Dreams left Unanswered - Consumerism in the Indian Education System

Money is not everything. Although it does make up for a hell lot of things people want, still it is not everything. The trends of consumerism can also be seen in the Indian Education System. If the system boasts to be a myriad of opportunities, it needs a slap on its face right away.

Childhood fosters learning, learning fosters knowledge and knowledge fosters temptation. In this chain, a person often forgets what he aspires to be during his sunshine days. A Fighter Pilot, a Scientist, a Painter, a Guitarist or a Cricket Player, everything just disappears into dust under the immense pressure of Social Duty. The chronological Phenomenon in the Indian Education System is also noteworthy.

A kid joins school, and ever since then, is under pressure to perform academically. He is trialled and tested every now and then to prove to the Society how good or how bad he is. He needs to carry a heavy bag, sometimes almost half his weight, filled with books to school, and is expected to excel in all that. After the board exams, he is expected to take the "best" Course of Action, the "best" being decided as to what the academically brilliant co-students are pursuing or what the general crowd perceives to be marvelous. Consumerism comes into the picture in all this. Starting from the Parent's decision to provide quality education to their Child to the Child deciding what Stream to pursue after his 10th boards, in this case generally following what everyone looks up to - be it a Science or Commerce Stream in the Best Institute Possible. The extreme exposures from Social Pressure and Heavy Responsibilities loaded on the Child's shoulders forces him to take a decision beyond his Childhood aspirations. This is the step when the Fighter Pilot or the Cricket Player dies. And comes up a Potential Engineer or a Doctor or a CA.

Why is society so Skewed in this regard? Why can't every individual pursue what he dreams of becoming? In fact, a person would give his 100% effort for the Society if he is put in a place where he can openly declare that what he is doing is completely independent of any force-feeding or social duties. By social duty, it means the glimpses of the so called "successful career path" which is constantly bombarded upon the individual to force him and make him believe that there is just one path for him to reach Social Happiness and attain a Successful Life. This is how success is defined in the Indian context. And it is a pity.

When it comes to MBA, fifteen years back, majority of the Children would never in fact, think that he or she would end up being a Business Manager. Nobody does. But the Skewed society is such that it forces its self-made definition of a successful path into the human brain that everybody, by the time he or she reaches the 12th standard, or is pursuing Graduation, thinks that MBA (or a similar Master degree) is the only way towards salvation, towards eternal success. People spend ages to get into an MBA institute, blindly believing that this route will provide success for the individual. But financial independence is not the only goal which defines success. Has anyone thought that when he or she sits on a chair, controlling a huge enterprise, he would be completely satisfied and happy with the work he is doing? Wouldn't he rather be controlling a spaceship and traveling through asteroids and visiting alien planets?

Consumerism in the Education perspective has made life a sorry state in India. The West holds a host of opportunities for kids out there, who are allowed to choose anything they desire, without anyone questioning their choices or laughing at their decisions. Theology, Philosophy, Genetic Research, Photographer, Painter, Guitarist, Singer, whatever the person aspires to be can be achieved. I'm not saying it is IMPOSSIBLE here in our country. But one who dares to tread in those paths often are victims of Social Mockery and being labeled as Inferior. The society who indulges in such acts of Negative Reinforcements against such interesting career paths needs to be incinerated, i believe. Because every individual is born for a purpose, a reason. And if, under the pressures of society, he changes his course and becomes a money-minting machine, then God save the World.

Behaviors of the Consumed

Eats. Muriel really eats. She devours tons and tons of food before anyone even realizes this inhumane behavior of hers. Behavior of the primitive, the paranoid, the obese. And then she lets go of her attire. Which is of course, a part of her act, and she smiles in glee and the audience applauds. The curtain falls.

Muriel is a stage performer. She has just performed the role of a bloating female Ogre. During the encore, she is applauded for her witty acts of eating half burnt rodent meat at incredible speed. She is 32, and weighs over 70 kilograms. They generally pay her a lot of money for her acting skills.

Regardless of who we are via Genesis, the acts and strange things which we do define us more than our Surnames. You can call it a Semiotic Perspective, the likes which would make our existence obsolete without associating ourselves with things we eat, things we drive or things we spray around. There would be a time soon when we would have Brand names instead of Surnames, which would justify our states better.

In a world full of advice, people gasp for breath against this huge tsunami of Advertisements falling every hour on our small heads. Buy this, don’t buy this, throw this, don’t throw this, each and every message coming through our senses turn out to be advices and advices. The human character is no more. We are driven everyday by someone else, or something else. I am not being cynical about this, because whatever said and done, it is all cumulating up as fun inside of us. But to think of this fact that every decision we make has so many propellers behind it, some being thrust on by people we don’t even know or care. Advertisements rule the world, Marketing has overtaken freewill.

Consumers are shoved into this Perceptive Reality called satisfaction through consumption. Each and every consumer thinks he is independent and powerful enough and is leading his life like an emperor. But the fact of the matter is that for every satisfaction we thrive for, is not inherent. It is all planted and set up by repetitive exposure of advices and temptations. Which are in turn engineered by Companies for fooling the consumers into thinking that he needs this stuff so bad that he must buy it.

