The IIT's faulted system

Alas! What a tragedy has befallen IIT! Very sad indeed for Mr. Vijay Nukala who had gone thru tough times inside the campus and finally taken his own life. It looks like Chetan Bhagat’s characters from his first novel have come live in several ways. I see Vijay as "Ryan, Alok and Samir", all rolled into one. Ryan because Vijay was very innovative and had natural talents and had a knack with computers; Alok because he attempted suicide and Samir because he was dead scared of his dad’s(Dr. Anjaneyulu) strictness.

The IIT system might be a famed one but it surely has its downside too which many belonging to the fraternity know. I feel that once a person is in the campus, he or she is expected to perform no matter what emotional turmoil they might be facing inside. May be it is high time the IITs start thinking of the emotional well being of its academicians and try to make a more flexible curriculum and may be assign counseling sessions to help vent feelings in them.

In this case though, the culprit for Vijay had been his own dad and of course undeniably IIT. Great achievement...by the most esteemed technological institute of India…! Way to go...Would this incident atleast make them come up with some measures to address these flaws?

But one thing they ought to answer is their conscience. Anyone who has read FPS could relate to this incident and can see thru what would have happened. May this is just a tip of the iceberg?

The long lost friend

Blame it on me reading this fantastic book – “Five Point Someone” by Chetan Bhagat…It left me with a pang inside for not having a close friend for so many years now! Yes I need one now…badly! I only know God would bring me one at the right time.

I used to be always surrounded by friends...I donno may be it was in my blood to go out of my way and help my friends always...and in return of course I got a wonderful circle of friends with whom even now I am in touch. Friends from the computer class, MBA coaching class circle, college friends, school friends, neighborhood friends etc...I used to really juggle my schedule to make everyone of them happy...those were the college days I am talking about...but this great time lasted even until the time I left to America about 8 years ago. It was fun...total fun...and I damn miss it now...! I must say I made the most of it and can carry those fond memories with me lifelong.

My inner voice says that those days would never come back...Now you may ask why I crib on this? Coz, I literally don't have a close friend now! I don't have someone on whom I can lean upon and cry during hard times or share my happiness or just vent my heart's feelings without thinking twice...I hate to think twice before I talk...but don’t things change as we grow up and get married?...chances are our friends would be those with whom we spend most of the time - i.e., our cohorts, neighbors etc. but again there is a certain level of caution we exercise before saying something to them...we sort of get into the "Should I or Should I not" mode before talking to them...it is never the same friendship we shared with our buddies during the good old days with sheer innocence and freedom...we just knew that they were there for us no matter what. We never thought to hide anything from them, for they were part of us...yeah however one might retain the old friends till this date, the equation is never the same. We just call them up once in a while and during that time, we just don’t want them to hear our problems…the personal touch which was there is gone now due to the distance and hence the closeness too. Priorities and pressures, push us further into a cocooned existence where we are bound to interact only with our spouse. They become our sole(soul) rescuer.

But what happens if we want to discuss about our spouse to someone? At such times, we desperately need a friend…a person who can listen to us, non-judgmentally. Someone who could give us some insight into the problems or at the very least one who could empathize with our situation and console us. And I can never be a close friend with any of them whom I call as friends today…my compatriots…either in office or at home. So, I guess I am indeed searching for that person who can salvage my sanity over a long period of time…and hope that person comes at the right time to give me pleasant solace. A quote by Aristotle, so cut-out for this situation – “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”