School for morality...

School for Morality.

First of all I would like to say that I love my school,every bit of it because quite frankly it made me what I am today and what I am is not a bad person although not tremendously accomplished. Also the coaching institutes are after all doing their job and delivering the best (or what they think is the best) to students and the results are there for everyone to see. Results are what matter in the end whether you like it or not, and most often its not about the things you like, its about the things that you are supposed to like.

Lately the one question that I've been asked endlessly is : Have you watched Three Idiots?

For some vague reason now I have taken up an antagonistic view towards mainstream Bollywood flicks. However after countless recommendations I finally watched the movie. Decent. But it kind of worried me. The first thing that came to my mind was rebellion without understanding a cause. It made me imagine hundreds of students chucking their textbooks at teachers and gathering on a stage after which they start dancing to the tunes of 'Aal izz Well.' Ridiculous? Wait there is more..I imagined the demand of quality education deteriorate to the demand of do away with the education system and the consequences seemed pretty much horrifying,Fortunately it struck me soon that most of us are a sensible lot. Most of us have dreams and aspirations that we wouldn't end up doing nothing about, and most of us also realize that there is more to life than a movie. So why don't we feel good about ourselves and capable enough before I move to somewhere else?

I was at a GD PI session at some XYZ MBA training institute. For those unfamiliar with GD PI let me elaborate : GD stands for group discussion and PI for personal interview – the final stage of the selection process before you get into a B school.

'You guys have decided to enter a rat race..' shrilled the voice of a man standing before me.

And I knew where this was going after that. I could sense the adrenalin levels of the classroom zoom up but mine were lower than expected. Enter the corporate world – a world of greed,insatiability and rats. Rats who keep scrapping their teeth against a purpose.

Objection was futile as he questioned the very purpose of my coming to the training institute. To get into a good B school? Voila.

I am not a dumbwit I know what to expect, I know that the corporate world is a ravenous place but the face of which has changed tremendously in the last few years – enter a world of catering to consumers at a wider level including those at the bottom of the pyramid,enter corporate social responsibility and enter sustainable development. This is the corporate world I thought I wanted to be a part of. The one that thinks different more than it thinks profit. Why then are we still being taught about rats?

Profit is the ultimate objective of any organization (barring a few non profit organizations) including spiritual ones like the Art Of Living foundation..Why then force it down the throat of a corporate civilization?

Lesson two started off with attention seizing tactics..scream,raise your voice,bang against a desk,cut short a girl stammering to get her point across and do anything and everything to prove that you are the leader.

Because supposedly the only thing that the B school guys look for is “Leadership skills.” Ha remarkable..I'd very much love to see an institution or organization that consisted of only leaders who have come to believe that their strengths comprise of aggressiveness, outrageous confidence and a megalomaniac mindset.

Whatever happened to the innovators,the problem solvers,the creative lot of them,the dark horses and the analysts?

Lesson three never happened for me. I sat reading Herta Muller at a park. Unproductive I believe but equally calming until I can think of something else.

School was long time ago, I can hardly believe that it has been more than six years and I still survive on the very memory of school. We had moral education classes first thing in the morning. We used them for completing assignments and homework and the teachers got some handy paperwork done during these thirty essential minutes. We had textbooks for the same. Textbooks that taught us honesty,selflessness and courage. Once in a blue moon we had to open these and then browse to Chapter 12, page 34 that read 'Kindness.'