The instance of Muriel as an actor shows the essence of a script, which leads a normal human being to become a voracious ugly creature, just at the instruction of the writer and director. Applying the same framework to the real life outside the stage, it’s the same jaded picture. The Advertisements and the constant AIDA algorithm replace the Direction and Script, and the everyday consumer replaces the actor.

There might be millions of counter-arguments to this post, but on careful assessment, once can evaluate every action of every individual to be inspired or instigated by something or someone. Advertisements and Marketing communication act as the instigator more than the inspirer, since there are a lot of things which a man may discard away from his everyday life, and not suffer consequences (watching a movie, for instance) at all. But the force of persuasion bestowed by the Advertising Virus has eaten it all. Eaten the independent human decision. Eaten more than what Ogre Muriel has ever eaten in her entire life. All of it...

A-Mateur Life

"Oi Asshole! Gimme your Sandwich!"

"But, but... What do I have for my lunch?"

"You can have this..." *WHAM!*

Pampering Parents. They never know their son had Nightmares of the Bullies tormenting him in class. No, there was complete justification as to why A-Mateur did not mention this Everyday Tremor to his Folks... He had a Huge Ego... An ego that could easily crush his immature existence in a second... And that did not let him reveal in front of his Pampering folks that he was apparently a Coward, a Loser, a Punching Bag... Time flew... And one day, he committed Suicide... Game Over...


*This is called WRITER'S BLOCK, btw...*

My Prayer

Mighty One,

Help me be a channel of Thy peace
That where there is hatred, I may bring love
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony
That where there is error, I may bring truth
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith
That where there is despair, I may bring hope
That where there is shadow, I may bring light
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy
That I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted
That I may seek to understand rather than to be understood
That I may seek to love, rather than to be loved
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds,
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven

Chronicles de Journia

Procrastination kills. Be it just for moments or for a whole decade. The wee hours of rainfall when the taxi just drives past, the human mind too timid to get drenched for just a couple of seconds, deciding to wait for another one... Expecting hopefully to cozy up in another yellow cab... They come every 10 seconds... But there's no "another" now... No taxi, no drydom... 2 seconds of wet aversion and now need to walk in the cold rain for half an hour... Primitive instance this, yet worth thinking of...

April came, and the blog was ignored... No more... I write...

Much to my delight had I got the opportunity to tread on Foreign Earth... My duties embrace comfort, the cusp of perfection, and I am happy... My bottle shattered - Green and Melancholic... The Other Half Revisited, the heat unleashing the demento cell of the Brain... The Gin and tonic... The Fake Answers... And the Pat on the Back... All in the pipeline...

Someone told me that I write too vaguely... I would like to deny that... Being a progressive musician, I request everybody to open their minds and try to read my blog... It is as simple as a Chaai and an Egg Patties...

The Most Powerful Prodigy which Drove my Enthusiasm to do Something and Anything

This is Solid Snake. A Man driven by his Urge for Knowledge and Sustainability. A Man letting go of almost everything good in his way to dive deep into the Pits of Corruption and Fallacy, to eliminate Danger and Threat and to Restore the Ways of a Straightforward Life.

Courtesy: Hideo Kojima (Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo) under the Banner METAL GEAR SOLID

Purgatory

Flawless minds of Mortals
Returning us the Favor
Ejecting out all Hatred
Sustaining in For Ever
Death a Fearful Nemesis
Retribution a Scary way
For the Mind chooses to Blunder
to Go against the Light of the Day

Under wretched Skies, under Thunder Storms
The Treading goes on and on
Hurdle upon hurdle & Milestones crossed
Voraciously seeking a New Dawn

Crime and Violence in
The Minds of all Within
Drives the Inner Beast
Blackens the Conscience
Death a Fearful Nemesis
Retribution a Scary way
After Death comes the Time
The Purgatory Relishes

Under wretched Skies, under Thunder Storms
The Treading goes on and on
Hurdle upon hurdle & Milestones crossed
Voraciously seeking a New Dawn

Hello, Souls of Men
Who Claim as Gentlemen
Are Invited Here
To the Purgatory
The Shining Pit of Lava
Is where the Soul is Fed
To Cleanse the Evil Done
To Innocent the Man

Purgatory Cleansing
The Pit of Lava Drenching
Cleanses the Soul of Man
Tries to Better it While it Can
But alas, the Plight
Reducing the Body Half Sized
The Soul Cleansed of Sin
Has only a Baby Within

Under wretched Skies, under Thunder Storms
The Treading goes on and on
Hurdle upon hurdle & Milestones crossed
Voraciously seeking a New Dawn

Cleansing up the Soul, mind and body's Toll
Reduces it to Innocence
When the baby Cries, now you know Why
The Purgatory afflicts its Wrath
That's how the Cycle Flows, on the Body and Soul
Purity just a Form
Of Innocence, of no Knowledge
Growing up is our Ultimate Sin...
We shall all Go...
To the Purgatory