Fourth world problems

So many centuries back, some knowledgeable people (who probably were the ancestors of today's knowledgeable Chennai crowd) classified people into four kinds (or varnas, for the Sanskrit-ly inclined). People those days didn't do much except praying, fighting or something like that. The four divisions were 


Kshatriyas- people who fought.
Brahmanas - people who performed scholarly activities (like reading The Hindu from top to bottom)
Vaisyas - people who bought and sold things, merchant folk.
Sudras - people who did physical labor.


Today, three of the four classifications have merged with multiple regional and religion based sects and what remains in the Brahmanas and that too only in the name. I call this group the fourth world.


I think just because they were self proclaimed scholars in the ancient times there are a million hurdles and loopholes to make sure none of the modern day citizens of the fourth world would be eligible to carry out the pursuit of knowledge. 


The fourth world is also referred to as the 'forward community' in pop culture. That's like the best irony inspired name ever. It gives tough competition to terms like relative grading, flash mob, engineering college and music director Harris Jeyaraj. 


In the mark driven educational society today, the fourth world can only sustain itself if it chooses to embrace illiteracy. I mean come on, there are so many jobs one can end up without getting a degree. 


"What is your percentage in class 10?"


"98%"


"Good. What about class 12?"


"99.5%"


"Very good, very good. Where is your community certificate?"

"I don't have one. Forward community."


"Oh."


"You should've worked hard in class 12. You are 4% short of the cut off."


"But I have 99.5% already."


"I know. But that's what the system says. The system is never wrong."


Well, the system is never wrong. No?

Okay. So, if I decide to follow my ancestors and resort to priestly professions, even they are competitive. People fight reservations, finish doctorates in posh foreign universities and once they get married, they come back to India, put their kids in PSBB, grow a pony tail and become vaaddhiyaars. So if I finish school with a meagre 98% and try getting into one such profession, I will be ineligible for that also. What should I do tell me? I think this is all a master plan to make sure nobody from the forward community remains to fight against reservation. They are aiming at a society filled with peace and harmony by waiting till all the people of the fourth world die.


Lets look at the possible jobs where there are no reservations:


1. Item dancer - best possible job. But men cannot apply because of penis and poonal.

2. Bodyguard for the dons/mafia heads - not possible because of curd rice.


3. Politician - No money, no politics. Yes money, no need of politics. Paradox.

And a few others like amateur photographer, social media expert etc. People used to become writers but these days one needs an MBA from the IIMs to become a writer. 


So to sum up one does not simply be born as a citizen of the fourth world and also expect decent education. Oh wait, you cannot control that.


Pesama naanum kalacharatha kaapatha poidlamnu iruken.

Ten Commandments for the Indian Engineering student

Are you an Engineering student in an Indian college? Don't worry even I had a bad day today.


So amidst all those 'cool' Facebook posts and funny satirical tweets that outrage on how the system should be and how everyone else is wrong, here are ten things you should always keep in mind. You are going to hate these. You have been warned.


1. You will get to interact with seniors in due course of your first year in college. You will carefully avoid those who are marching towards the library with books in hand and go disturb the one sitting with his girlfriend. He will ask you to 'chillax' and take things light. That's because he wants you to get lost and not disturb him. The right person to contact is the one with the books. He will provide you with the right advice. It will sound something like 'CGPA is important.'




2. In due course of time you will join/start ohmygodsofunny Facebook pages like 'Even-We-have -an-Engineering-college tips'. They will have coolmax posters that say stuff like develop your aptitude. Bunk classes. Have fun. But they miss some essential advice. CGPA is important.


3. You might be extremely interested in research. To the levels that you actually cultured ants for your sixth standard science project instead of saying they all died because your mom mistook it for Bournvita. So, you will end up doing tens of projects and millions of lines of code. While you are busy with all this you will grow up thinking you are superman. But CGPA is more important.


4. You will prepare with your fullest dedication to answer any question under the roof during the interview. But your preparation is not complete if you don't have a satisfactory answer to the question, "What is your CGPA?". Because CGPA is important.




5. Are you a programming wizard? Can you solve any problem in under 10 minutes? How many languages do you..? Wait, before that, What is your CGPA? Because, CGPA is more important.


6. You would have won gold medals in three consecutive math olympiads. But, CGPA is more important.


7. Your fellow classmate who asked you what is the difference between C and C++ two days before the test would get a Boston admit when some BPO would refuse to interview you. Because, CGPA is more important.


8. Your parents would think you are not working as much as your next door neighbor as he would end up with better grades because he 'refers' to Local authors only. Hey because at the end of the day, CGPA is more important.


9. You would think some basics on research and may be a paper would cover up for your drop in CGPA because you couldn't cut a pyramid into three equal parts. You will spend an hour filling your CV with accomplishments you think are going to make your profile look like Vidya Balan's gorgeous smile. But to start up with research and cover up CGPA you need a good CGPA. Because CGPA is more important.


10. You might choose to ignore all the above. But remember this alone, CGPA is important.

What the factorial !

Warning/Notification/WHATEVER: This post can be totally boring and one of the extremely useless 5-10 minutes you spend in your life.I do not take responsibility.I can be immensely boring at times(read as always) and can write texts that profoundly induce sleep for from a few hours to forever. Read at your own risk!

In most cases the things that can be counted do not count and the things that cannot be counted count

 said Albert Einstein,one of the greatest minds of the last century.The world today have become so materialistic and devoid of passion.In other words,the world today sucks! But there is no proof that the yesteryear world was being so passionate with whatever they were doing,but there are people who stand as examples.Today's philosophers,writers and even politicians(This was included to add humour) quote the legends of the past to have been more passionate and dedicated towards whatever they did.

Why are we regarded less passionate and dedicated? The answer,I believe,would be this.Today,most of us do things out of compulsion,survival instinct and a large crowd does certain things because others do the same.Placebo has no part nor right to decide your life.Its high time we realise this and become aware of the cheap,false pride we get in imitating others.Remember,doing something because someone else does it will never make you better than him.

The academics is being blamed everywhere.I understand that change cannot be brought about in a very short time but any visible progress will be appreciated by the like-minded.Change is the only thing that can bring about a change today.

This post is totally an outcome of me having listened to a few speeches lately that would definitely stir your very emotions if you appreciate the beauty of science and life as such.What is going on around the world in the name of education is far away from what a real valuable academic life can be.

Kids today deserve a better education.A proper childhood is what required to nurture creativity.Nobody can teach them to think.None can inject creativity.But the environment and the methodology can definitely create a better future.Passion,interest and love for what you do are the key ingredients to being successful at any level.

As said this is the toughest problem that lay.This needs more attention that global warming.

We are always far,far away from finding a solution to any problem till we have the answer at hands!

PS:I admit with not an ounce of shame that the title of the post was deliberately taken from the name of a team that participated in a competition that was attended by me recently.

PPS:If you have used the word that starts with F followed by asterisks, for a significant number of times while reading this post please do read the opening statement again.For those who did not,no words! I have found my alter ego!

Vignesh..