A letter to the Education Minister

Note - This is a purely fictitious letter written by me as an engineering student who's going to commit suicide - The content is copied from Chetan Bhagat's book - What Indian Wants other than that I have done some editing and added some of my own views as well...


Dear Education Minister,

    I sincerely hope that you are doing really fine and the staff of your massive bungalow is treating you well. After all, you are one of our top leaders and you deserve all the high- class facilities and standard of living. I won't take much of your valuable time that you would've loved to spend visiting various ministers, taking rest or perhaps doing any other activity than read my letter. So, I'll tell what I want to in short.

  I've passed out my class XII from the science background and have decided to end my life. I've    scored 93 percent in my Board Exams and I have a one-foot high trophy from my school for scoring the highest marks. However, since I was unable to get into a college of my choice because of my poor performances, or I should say, not up to the standards set in this country in the various Engineering Entrances, with a 45k rank in the AIEEE and as expected, not qualifying the IIT-JEE even after dropping one year for my preparations, I don't see any purpose in living. I've got a trophy from my school but however, there are so many trophy holding students in this country and so few college seats that I didn't get into a college that will train me to get to the next level, or open up good opportunities.

  I know I've screwed up. I should have worked harder to get at least another 3 percent in my Boards last year to get into a top Reputed college for doing my Bachelors in Science or should've somehow got 8 more Multiple Choices correct in my AIEEE. However, I do want to point out a few things to you. When my parents were young, certain colleges were considered prestigious. Today, forty years later, the same colleges are considered prestigious.What's interesting is that no new colleges have come up with the same brand or reputation level. Neither have the seats expanded fast enough to accommodate the rising number of students.

  I'll give you an example. Just by doing some meaningless surfing, I saw that 4.5 lakh candidates took the CBSE Class XII exam in 2002, a number that has grown up to nearly 12 lakh in 2012.This is just one Board, and if you take ICSE and all other state boards, the all - India total number is over ten times that of CBSE. We probably had over one crore students taking the class XII exam this year.

  While I understand that not every student can get a good college seat, I just want to talk about the so-called good students.The top 10 percent alone of these one crore students is 10 lakh children. Yes, these ten lakh students are the toppers of their respective classes. That means in a class of fifty, these are the top five rankers.

  One could argue that these bright kids from all over the country deserve a good college to realise their full potential.Come to think of it, it would be good for our country too, if we train our bright children well to be a part of the new,shining,gleaming,glistening,or whatever you like to call the globalized India.

  But then, it looks like you have stopped building universities. Are their ten lakh top college seats in the country? Are their even one lakh? Ever wondered what happens to the rest of us, year after year? Do we join a second rung college? A deemed university? A distance-learning programme? Get a degree in an expensive and a racist country? Or in some cases, especially for the engineering and the medical aspirants, waste a precious year of our lives to again go through the vast syllabus and again stress ourselves? Your government runs a lot of things.  You run an airline that never makes money. You run hotels. You want to be even involved in making basic stuff like aluminium and steel which can be easily made by more efficient players in the market. However, in shaping something as important as the young generation, you have stepped back. You have stopped making new universities.Why?

  You have all the land you want, there are teachers who love to get a government job, even the education funds are never questioned. Still, why ? Why don't we have new A - Grade universities in every state capital, for instance?

  Why is our education system, that is so advanced and self - tagged as the best in the world so rubbish, to say the least? We have all the talent. Indians are probably the most hardworking people on the planet. Since I am from the engineering background, I would like to tell something about what I have knowledge about.We even have institutes like the IIT's that are marked as the best in the country. But still, can you tell me at what rankings are the best institutes in our country in the world stage? Leave all of that, how many of these guys can you assure to be really imaginative, creative and innovative engineers ? How many have won the Nobel Prize? Why are the research opportunities in this country so depleted that our so called Masterminds have to go to a country like the United States or United Kingdom for their higher research, and we have to be satisfied by somebody who wins it & we proudly say- He belongs to the Indian Origin. Why is even a country like Australia much ahead of us in technological development?

   Obviously, all of this is seen, especially thanks to our beloved Ancestor Dr. BR Ambedkar - who's even claimed to be the second greatest Indian after Mahatma Gandhi. Thanks to his generosity in reserving seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in even the best institutions of the country, most probably because he was a Dalit himself. Yes, now give all the sickest reasons that you can imagine - That we, the general caste have always crushed them in the past,discriminating them and not giving them any opportunity. That may be true. I don't disagree. But why the hell should this generation earn all the favors for something that happened to their ancestors ? Why should we suffer because of what happened in the past, things that happened even before I was born ? Is this a policy of Tit for Tat ? Also, can you tell me how a person who has a got a 5 lakh rank in the AIEEE compete in a class full of those with 10 thousand at maximum? Can you imagine that student to cope up and survive the pressure? He'll be discriminated inside the institution as well with a tag that reads ' Undeserving'. No wonder that there are suicides reported there as well. And, the other unfortunate folk like me are killed too - by the system and the pressure. Why can't we adopt a common system to every system - irrespective of his caste,creed, tribe or whatever- on the basis of merit ? Thanks to this Ambedkar fellow, we even have reservations in jobs,trains, and even the houses of the parliament. Even if we try to change the system, the Quota ministers out there will never let it happen. And sadly, the talented people will fly overseas in search of much much better opportunities and the undeserving, talent less and the quota folk will survive here - India will remain a developing country forever. I do not mean to say that all the quota people are unworthy, but the majority of them are, in my view. Also,dear minister, kindly don't count these as all personal grudges against them.

