If all men are born equal,what makes certain men more equal than others?Why do certain people traverse the vast firmament of life soaring like eagles in azure ,cloudless sky,while others lead a penguin like existence which is singularly monochromatic,mired in mediocrity and dwarfed by those around them.
Questions like these have haunted humanity since eternity .Ever since man had started to dream,some have dared to follow their dreams and ever since some had hared to follow their dreams they have encountered question which have tested our knowledge and exposed our limitations.Books have been written ,sermons have been preached ,even religions have been theologised to answer the unanswerable.In short,what everyone,from the the schoolkid with virgin dreams in his eyes ,to the tired veteran wants to know is,"WHY DO CERTAIN MEN SUCCEED WHILE OTHERS FAIL?"
Answers are a plenty.Some call it talent others call it destiny .Still others blame it on God>Then there is Karma,the Middle Path and what not. From religion to science to philosophy everyone is on the quest to holy grail
But according to me ,the one common ingredient of all the success stories around is Discipline.Discipline is the bedrock on which success is built .Nothing can be accomplished without discipline With discipline you can accomplish anything .Discipline is the cutting edge between success and failure,the signature tune of almost all success stories around us.
The process of inculcating discipline in a person starts young.Discipline must be inculcated in early childhood.To inculcate discipline the foremost thing which one requires is role model.In early childhood ,a child's role models are his parents.As he outgrows the cocoon of childhood and steps into early adolescence ,his sphere of interaction enlarges .He looks outside the family for the answers to the questions that life asks of him.The hallowed position which his parents occupied in the nooks of his psyche begins to get blurred and he searches for new role models It is this quest which leads him to hero-worship sport stars ,film stars,freedom fighters,political leaders etc.What they do is imitated,what they say is gospel for the youth.If a child sees his role models day in and day out behave with self discipline,restraint,dignity and a capacity to order their livest hen the child will come to believe in the deepest fibers of his being that this is the way to live .
It is not a coincidence that the most developed societies in the world have disciplined role models.USA the most developed nation in the world also has the largest medal tally in the Olympics Something similar can be said about China,Australia etc.
Thus,it can be said ,with a fair degree of conviction,that to make a society progressive ,the role of disciplined role models is a must.
Cut to IIT Kharagpur, my Alma mater .When a student enters the hallowed corridors of IIT Kharagpur for the first time(in his first year),there are many avenues which beckon to him.he may choose to excel at academics and/or different kinds of sports.He may also choose to dip his toe into music,dance ,robotics,literature,dramatics etc.All the avenues require a lot of hard work and discipline.But there is one more uncharted avenue.Like a forbidden fruit,an object of both lust and loathing,it attracts students in hordes.And that avenue is the avenue of different fests held in the campus.
This avenue also promises much glory to its seekers and and suitors.
But the jury is still out on the the cheers and tears the fests bring to the life of an average KGPian .On one side of spectrum lies the frolic of four fun filled days of razzmatazz and revelry .And on the other hand there is just too much bath water surrounding the baby.Because on the other side we have:
-Corruption:Fest culture is the harbinger of corruption in the student life at the IIT Kgp.The fest related people are the at the forefront of most of the Machiavellian dealings in IIT Kharagpur: be it politics for the Gymkhana Posts or something else.Even the way a fest is organized raises a lot of eyebrows every year.
-Bad Grades:Fest culture destroys many individuals.The fest is a difficult tiger to ride.In fact ,in majority of the cases, issues like bad grades and declining CGPA are the fait accompli of the fest culture.The fests act as a perfume through which these students try to douse the stink of bad grades and declining GPAs.
-Identity Crisis:Most of the people join the fest not because they have a passion for it but because they seek an identity in the institute.They lose this identity when they pass out.Thus these people search for new identities and they become dependent on these identities.These passively dependent people neither have the will power nor the courage to create something of their own.Throughout their lives it does not matter whom they are dependent on, unless there is just someone.
-Misplaced Role models:The third and the most disastrous consequence of the fest culture is the sprouting of undisciplined role models.As has been already discussed,disciplined role models are needed to make a society progressive.But are the role models given by fest culture disciplined?
No they are not.The role models which fest culture pops up are undisciplined ,mostly corrupt and suffer from a deep identity crisis.The freshers look up to these role models and try to follow in their footsteps.Thus a vicious cycle is sparked ,in which undisciplined role models inspire another generation of freshers to be undisciplined , leading to the degradation of the society as a whole.
(to be continued)
(Today is opening day of Spring Fest)
