Misadventures of 2 Ignited Indian Minds Chronicled

I thought it would be interesting to give a little background; to let people know, how exactly these college kids, grew from being ‘just-these-CAT-Aspirants’ ( waitaminnit, Wasn’t I supposed to be a shameful blot on the name of that Clan??) to these *ahem*
“Ignited Indian Minds”(the second we’d coined that term n written it on the whiteboard at the coaching institute, it struck us that it was an acronym for IIMs~the Mecca Medina of the above mentioned clan~ dimwits as we are, we were thrilled and took it to be a good omen!)
Actually, it has been an experience in itself, n I want to record it in print as best as I
Can, though it’s more for our personal benefit.(nehow no third person seems to be reading this blog...)


Of course, this will not really be in a comfortable chronological order. Drifting away from the main story to the sub-stories at every point is my major handicap..so I will be writing this more as ‘chronicling’ our ADVENTURES..n perhaps as conversations with Co-Campaigner, Kanchan.

So, it began on Orkut. Surprised? Well, it would have begun anyways, but I first received a forwarded scrap from Kanchan, about Prez Kalam’s term ending in july and this online petition for his re-induction….(here’s the link- u can sign in ur vote… www.petitiononline.com/apj/)
I was concerned(Oh, his term is ending!). Personally, in this age of dhoti-dhari , pan-chewing, expletives-spewing custodians of the Indian Polity, to me, Kalam has been an embodiment of the Founding Fathers’ India, n a close approximation of the President of India , as conceived and defined by the Constitution.; That his term would end, was an inconceivable idea that had never even crossed my mind.
So, I was surprised…
Well, mildly…

I immediately clicked on the link to sign in my vote, didn’t I?

Meet Me- the self-appointed ‘crusader’ for the sanctity of the Chair Of the President Of India, for the spirit of democracy, for the VOICE of the people, who loses her patience n is heartbroken, every time somebody chuckles (or worst, smirks) after being apprised of THE AWARENESS CAMAPIGN …………………………………………………… Meet ME-The IGNITED INDIAN MIND

What did I do after reading that scrap??


I went on to read and reply to the next scrap…

That’s right :I DID NOT click on the link at all!


I cud always sign in my vote, couldn’t I? This could wait…
And, an hour later, I conveniently logged out- in beatific oblivion of the fact that there
Is a link…waiting for my click…a click that could make my future or ruin it…
(No exaggeration people, as u will learn later…)

This explains why I am a bit more patient than my Friend (note the capital F , ONLY-ier one ;) ), with people who are not exactly Gung-ho about the campaign from the word GO.
I think I can understand how this works: where this apparent INDIFFERENCE comes from...
For, some of us are CONCERNED about the mess around us, and would like to pick up the cudgels and set things right if given a chance, but we do not realize that such a chance would not come with the “I AM THE CHANCE-TAKE ME NOW!! ” tag on it. We need to open our own doors everyday, and explore what lies beyond them. Especially since, there are a million others who are trying their best to ensure that we miss the doors n not spoil their little party( here of course, I refer to the WORTHLESS Indian Netas)
That explains why some people take a little time to get into the spirit of this campaign, but eventually they see what the urgency n the mania is about(dear Devil’s Advocate, YOU for instance *not taking names*)

But, of course, there are others- the ‘I-don’t-know-and-I-don’t-care’ types:
The lesser said about them, the better; as the lesser there are of them, the merrier!
We found one such girl in a bookstore @Khan Market – yes, a place where u wud expect Enlightened, well read, well educated people!
I can’t help this species; giving them space on this blog would amount to sacrilege of THE SPIRIT of the Campaign. But just For the record, if u are one of them:
Next time you screw ur face in disgust n make some casual comments on the state of affairs in the country (‘this country is going to the dogs’… ‘where is democracy in India??’)…rest assured, SOMEONE in this universe will be mocking at ur double standards. You cannot be for long in that either/or cocoon my dear friend,...if u CARE, show it at least when ur asked to, n if u really don’t- well, DON’T. Period.- u lose the right to.
Simple logic it is,really.