 Oh well, sorry, I am overreacting. If only I had not done the integration calculation error in my maths paper and not wasted my time over there, I would have been fine. In fact, I am one of those lucky ones. In four years, the number of candidates will double. And then, we'll have a college with only 99 percent or percentile scorers.

 My parents were a bit deluded about my abilities, and I do feel bad for them. I didn't have a girlfriend or too many friends, as people who want to get into a good college are not supposed to have a life. If only I had known that slogging for twelve years would not amount to much, I'd have had more fun.

  Apart from that, do well, and say my hello to the PM also, as I understand, used to teach in a college.

Yours truly,
Himansh Arora

People are going to hate you, People going to rate you, they're going to try and shake, they're even going to try and break you. It's how strong you stand, makes you...

( Poor Student )

*Bitch Please*!

You spend most of your nights with your phone and blabber crock,
But now you can't see her on FB Baby, did she Block ?,
But how did this shit happen ? I was in for a shock,
I was there for her 24X7 - Around the clock,
We spent so much of our time having a sweet talk,
Her Kiddishness and immaturity screwed up our relation's balk,
She couldn't even stand a bit of teasing and mock,
Haha! How immature ?,
And there did the kinship concluded- It went up in smoke,
Or perhaps she was right - I was a fucked up Bloke,
Hahaha.. Really ? What a Joke!,
Yea.. I ain't wrong.. She was in for a Timepass.. No Revoke!,
Called up on her phone.. She didn't pick up the call,
Finally when she did she asked - Why do u bloody Stalk?,
You are a fucking loser, getting rid of you is such a knotty ask,
Covered with split personalities, you always wear a mask,
Come on.. Just Chill Baby- We need to talk,
Lemme finish it first, before you start to squawk,
You got nothing on me baby, and you suck,
Don't try to piss me off, now I don't give a Fuck!,
Uploading freakish sick pics on FB- Posing as an ugly Duck,
Why the Hell I got up with you?, My luck was such a muck!,
With prepubertal common sense, you got nothing on your defense,
My sentences can go on and on, and therefore & hence,
You'll forever remain a dumb bitch girl, jading a doll smock,
Seriously, just fuck yourself Bitch, or go on and suck a Cock!

Sachin Tendulkar – Why does only he get all the praise?

Sachin Tendulkar is a far more overrated player than his own capabilities. Relax, I had to think a thousand times before adding the aforementioned first line just because firstly, I am writing something that will anger a large number of Sachinists out there. And before you guys begin throwing stones at me, full of criticism with the comments that may read like “I don’t properly know to hold a cricket bat, I don’t have the right to talk anything about the “God Of Cricket”, and “I cannot even run around the ground for 22 minutes when he has been doing the same for over 22 years”, the usual same replies that you give to those who criticize him and his batting.

Before you read this further, let me clarify that I am a big Sachinist myself and am not writing this article to criticise him as a player. Secondly, I am just a fan and I don’t consider myself worthy enough to pick apart a player of Sachin’s stature. Infact, I don’t consider myself to be upstanding enough to comment on even the ‘worst’ international player since he is much more talented than me and we don’t have the right to judge anybody playing at the top level.

Everybody, and I mean it, everybody out there representing their country deserves respect! But as an Indian Cricket buff and a well-wisher of the team, I feel it’s completely natural for a follower to feel disappointed, frustrated and even angry with the performances of some players, but hey excuse Sachin Tendulkar!

You guys may be wondering what’s my purpose behind penning down this article ? How can I call myself a Sachinist if I am talking rubbish about the man himself ? Well, I completely have no problem at all with Sachin. He has been playing International level Cricket since the November of 1989, around 5 years before I was even born. I have been
seeing the game, and witnessing Sachin’s batting perhaps since the last decade or so. Initially, when I started perceiving the lovely game and was learning with the basics – the rules of the game, and enlightening myself about various players, the name ” Sachin Tendulkar” never seemed to be special. He seemed like a small boy- a 5 feet tall lad who carried a ponderous bat. That’s all!

