set up more schools, both government & public, and introduce reservation for the SC/STs & OBCs to a certain extent in the public schools & then assist them with scholarships.
This will ensure a good education & a secure future for these communities from the roots itself, and will nip any question of incredibility & lack of appropriate knowledge in the bud itself, thereby saving the talent in these communities from being unduly demeaned.

But after voicing all this, I am not saying that what the students , who call their protest movement against the quota as the ‘Youth for Equality’ movement, are entirely correct. If a general category candidate securing 50% marks protests that why is he not getting admission to a medical or engineering college whereas the reserved category candidate with the same percentage of marks can, then he/she should consider the general living conditions of these candidates. Sidelining some prosperous cases, most of these candidates live in poverty, which makes it an achievement on their part if they secure 50% marks without any tuitions or coaching, whereas their general category counterpart, even after being blessed by his parents with all these facilities, couldn’t.
These protesters who have spilled generously onto the roads, conveniently abandoning their daily schedules & responsibilities, would have been morally correct in doing this if they would have been honestly protesting for their own fair share of seats in the institutions for higher education across the country (in today’s competitive age, seats are as priceless as the Holy Grail!!), but they chose to protest with the objective of getting the reservation percentage decreased back to the original level, never really sparing a thought for the OBCs. This, I think, is not a demand for equality, but a rather sadistic way of veiling their own egotism.
Should these students have continued their protests & hunger strikes, even after repeated requests of the Supreme Court to stop them in view of the number of people dying due to lack of medical attention? These teenagers do not believe in the laws laid down for them, neither do they give any thought to their constitution, which is the longest in the world, the length indicating the amount of precious man-hours that have gone into making this country a sovereign republic.
Hence, I feel that both the government & the student protesters have made some mistakes, and they should make up for it in time, lest the citizens of this country start losing faith in their constitution & democracy.

Friday, June 09, 2006

A Page of My Diary

The rain that watered the flesh
and drained the heart
through that true mirror..........
.......................................
Storms brewed in the vermillion
chasteness.................
overwhelmed with those in the heart
.........it overflowed.............
......................................
The elixir of life..............
....flowing, wasting away......
........in hope of finding salvation..
.............freedom...............
......God..........................
......................................
The yearning, the thirst......
........for the Ocean............
......of Divine Love..........
.....that engulfs thou in its cool
warmth.......the Ultimate Satisfaction.

: Name: bayou amour propre; Location: delhi, delhi, India

I have written a whole poem on myself,but here the word limit has limited me, so I'll make do with an excerpt from that poem which is called 'Open Sesame' : A little farther away near the tree, I could hear a rhythm sublime, evaporating from the cascading river, whose waters were amour propre & benign. It could be self-absorbed, it could be ebullient, to a rabbit drinking its waters maybe. It could have been my own life, as a reflection in it I could see.

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