Freedom eeh..

A few days back I was reading “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga that got him the man booker prize and I was stuck across a phrase

“Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion.

These are the kinds of gods they have foisted on us. Understand, now, how hard it is for a man to win his freedom in India”

Before I’m ridiculed by the controversies of mentioning a writer who has stayed half his life abroad and has come to criticize India which many feel has developed, to be ridiculed by the nuances of poverty and the likes, I would like to clarify that I don’t buy either of the opinions

Having said that I cannot deny that this particular phrase was much thought provoking asking me the very basic question, are we free

I classify freedom as emotional and social. Well we have always been bounded by some kind of imaginary chains throughout our lives. When we are small we are bounded by the responsibilities that our parents have for us and the obligations we are expected. Now I’m bounded by thinking of the future and my career. Some years down the line I would be bounded by people who don’t even exist in my dictionary right now

But I agree these bounding are necessary for keeping sanity at place, coz these are more of mutual obligations

I am more concerned about social freedom

I begin by asking is power good or bad, is hierarchy necessary. If yes, how do we make sure that the people promoted on the top of the pyramid have their ethics and ethos right?

With power comes responsibility but is there a mechanism that makes sure that the sides of the coin stick together

Some believe money, but I say power is the world’s greatest aphrodisiac. Money doesn’t care who owns it. A bum can win it in a lottery, or a dunce can inherit it. But power is different, it is to own the world

I now believe certain sections of our country and society, considerably many such sections, power have changed the obligations that they have.

Corruption has completely modified the way things work and become a part of the smooth flowing mechanism of this country. Guess what, even we have started using corruption to our advantage and for the middle class as well this has become a boon.

In certain cases it’s not corruption but the lax attitude of the people on the top, the concept of reversed obligations has whitewashed what we cherish as freedom.

How many times it has happened that you are not pleased by the teaching methodologies of your faculties and couldn’t do anything about it

How many times has it not happened that you are working under a boss u know he is literally screwing you but you cannot quit because of various financial obligations, including bonds and stuff

You pay taxes but are using broken roads, staying in the dark etc etc

Why is it that we have to pay more then what is required at government houses, be it taxation, mutation of houses etc

I took cat on 18november, morning slot. It was a slot that made news because of a total of 5-6 questions that were wrong.  Mind you there are three sections with 20 questions each. Every correct attempt takes a person miles above. Add to that the time spent, anxiety, tension and other factors surrounding these wrong questions. As the process suggests such question were reported to the authority, and promises were made that the needful will be done. Statistically giving marks to everyone who took the paper is unwise, I attempt 31,5 questions wrong I am given marks for them means my net attempt becomes 36,these 5X3 15 marks is a huge advantage to me, but not for the ones who got correct papers , if they don’t mark us I attempted just 31 coz I didn’t had 60 questions to choose but only 55,which again is not so good an attempt compared to everyone in every other slot. 

As the results came out, it was disaster, on talking with some of the people who took cat in the slot; I came to know they have marked us averagely between 80-90 percentile. Complains, media campaigns nothing brought about a change and many are here about to lose a year for no fault of ours

Having said all these is there a way out. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. In all the cases it has been highlighted that being at the bottom of the pyramid giving your attorney to someone else is no longer a humble submission. I don’t see a revolution in the next few years but I’m hopeful to being on the top of the pyramid in some time. But till then it’s all about being in the flow