JK and me
We went to Nagarjuna Sagar for an early dinner today. This is an Andhra style restaurant... I thought it would be a good experience for mom-dad. JK was with us too. Mom mentioned that maybe this is the first time JK is out eating in a restaurant. Then it occurred to me, what is it about me that I am here so well off... and JK still struggling for a miserly salary -an amount he earns in a month more than which I have at times spent in an evening.
JK kind of grew up with me. He came to our house when I was still a kid... and was about my age... maybe a year or two younger. Then he was earning some 1000-2000 rupees per month. I ofcourse wasn’t supposed to earn then. Over the years, JK went his own way, and recently, managed to find his way to work at my place. He was earning just about as much as he did (in his last job) almost a decade back. Even a 4% rate of inflation implies a growth of atleast 50% in income. Clearly, he had not seen that.
WHY?
At a very fundamental level, there is not much of a difference between JK and me. Except for the opportunities I had.
I had the opportunity to explore what I am capable of, and what I am not. I had the platform to build a good career for myself. JK had neither. I had the cushion to invest my energy, and time in education... which is clearly a launch pad for a great future. JK, in the meanwhile, was struggling to make ends meet. It is quite possible that given the opportunity he would have done much better than I did. But he was more involved in feeding his family...clearly his parents thought that he is better off helping the family make that little bit of extra money so that can they all can live to see the tomorrow... the tomorrow I was preparing to build!!
...so what can be done?
I do not have any point of view on the 'reservation' issue. However, I do not subscribe to the meritocracy point of view. Not because I don't believe in merit, but because, I think the current system has an inherent selection bias... as in, we are testing the merit of a bunch of 'privileged' people, and not the 'true' merit of an individual with respect to the society as a whole - a large section of which never got to hear of such thing as 'merit'. Given an opportunity, I am sure that of the 10 JKs, atleast one would do much better than me...if not most of them. And there are millions of JKs in this country.
...so what can be done?
We all know the answer…don’t we?
posted by Animesh Kumar at Sunday, August 06, 2006
16 Comments:
Life's battles dont always go out to the strongest or the fastest man.Some times life's battles are won by the people who think they can...
one of my favourite lines
Good one!!
Though I would wish it made the same sense to every individual - regardless of the environment she/he is bought up in.
A batchmate of mine didnt attend school except for the 10th and the 12th(coz he didnt have a building...govt school in U.P.) , he was twice 10 ptr of his branch in college and has a miserable economic background, he taught most of his friends so that they could pass the engg exams.....
Moral of the story: asmi ..andar ki aaag!!!
Just kidding ..:)
Your articles are always picked up from small events, it feels like you write your life backwards
Liked the story of the 'batchmate'. Correct... it's the 'andar ki aag.' Wish we all added more fuel to it.
Interesting observation! I wonder why? It just happens that way, I guess.
I agree......but do u think JK feels the same? u never know,he may feel his life is a complete success becoz he's doing the best he can for his family and maybe that is where satisfaction lies for him.........
Anonymous:Good point.
There are two effects that any action of an individual has... one is the local good (self-satisfatcion, satisfaction of those around you), the other is global good (the good of the society at large).
The question that needs to be answered is that if he had the opportunity, would there not have been local good, while at the same time some global good!!
I have a suggestion ...why dont we name your blog space as the "Mind if I speak ??" column.....lolz;)
Jai Keshan bhaiya ko meri taraf se rakhsha bandhan ki hardeek shubh kamnayen
hahahaha...
so u think u r doing local good as well as global good,is it?what do u think u r doing for ur very near n dear one's?
Let's not get personal.
Discuss ideas... not people!!
That's exactly what i say.JK cannot be potrated as the prototype of a non-achiever.
My id is chakzwar@gmail..see ya arnd sometime :)
I had read this JK wala post long time ago...I fully agree with the author of the post...I believe Success is a dependent function of ability,motivation and opportunity...any one of these variable "completely" missing and there would not be any success.
I believe current system of reservation has many flaws but its the best which can work in present scienario...if u have any other solution in mind then do write abt it...I would like a debate on this.
hii...i know i m a bit late in commenting on your blog...but its better to be late than never...if you think your friend JK would have done anytime better than what you have done, if he had the same oppurtunities...then what shd he do now?? considering the situation of education in india today??
Thanks for the note. Its been ages since I visited the blog.
All i can say is that its never too late. JK has been making efforts in getting literate. Atleast, there is a start. Don't count him out yet...
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