Merit, may your tribe increase!

Okay. So the word is out. Rahul Gandhi is not a PM candidate, Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal are. You see everywhere, in the cyber space, such atrocious war between the Modi supporters and Rahul /Kejriwal Supporters. And I am talking about you, me, we the aam admi (no pun intended). People tearing each other down for what they believe in. Friendships gone sore because of difference in  political opinion.
But it is not just about political opinion. It is deeper and much more complex than just having an opinion. The war between opinions have become so ugly that now people have forgotten how to be decent. There is a tribalistic adherence to a political party which is never a sign of a mature and a rational mind.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, what is the end, absolute end result of having an opinion and acting upon it.

I am not a political analyst, neither am I a devout follower of Indian politics. But I do observe, read and watch news, just like you, your friends and million other junta. I do not have any kind of political adherence and will never have. Because I see political party as a machine to run a country, just like a washing machine to wash the clothes or a computer to all the digital stuff or an AC to cool a room, you get the idea?
So the absolute end result of our opinion will lead to selection of a machine that would do its job in the best possible way, given the constraints whatsoever. The job being running a country. Running a country being making our living easier and safer. And like you guessed, this is a no-brainer. But why do even the so-called intellectuals get it wrong?
You know what I hated the most when I was in school? The fact that a teacher's kid was preferred over other kids. The ones who were good in academics were automatically assumed to be good in extra-curricular activities. The ones who were good in sports were assumed to be not good in academics and the worst, the ones who were not good in academics were considered worthless.

So, the words I am looking for are bias, partial and unfair.
Why are we Indians, afraid of Merit?
Why do we have to make everything complicated so "Merit" takes a backseat.

And we cannot just blame Indian politics or Indian film industry where merit is ignored and nepotism is practised. This mind clout is almost rooted in our social system. And like I mentioned earlier, you can see such an examples in schools too.

Maybe "Merit" is just an utopian dream in India. But, mind you, I am not talking about domains that require hard skill implying talent- such as in academics, technology, medicine, sports, art and capitalism-. Because here, only merit talks. That's why we do not find nepotism here.
But look at the domains that do not require any "special hard skills" or "talent" to get into- like Indian Politics or Bollywood- the two most glamorous and most lucrative fields in Indian. You get a lot of power and instant fame here. HERE- Nepotism is big. And anyone, who has talent and uses it to survive in these domains, faces a lot of resistance, like a lot. But that resistance makes the talent sharper. And like they say, "The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire" . So here is to Merit and its advocates! May your tribe increase.

3.5 years of learning. Chapter 1- The science of offensive behavior.

Alright, so here I am blogging after 3.5 years! Last time when I blogged, I was in the final year of my MBA course. I don't know if it's my memory or it's a natural way our brain records fine details of a particular moment, but I seem to remember what state of my mind was emotionally, what aspirations I had, and what other expectations I had from the future, all at the time of my last blog.

Okay, coming to what I actually wanted to talk about is what I have learned about human behavior all this while. I am no psychology major but I have observed and continue to observe and have realized that behind every offensive "attitude", there are always some reasons. So, if you meet such people who offend/belittle/are rude to you without any reasons, it means you are definitely doing something better than them . Sure, it feels bad when someone does that to you and you are too taken aback to give a cutting reply. There is no reason to self-doubt or regret not answering back. It's absolutely normal for the people who are happy with themselves. The answering-back thing comes with a little pratice.

It is important to remember that human brain is not wired to be offensive without any reason. If someone is offensive, it is in fact defense. Defense against his/her own insecurity. The intrinsic need to tell him/herself that he/she is superior to the person that offense is inflicted on.

So never mind if certain people are not good to you because you are the one who actually makes them nervous with something good which you have and they do not.

Then you would also encounter some people who would make fun of you. Especially when there are other people around. This species is the one that need reassurance by other people. When they pull a joke on a person and make others laugh, they very well know that they are being offensive to the "victim". But that was never their purpose. Their purpose was to feel appreciated and acknowledged. This need arises when the person is insecure about some aspect of his personality so she/he uses a 'victim' to make him/herself feel good.

So when you are the victim, either you laugh out because you genuinely think it was funny. But it was kind of mean and not making much sense, you think of a come-back reply.

But remember always, the problem lies in the person who is offensive!

My day today...

I always thought writing diary is a bit boring and I have seen some of my friends do the same thing everyday. How can they write the diary everyday? Is everyday so exiting that its happenings may be penned down? I know I may sound a bit weird here but i have always been this way. But everyday??? Everyday of my life is mostly pretty ordinary. If something extra ordinary happens , it might seem so but then again after some days, it seems pretty ordinary too. May be there is something about the mundaneness of everyday. For instance, today, like every day, I woke up and got ready and went to attend classes. After that, I came back to the hostel and here I am writing a blog. But somewhere in between all these mundane activities, I always fail to recognize the extra ordinary part of the ordinary things. It is the comfort and ease and the peace that everyone longs for at the end of everything. All the wars that are fought, all the crimes that are committed , all the seas that are crossed and the buildings built, distill down to one of the attributes associated with mundaneness. May be we should be grateful of boredom sometimes. Mundaneness gives us the opportunity to introspect, to challenge ourselves, to smile at the oddest of things. Just like me writing this blog gives me an opportunity to introspect on my ordinary , mundane moments....