~ Damn, Its All Marks ~

 Is it really a bad world out there? Or it is making of our own thoughts? Expectations and aspirations of young ones are bothering them and they are feeling the burn for the quagmire they have in.

Just yest, I had privilege of talk with young ones, - adolescents and young blood brimming with life’s target’s – the class 12^th and 10^th results were out and they had come with expected eyes to see the marks which they has aimed for – many of them had hit a bullseye and had made their parents proud.

I could see the tears of happiness, all the toil and hard work the parents and teachers and students all combined had done to get the scorecard but this came out just as a beginning… a beginning of a new life and a new struggle – now what ..school is overand it is time to enroll for a ‘job oriented’ course – the primary desire of every student!  Is it really a bad world out there? Or it is making of our own thoughts? Expectations and aspirations of young ones are bothering them and they are feeling the burn for the quagmire they have in.

Just yest, I had privilege of talk with young ones, - adolescents and young blood brimming with life’s target’s – the class 12^th and 10^th results were out and they had come with expected eyes to see the marks which they has aimed for – many of them had hit a bullseye and had made their parents proud – I could see the tears of happiness, all the toil and hard work the parents and teachers and students all combined had done to get the scorecard but this came out just as a beginning… a beginning of a new life and a new struggle – now what ..school is over and it is time to enrol for a ‘job oriented’ course – the primary desire of every student!

As every year tagline that ‘Girls have outshined boys in this years 12^th and 10^th board results’ , and the overall pass %age of 87 was termed a little less for more than a million students who took the exams, there were many somber faces too – those unlucky ones I would say , who did not get the desired marks as per their toil and expectation – suddenly, life was changed and didn’t look like the same again – every question asked about the marks scored felt like deliberate taunt!

For me , this was a just a stepping stone, yes – marks give you a sense of confidence for sure, but at the same time also a sense of override sometimes as I could gauge with some students…. The ‘other’ ones who were not termed as toppers looked timid in their approach – suddenly, best friend was not the ‘Best’ anymore and had turned foes for some reason!

Talking to the some of the mediocre students, I wanted to be my witty best as I didn’t wanted to point out the just arrived ‘failure’ for these poor souls…there were zillion such examples given by me to push up their morale , as I continued  “Life for everyone is different – with different scenarios to tackle and different impediments to conquer – today if you feel you are successful, there would be many other days when you will be termed a ‘failure’ – take it in your stride guys.

Average students have also done remarkably well – so, put your chin up and face the world with same aplomb – you are unique and will have your own accomplishments in life as it unfolds day after day – some decades from now you will realize these lessons – there is nothing final and everything is temporary and bound to change….” – these words did make them smile to some extent but they need to live life to observe these teachings… after all we were also given such life lessons from our elders and they came to be so true to their thought!