Infact, in those early days when I was perhaps 10 years old or such, Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka was my favorite – Credit to the fancy name pronunciation. But even when I saw him for the first time, it was still a joy to watch him bat. The sight of the ball middling his bat resulting in a reverberating sound continuing even after seconds the ball had been whacked over to the boundary by his blade, and above all adaptability to both pace and spin – whether it was a Test or an ODI- The spinning tracks of the subcontinent or the fast and swinging surfaces of Australia or England, whatever the conditions, whichever the opponent – The Little Master had an answer to every situation. It took me some time to get accustomed to his brilliance, when I started watching old cricket matches on the Television and the innings that changed the manner in which I perceived him was the Desert Storm Innings against Australia at Sharjah in 1998. Another great thing about the guy was his honesty and the way he carried himself around – both on and off the field. No matter who you are and what you do, you just cannot stop admiring the little man and the fashion in which he dismisses the deliveries of the best in the business- coming down the wicket and lofting Shane Warne over the deep midwicket boundary for a maximum, playing with the spin and inside out against Muttiah Muralitharan or hiting a square cut past point of Glenn McGrath when he tries to bowl at the Corridor of uncertainty- Sachin had, and still has an answer to everything on the cricket field. For me, my favorite shot was the bullet drive of a full and straight delivery of Brett Lee- going past the wicket of the non-striker at a greater speed than by which the ball was bowled.

But the greater part about him was the fans, the critics and the media who never leave him alone- even forcing him to attach a fake moustache and going to see a movie at the theater only at midnight. The amount of expectations is what makes him a God. Before a World Cup, you would have seen people worshipping his posters on the street – performing Hawans and Pujas for him first- In India, Sachin comes before the Indian Cricket Team!

This is the thing that angers me the most- Why is an Individual above the team? Why is the individual above the Game? He’s called “The God of Cricket” but you, me and all of us here know that Sachin is also a mere mortal like all of us, not any God. Then you may ask- Why is he called God? Sachin’s called God because he is above than each and everyone who has ever played the game- for his Passion, the dedication, the determination, and the Perseverance he has displayed in the difficult stages of his long and illustrious career, whether it was leaving his team in between the 99 World Cup in England to attend the last rites of his dead father in India (and returning soon after, showing that he placed his country even above his family, and to score a Century in the next innings, when he was in pain, showcases what the Champion is made of!) or surviving innumerable career threatening injuries all throughout his playing period, displaying the same childlike enthusiasm even after playing Top-level cricket for more than two decades, when players have debuted and even retired, is enough to make us feel proud and privileged of being born in this era.

Sachin’s also called God because an entire nation – more than a billion people pray for him every time he goes out to play- Anything less than a century is a failure for them. He unites the entire country and no matter how bad anyone’s day went, the news of Sachin’s century is enough to bring a smile to his face and assuring a night of peaceful sleep. Sachin’s no saint out there- Yes, he has had a career elusive of any controversies, but when he calls himself a walker, why didn’t he walk when he clearly edged the ball and was caught behind the wicket in the IPL Final ? He walked back even when the wicketkeeper and the bowler did not appeal in the aforementioned Desert Storm Match at Sharjah because he knew that he had made India qualify for the Sharjah Cup Final. Hows that God-like ? Why would you call Diego Maradona as a soccer god when the whole world knows that he netted the ball with his own hand? Is that fully honest ? Is dishonesty a Godlike quality?

Why did he have to play so many deliveries to get to his 100th hundred against Bangladesh? Perhaps India lost that match because of the bowlers, but even if Sachin was the reason, nobody will question him.  Perhaps I am acting too skeptical figuring out minute flaws and instances. And how is it ever possible for a guy like me, who has not even played a school level Cricket Match to comment about such a guy and how come can I ever understand the pressure that was on his head between the 99th and the 100th Ton. I don’t know that. But what I did saw in that innings was some selfishness, even though I blame the other 10 players much more.  Why does only Sachin enjoy all the praise ? Why didn’t the other legends like Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman, or even Kapil Dev and co. earn the praise equivalent to him ? Why is only one guy talked about in this  country playing sports- overshadowing the Cricket Team and other sports persons?

Even, a lot of times, I have felt that Rahul Dravid has been much better because he has delivered in a large number of pressure occasions.. at times when the whole Indian team underperformed, even your God- Sachin! Even after the just concluded New Zealand Series, as I was going through some Sachin Tendulkar Fan pages on Facebook, there were all different  sort of quotes criticising the comments of the past experts that Sachin should retire and stuff. Yes, The Greatest Batsman of all time certainly  will know when to leave the arena, but that does not mean that nobody has the right to express their personal opinions, and especially those  who are Legends themselves. Sachin has every batting record possible in cricket against his name and, at 39, he has nothing more to prove to the World. After all, when he’s going through poor form more often than  his excellence recently, why should the team suffer because of him? Why doesn’t The BCCI drop him the same way that CA dropped Ricky Ponting? Clearly, in Australia, the name doesn’t matter- what matters is your current form. If you are a liability to the team, you must leave. No doubt that they have been such a successful team throughout.

 Sachin has given so much to cricket and he’s achieved everything- name, fame, money and fans- thanks to the game. In return, Cricket has also gained more popularity and status, thanks to him. But Cricket was there  before Sachin arrived. Another quote that angered me was that “Bowled” as a form of dismissal gained more greatness when Sachin consecutively got out thrice against the Kiwis. People have something great to say about him even if he scores a duck, but you are insulting the game  bringing its aspects into the picture. Surely, Sachin is Great but Cricket  is Greater. Guys, please don’t be mad fanatics, don’t be impartial to the team, support everyone in their bad times and hope for a better future for  our Team.