Then, there are others…

I call them the IFFCOs (no offence to IFFCO the Company of course, ~last thing I need in my screwed up life, is a defamation lawsuit!~)
there’s a story behind this.
KanNOTchan, u must be grinning, aren’t u? I couldn’t resist talking about IFFCO(we really need to socialize better, shouldn’t we? n get to know people’s real names for a change-instead of these “coined” ones ;))
But, maybe anonymity would be kinder on him..so here goes what IFFCO is all about:
The first day of our campaign, we began by putting up these posters on the notice boards of our MBA Coaching institute (for GD/PIs)…~would have put up the name, but I strongly suspect they’re not particularly fond of the two of us..tho a little scared I’d say, of the two Crazy Campaign ladies, n so always greet us with a pained smile, but I think we’ve already exploited those poor things a lot! A vote of thanks to the entire clan…esp: for one particular Gentleman ~ No Guesshessh abouTT thaTT , Kanshan eh.. Day-o-day..;)~, from these too-big-for-their-boots kids ~
So, we put up this campaign sheet along with the poster about the cause. It required people to sign on the sheet, merely as a show of solidarity with the cause. We checked the next day, n lo n behold!-
not a single signature(or may be one? I donot recall)…
Heartbroken, we stood near the board, asking passerbys .. “have u read this poster? Do read it n sign up if u agree with the cause”…such honey sweet entreaties that donot suit the ruthless devils that we are, but we struggled to keep it polite n cordial…
So..among other interesting things, this one fellow aspirant as his luck (or ill-luck) would have it, passed by. We caught him too of course…n at the end of our speech, poor thing mumbled something (told u, we can be a li’l… errrm intimidating,at times) about having read it already…n nodded weakly n uncertainly when asked if he agreed with our cause.
We smiled at him, in anticipation (at least one signature!)…He was holding a pen in his hand, n our eyes traveled from his hand to the campaign sheet very pointedly…
Kanchan affected a sweet requesting tone .. “ So, there is no obligation though…sign it only if you FEEL for the cause”…
Poor IFFCo stood there toying with the pen in his hand. At once, it became crystal clear to me: he was waiting for us to leave the arena, coz he did not have the guts to say NO to the (notorious) pair of us and face the consequences~ this might come as a shock ONLYier one, but it doesn’t take a genius to tell that, behind that sickly sweet smile of ours, there is a Devil’s Smirk~
So, you had Kanchan glowering DOWN at him…with growing impatience, and you had Him (sheeeesh..why the capital H!)– weak in the knees, yet undeterred…still toying with the pen. Ultimately, I burst out, slightly hurt: ‘Forget it, he will not sign it.”
Shockingly, IFFCo took that as a sanction for letting him leave, and walked right into the classroom, without daring to look any of us in the eye...
You might wonder as to why I am making such a big deal about one person not signing on the campaign sheet? I’m sure I sound like a fanatic...but there is a reason why this particular incident will always remain my favourite EYE-OPENER.

Those days, we would have our Group Discussion classes (don’t want to dwell too much on the silly MBA bit)…wherein you had these IFFCOs n others sitting in groups with us, voicing their opinions on all kinds of topics- from Indo-US relations to India v/s China to yess Democracy, etc etc
Inside the GD class we all went:
“I strongly feel that….”
“I would like to correct you my friend..”
“I am of the opinion….”
Outside,
We were ‘real’ people, with better things to do than worry sick about who becomes the next President Of India and why

The future Managers – the CAT crackers, the “intellectuals” among their peers.
If THEY cannot articulate an opinion (even a firm YES or NO, backed by sound reasons), who WILL?? Shouldn’t that be the plain logic?
And it just drove home one very disturbing fact: the education system, at least in India, is churning out more perfectly-tailored-for-the-job Robots, than (mentally and intellectually) well equipped individuals who can work towards making a DIFFERENCE ….equipped with a sound knowledge base and being sensitized to the issues that concern the society at large.

It drove home the fake-ness of the much hyped ‘MBA’ phenomenon…

Do you know why IFFCo behaved the way he did?
One, he simply couldn’t care too much about the President Of India- maybe he did not know what powers exactly rest with the president, so as to attach so much importance to his post…(in which case, his response is quite understandable n perhaps justified)
Or maybe, he simply did not care enough…
Or maybe, he (like ALL of them, old and young ~grunt~) thought that such “signature” campaigns were just an instance of our immature idealism, n wud of course lead to nothing!
I mean WHEN DID A PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY AS LARGE AS OURS ELECT A PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT THROUGH SUCH CHILDISH MEASURES??

But, I read something else in his behaviour – he would have liked President Kalam to be back perhaps, but was fearful of taking a STAND on it, in public. He would not SIGN!
He would not give an opinion in HIS name(which is why we chose to write all this in our own names, even though we plan to keep it a nameless, faceless campaign in that sense)
That’s right, he was afraid this would go on record, and god knows who will question him on what, because of this….
This, by the way,is a 20- something guy, all set to be a future Manager
What was the big deal ,I wonder…
I mean after all, it was just a sheet of paper asking for a show of solidarity with the cause…not the INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL for chrissake!!

This was just one incident from our mis-adventures, mostly sapped of the comedy in the tragedy .. trust me, I skipped a LOT of interesting but irrelevant stuff….

I wonder if anyone apart from me, Kanchan and of course Bhanu(‘IT’ enjoyed this tale I hope, didn’t IT? ;) ) can see the whole point of this exercise….did it strike a chord somewhere?

Could u slot yourself among one of these three– the CONCERNED, the Dunno n dun CAREs and the IFFCOs??

Do u think it may be possible for you to change slots??
I am a living example, as I mentioned above, that it doesn’t take much to bring about a change- be it in your own attitude or in the society, just ENLIGHTENMENT …

From-The Merely-Concerned-to-an-Ignited-Indian-Mind…Shruti.

PS: in case u’re wondering, IFFCo worked with IFFCo – hence the name…
~Gosh..got to stop WINKY-ing so much ;)~

Plagiarism kanchan …eh? * mortally offended*..I repeat: u did NOT invent the symbol “~”…nehow will get back to my less glamorous asterisks instead, lest PEOPLE start accusing me of continued unabashed plagiarism….