Monday, November 29, 2010 4 comments

Life of an Average Indian Male- Part 1

So what’s the life of an average Indian male like? I decided to make a short synopsis in this post. First of all, let me clarify what I mean by average. Basically the word is used to suggest that the person is an Indian male, preferably belonging to the middle class, has access to higher education, and does not face any severe hindrances[such as financial constraints] as such. You can say that he is from a well to do family, and has all the facilities which a middle class man does[including a Facebook account and a Smart-phone]. So how does he spend his life and what does he do? Lets begin.

First of all, in all probability, he will attend an English medium private school[hardly any middle class parent will make his son attend a regional/government school]. The school may not be outstanding, but is good enough to provide decent education to the child. Like everyone else, he faces his share of ups and downs in his school life. He is rewarded for his qualities and reprimanded for his misdeeds. He does good in some subjects and excels in a few extra-curriculars. He may be a good cricketer but a poor speaker. In short, he is good in few things, not-so-good in others. He enjoys Sports, but dislikes Chemistry. And so on and on. I believe most children have a similar lifestyle. Of course there are exceptional students and abysmal ones too, but majority lie somewhere in between, like our protagonist.
Lets give our hero a name, shall we? So we will call him Raj[the most banal name used by Bollywood]. Now Raj is entering teenage life. He is already 5 foot 8, and still growing. He gets to know and learn a lot more things. He may have an interest in Computer Programming, or he may be addicted to Mathematics. Perhaps he likes reading Science Fiction, or prefers bowling Leg Spin deliveries to his opponents. Slowly but steadily, he is gaining maturity and evolving into an adult. This is the adolescent period which every child has to pass through. He may develop an interest in the opposite sex[which is normal for every child his age]. He starts shaving soon enough. He participates in Debates, and Writing Competitions. He goes on to represent his School cricket team in a city cricket competition. He scores 100 out of 100 in his class 8 Mathematics exam. His class rank is always in the Top 5. He wins a few prizes, medals and certificates in co-curricular activities. He has a crush on his classmate. And so on and so forth. He does not like certain subjects such as History and Economics, but mugs up everything so as to score good marks in the exams.

Now Raj is in Class 10, an important juncture in his life. He sits for his Xth Board exams and scores a decent 89% overall, with 95% in Maths and Science. Naturally, his parents are delighted. Raj is also happy, though slightly disappointed on missing out of an even figure. He joins the Science stream in Plus 2, in the same school, along with most of his school friends.

Most of his friends have opted for IIT coaching at a local coaching institute. Raj also does the same. He starts following HC Verma for Physics, and Das-Mukherjee for Calculus. He dislikes Chemistry just as he did in school, but forces himself to go through Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry textbooks. He tries to follow the study material given to him by the institute, but hardly gets any interest in doing so. His school teachers are average and of not much help in his IIT pursuit. He proposes to his classmate but gets turned down. The first rejection of his life hurts. He feels shattered, and does not understand why she refused to be his girlfriend. He tries to get rid of the pain by watching pornography, which is freely available. He spends hours every day on Facebook, chatting with strangers and playing Mafia Wars.

IIT preparation has become a pain. Still, Mathematics fascinates him and he tries to juggle in between his subjects. His parents forced him to take up Biology as well, since they felt he should appear for both Engineering and Medical exams. ‘Why should I do so? I can’t become both an Engineer and a Doctor, so why not focus on just one?’, asked Raj in a monotonic voice. He got no satisfactory answer, but he knew that many of his friends were also doing the same. His best friend, Amit said ,’Yaar, am trying my luck in both medical and engineering exams. Kahi na kahi to ho hi jayega.’ Neverthless Raj finds his current school life extremely dull, and loses interest in studying. He finds Biology extremely boring, and somehow manages to pass in the exams.

