~ 23 and Counting! ~

“23 and counting!” – I am aghast on the way I am hearing the news of suicides which our youngsters are doing in Kota – a small town in Rajasthan, notoriously famous for cracking the almost uncrackable IIT and NEET entrance exams! Hearing such news, my conscience goes for a toss and I think “ is it the only aim of life , to be at the top?”

They seem to be toddlers of life for whom the only aim is to be a doctor or an Engineer, for many the burden of aspirations has been put on them by their parents – many of whom themselves were both moderate students and were not able to crack the elite exams! 

Time and again I read that it is a Rs 10,000 CR industry or almost $1.5 Billion – the moolah seems to be much and so is the competition. Lakhs of students come for fulfilling their dreams and make it Big in the world of corporate life or to start their own business as it is a well-entrenched phenomenon in India.

Securing a seat in IIT is a sure shot ticket to land of dreams – America or for opening their own companies – Startup as the call them in today’s jargon and getting to the headlines of majority of English Newspapers! For sure there is a heavy price to be paid in this razzmatazz of life and earning big, many flounder and are not able to take the pressure of paying heed to books for almost 18 hours of day – the insecurities follow suit and they succumb to the huge burden of their own airy aspirations.!

All I can say is that “Please give Life a chance as It is for sure a beautiful journey , the best part is nobody knows what twists and turns it brings in due course !” – anyways if you end your life, for sure you will not get anything as you don’t exist anyways , but your near and dear ones will surely be on the receiving end and will live with a huge sense of anticipation and may be guilt as why this happened or that they could have stopped it by not putting unrelenting pressure on you.

See around, are everyone is a doctor or an engineer – “NO” there are zillion such souls who are more successful that an IITan or a doctor from AIIMS ? are not people with mediocre education have achieved cult status through sheer hard work and being patient? 

 I strongly feel that the panacea lies in right education , first at home and then in School / College. If we look around, there is no education which teaches us to cope with failure – only counselling comes in this regard – think twice, have you ever seen a teacher telling his/her kid “ Don’t worry , If you fail then also you will be big enough!” – the seeds of fear are sowed in these classroom sessions, everyone is injected with a sense of fierce competition as if life is race and everybody should be a numero uno!

I only want to end this note by saying again “ Life life to the fullest as it is only once that you can as you are, you will surely be born again but not in the same era / family/ situation / city/ country, may be but today what you are – you have been give a beautiful gift – cherish it wholeheartedly and wait for the right ball to toss a Six ..but for that to happen, at least you should be on the Pitch….