IIT JEE

i began the day with my usual resolution of loosing 5 kgs in a day by running more than 100 km. And again the lure of a soft bed and a good cooler destroyed my well researched and totally pragmatic plans . Bored and loving every bit of being bored i sat on my computer . While checking my facebook account hoping against hope that some hot girl must have sent me a friend request, my eyes caught glimpse of a headline in the paper showing how today is actually the D-day.
Interested i began reading it only to find out that it was about IIT-JEE results which judging by the way the article was written , was the single most important event in the human history .

Anyway just like everyone else almost each eand every year i too always end up knowing someone who has glued his ass to a chair in some random location at Kota for 7 hours a day over a period ranging from 1 to 3 years.

As shakespere died a long time and assuming that internet is not accesible from up above i now state my next line. "To call or not to call" is the question. I generally follow the Manhoman Singh's policy on this matter : "choosing to take no action is also an action"

My point is that if the bloke really got a good rank he will call me and if he did not get selected there is no point rubbing it in by calling. Most importantly though by choosing not to call you save your mobile balance.

This time though i met the guy at facebook. He informed me of his rank. It was around 4700 out of the total of 9000 people that were selected . I was about to say congrats but thankfully due to my inability to adapt to anything new i possess a torotoise like typing speed and his next message alreay arrived before i could send mine. It said

" meri to halat kharab ho gayi hain"

The tricky part though is that it seems to be the general opinion. When called he was not in a mood to talk. Gloom seems to surround his home too. 5 years back when i was about to join my college the number of engineers that this country was producing was equal to total population of New Zealand. I havent googled about statistics now . I dont have an affinity for big numbers . Numbers with more zeroes than gray cells in my brain. But i guess the new zeland must have made way for a much bigger country now.

Now that i am done with the stastics i will throw you the impact. The exam i am talking about here is the top most priority for each and every one of hose forming that big number with zeroes more my gray cells. The guy gets 4700 rank . For a minute assume he is not in India and is actually living in a country somewhat bigger than New Zealand. He is now among the top 5000 people of that nation.

And yet he is sad. Why? i know the kid. i dont think he knows a lot about research and i am equally sure he hardly has a deep interest in science and technology . He took it for the same reason i sat in that paper 5 years ago. He sat in the exam for the same reason 99.99 % of the total JEE aspirants sit in it for . They are good at maths, they are good at science , their parents have heard from their friends that arts is taken only by idiots so there is hardly anything else to do. And yet they all are sad . Why? What difference will it make if they do not qualify or qualify at a lower rank?

Is it the package. You got to be kidding me. Can they really start worrying themselves sick for the money they will get after 6 years . Are the kids really that money minded today . Does it even matter that his starting package would be 3 lakhs instead of 6 lakhs after 4 years of college.

Come to that i know it matters a lot to final year engineering students but really think about it Once they are placed in the company five years down the line will it really make that big a difference that they earn x lakh rupees less than their collage room mate

We see guys hanging themselves because they dont get a job. We see guys hanging themselves because they have to repeat a year. We see guys (includig me) catching depression like its common cold. i today saw a guy trying to
control his tears for only being a lowly 5000 among lakhs of students. And then we ask ourselves is there a way out, is there a solution?

But do we even know the question thats haunting them . i have been through all these stages but when i look back the entire behaviour pattern seems so illogical. And this from guys who prides themselves on their logical capablities. i am trying hard to come up with right qusetions but i am failing.

Maybe my vision is being clouded by my own personal involvement, my own personal experience . Maybe someone from outside someone with totally objective viewpoint will ask the right question and then maybe .....maybe we will come with a solution. Till then its tears and ropes.