Editor’s note – This article is different from the rest of the ones that you have read on ‘SMU!’ because the author doesn’t talk about an issue that directly relates to the education system but about the root of all the problems of our nation – Greed.
Author’s note – Everyone knows that our education system is rotten, our country is corrupt and that it is a beggars' pot. Many have given their viewpoints regarding it; Many have come up with many solutions to these viruses, but what our society needs to do is to differentiate between success and excellence and get rid of the notion that Success means nothing but MONEY and strive for EXCELLENCE!
Once during a Physics lecture, our teacher posed a question for the novices, “WHY IS IT THAT ALL OF YOU WANT TO GET INTO THE IITS’?“. One of my friend quite instantaneously replied, “BECAUSE THE MARKET VALUE OF THE IITIANS IS THE HIGHEST“. A very coherent and no-frills answer, yet, it corroborates an inner aspect of our society, for which it cringes at the ravine of destruction right when the other side basks on progression. The aspect of avarice for money. Yes, money after all, the reason behind almost all the vile in our environment: the key pollutant. My friend wants to tear apart his head to mug the no-nonsense formulae to get into the IITs’ just for the sake of money, when he should be endeavoring to get into the best engineering colleges in our country for the love for science and the ardency to learn more science. Then, our society will be having an engineer in the form of my friend who just yearns for money and not Physics. (I will leave it to you to comprehend the future of his.)
Although my friend is quite innocent, this hankering for dinero (read: hard cash), either directly or indirectly is the paramount vindication for corruption, robbery, murders and all the other forms of iniquitous deeds existing in our society. I won’t condemn my buddy for his notion because, just like me, he too has been nurtured in a society- in which money is the only evidence for success, in which an opulent mansion, a swanky sedan and a whacking bank balance is equated to success. And this equation leads a common man to acquire by hook or crook the ‘accredations’ to substantiate his ascend to the top of the ladder of success. This, in turn, gives our already polluted environment hundreds and thousands more of A.Rajas’, Lalu Yadavs’ and Ramalingas’. The world in which we live in has been undergoing a process since infinite times in which a constant brawl to outdo each other by earning money has been taking place. But what is almost going unnoticed is that, millions of dreams, aspirations and lives have gone vain in this process.
Money, obviously, is a prerequisite for the mere existence of a human being, but is the greed for it a necessity? It can definitely give you the prerogative to dine at a posh restaurant, but what after the dinner? It can give you an entitlement to own a palatial residence, but what after walking the earth in it? CAN IT GIVE PERMANENT HAPPINESS? NO, IT CAN’T. It can only give a fleeting experience of grandeur whose worth is nothing when compared to enduring feelings like love, contentment. History has seen it too that the greed for money to acquire power has lead millions of human beings in the path of crime, and again, not to blame the individuals, because our society which equates money with success has shaped up them like this. And this is exactly where the root of the problem of corruption lies, which has rocked the largest democracy in the world.
Every aspect of our state and nation has become debased. The conduct of the judiciary, executive, legislators, politicians, industry, finance and the media saddens because they have fallen prey to the easiest corruption to cure. It is money corruption. It has rendered our country dysfunctional to an extent never before experienced in our independent history. The cause is a deeper malaise. What afflicts India is a corruption of the spirit. As a sloka puts it,’I WENT IN SEARCH FOR EVIL AND FOUND IT NOWHERE, BUT WHEN I LOOKED INSIDE, THERE IT WAS.‘ Everyone is running behind success aka money but what we don’t notice is that a single match stick can end it all in few minutes. All the hard cash earned by crooked methods can never give respect, honour, excellence which actually what success should be equated with.
India has been oozing ahead with an unprecedented growth rate of around 9% but it has not been able to reach the next level of inclusive development because of the lack of innovation from our own R&D sector that has been completely plagued with the lack of quality brains which is lost to the other sectors that offer colossal amount of hard cash as we live in a society with a belief that education is just a medium of getting a good job which can offer good brass. Thus, a person opts for research only after there are no jobs available for him/her in the other opulent sectors.
Majority of the urban youth lament over the fact that our Indian cinema is way inferior in every aspect than Hollywood which has drawn the youth more towards the latter than the former. This is directly because of the cash hungry powerful filmmakers that we have got who treat cinema just as a mode of earning hard cash which they ensure by having an inconsequential sizzling hot dance number and making their actresses wear less but what’s happening because of it is that quality cinema is getting lost in this mad rush of no brainers and the true talented filmmakers don’t win what they merit.
All the above look insignificant when we take a look at our scandal diary. (KEEP A SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR BESIDES YOU). BOFORS scam (64 cr), UREA scam(133 cr), FODDER scam(950cr). STOCK MARKET scam(4,000cr), CWG scam(70,000cr), STAMP PAPERS scam(43,000cr), SATYAM scam(7,000cr), 2G SPECTRUM scam(1.67 lakh cr) and now the latest FOOD GRAIN scam(2lakh cr?). A Times of India survey tells us that there are numerous more scams which are waiting to be exposed in near future and the total worth stands at a mind boggling number of 10 lakh crores. I just don’t understand what these criminal politicians have achieved by robbing these gargantuan amount of money of the common man or what are they gonna do with it. Buy a golden aeroplane? ( Hope gravity doesn’t let it fly in air). Buy a Saree with sapphires, ruby’s on it for their muse?( the gems will outshine their faces and make them invisible).
We live in a country which has 42% of the total malnutrition in the world. A country whose half of the billion strong population lie below the poverty line. A country whose farmers suicide and the poor don’t get a single proper meal a day. At the same time, we have thousands of malicious souls who are busy feeding their greed for money. And over that, a thousand more are watching the entertainment with their mouths shut and hands tied. Salute this nation. PLEASE, SALUTE!
Hundreds of journalists, politicians, scholars are echoing with thousands of solutions to this poison of corruption, but all I would like to state is that the starting point has to be the self. These felon politicians and bureaucrats should be shot dead because their misdemeanor is killing hundreds of lives of the poor and the media should give a prominent coverage in its mainstream to the good work done alongside these vicious acts so that people don’t loose hope. And finally, i would quote the theme of a recent Bollywood blockbuster here,‘RUN BEHIND EXCELLENCE, AND SUCCESS WILL RUN BEHIND YOU’, AND DON’T FEAR THE THORNS IN YOUR PATH, FOR THEY DRAW ONLY CORRUPT BLOOD.
Money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties.
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