The Entrance exam season begins, and Raj takes the IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CBSE-AIPMT, State Engineering and Medical Exams, BITSAT, etc for the first time. He performs decently in board exams and manages to get 84%. However, when the entrance exam results are declared, Raj receives the shock of his life- Failed to qualify in all exams apart from the State Engineering one. With a poor rank in AIEEE, he knows he will not get into a good engineering college. So on the basis of his State Engg rank, his parents get him admitted into one of those million private engineering colleges which have mushroomed all across India in the past decade. The college is far from his home, and for the first time in his life, Raj shifts into a hostel. Raj got into Instrumentation Engineering, because his rank wasn’t good enough to Get Electronics & Communication, or Computer Science, the two top branches.

Thus ends Raj’s stage of life dealing with Primary Education. Now he is about to enter the stage of Higher Education. And become an Instrumentation Engineer in the next 4 years. Raj is initially disappointed at his performance, but at the same time also eager to taste the freedom and fun of the college life he has heard so much about.

*To be Continued


Note: This is not just a fiction story. I have a purpose behind this series. I shall analyze all the wrong decisions made by an Indian male and their probable answers after I am finished with this story. So please bear with me. Thank you all.
Monday, November 15, 2010 3 comments

MBA season Begins

*Personal

Hello guys. Its been quite a while since I posted last. Have been really busy this time, honest. And have loads of things to do as well.

Have 4 MBA exams left, plus 7th semester is knocking on the door. I finally started my preparation today. Phew! The next few months are going to be really hectic, no doubt.

I have taken the first CAT of my life[7th Nov]. Did well I hope. But Quant performance wasn’t up to the mark. Anyways, what’s done is done. Have got my NMAT score[224 out of 360] which will hopefully fetch me a call from Narsee Monjee, Mumbai.

In the meanwhile, I fell sick[severe cough and cold, accompanied with mild fever]. Currently I have incessant stomach pain. Sometimes I feel like swapping my body with someone else’s[a more healthy one]. But enough complains, there’s much left to be done.

My current occupations are:

1) Reading Superman and Batman comics after 5 years- Feeling of nostalgia. Just completed the Death and Return of Superman series- one of the best I must say.

2) Playing Star Wars Force Unleashed 2, and Fallout 3- thanks to Kuntal once more.

3) Reading a few novels which I had stopped mid way- Goal, Short History of Nearly Everything, The Discovery of India, etc.

4) Magazines and newspapers.

5) Wasted the entire last week by going to college.

6) For the first time in my life, I skipped a sessional/mid-term exam due to frustration[it was postponed without notice].

7) Sleeping and listening to music[not sure about the order though].

8) Solving IIFT[my next MBA exam] mocks[did quite well in the last one, confidence high].

9) Revising Higher Maths for JMET[Yet another MBA Exam].

10) Watching anime occasionally. Saw a few Superman animated movies, loved them. Especially the Doomsday one, and another called Apocalypse.

11) Planning on watching a few movies- The Expendables, Gandhi[for the 2nd time], Top Gun, POC, Goldeneye.

12) Preparing for semester exams. [PS – I HATE COMPILERS/Language Processors. I STILL DO NOT KNOW WHY ON EARTH WE HAVE THIS LAME SUBJECT].

13) Moderating at Pagalguy- The best Indian MBA website.

14) Checking out Facebook status updates[I don’t waste much time here though].

15) Thinking about my future blog topics[the serious ones].

So whats making news currently?

1) Obama visit.

2) Bihar Polls

3) Aung San Suu Kyi

4) Indonesia Volcano Eruption

5) Asian Games- Guangzhou.

6) New CM for Maharashtra, and resignation of A. Raja[No need to mention Suresh Kalmadi here].

7) Kashmir related issues.

8) Seoul G20 meet.

9) Indo-France, Indo-Russia, Indo-USA, and Indo-Japan deals.

10) Rakhi Sawant[on whom a case was filed recently].

And of course many others. Too tired to type any more. Got to have lunch. So take care folks. And all the best to Season 2010 MBA aspirants.
 
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