The War of the Wills

The 3^rd World War has just begun and it is similar to the second in many ways. On one side of the war is Aryan Singh with his nonsensical agendas and grievous views on the Meritocracy. His policies are simple, eliminating and undermining the superior Meritocracy race. His armies are better; he has the lathi wielding and pot-bellied Gestapolice on his side.

On our side are the elite Medical Corps and the respected and money minting Tech Brigade. With no visible leader amongst us we might dither and disintegrate under the onslaught of the Gestapolice. There is a slightly biased yet neutral Media Corps supporting us by propagating our views and sufferings to other rebels and affected people all over the country. A few weeks ago, the siege of Governor House came to an end under heavy losses. Our forces had to fall back to reinforce and reinvigorate themselves. Like it was in WWII, the Gestapolice will not retreat and will try to spread misinformation about the rebels’ activities. A few of our soldiers were nabbed and taken away to the infamous Police Concentration Camps. There was a statement by the head of the Gestapolice, which said that the rebels had used unconventional warfare and WMD’s (Women of Manic Disposition). The highlight of this war has become the widespread participation of the Lady Regiments. They have fought with unnerving ferocity coming under the blow themselves, several times.

We lost the battle but we will win the war. The country was appalled at the blatant lies on live TV. The Media Corps surely is swaying the tide of the war in our favor. Hitler may have had his Goebbels for propaganda, but we have Rupert Murdoch on our side.

Aryan Singh has been trying desperately to avoid a more than Two-Front War. There seems to be a non- aggression pact between him and the Engineering Army of inferior quality, yet a monstrous force to be reckoned with. It is a slow force to mobilize but they have the numbers: around Two Hundred Thousand including reserves in the state of Maharashtra itself. We are waiting for them to be roused.

Then there are the Pharmaceutical Battalions with their Penicillin, the Alumni Reserve with their Pedigrees, and the Dentists with their teeth-shattering technology. We also have the poorly trained nonetheless respected paratroopers from the BSC’s, BCOM’s and the BA’s armed with their Einsteins and Faradays, spreadsheets and complex accounting practices, and their Shakespeares in respective order.

The Meds have a secret weapon and this may affect the civilians as well. All of them have refused to treat members of the Gestapolice. This is a two-edged sword that may turn the civilian populace against us. But it shall have its desired effects too.

For now, we wait for future battles. A tough road lies ahead. But we shall fight on the streets, in the colleges, and the hostels. We shall never surrender. We proclaim forever our right to a meritorious country, not a divided one.

We are still waiting for reinforcements from the Engineering Army. It seems they have exams going on.

Published in RAIT’s College Magazine, The Wall: Written after the Governor House incident where students were lathi-charged by policemen in broad view of the country.

A crappy article written for DNA NM

Coaching Classes:

Navi Mumbai has become a nucleus for the educational setup in recent years. With the advent of a wave of educational institutions in the fields of Engineering, Medical, Dental and a whole lot of other streams, the number of coaching classes has increased too. The city boasts of a score of eminent coaching classes for all the subjects right from Junior College to Graduation.

The standard of teaching in most colleges in Navi Mumbai has dwindled to lamentable levels despite the spurt in the number of students. As such, students have no alternative but to turn to these reliable saviors- Coaching classes. Private tutors and students alike feel that the concentration level of college teachers is lacking and sometimes appallingly so.

But, are coaching classes so very essential? A year of hard studying on her own didn’t deliver the marks that Shilpi Pathak had hoped for, thus paving the way for enrolling in a coaching class. She believes that the whole system forms a vicious circle. Other students stand by this belief.

Chakravarthy Sridhar, a student of RAIT, who had joined classes for more than half of his subjects in the first year, and stood in the top ten in his college, stresses on the fact that coaching classes are necessary but at the same time detrimental to a student’s education. Some students like Manas Karekar are against the general viewpoint. He believes that coaching classes are like crutches, once students start relying excessively on them, they will never walk on their own.

Prof. Irfan, who teaches Digital Design for technical students, states that students have developed a mindset where they are concerned only with passing and getting marks, hence the obsession with private tuitions. He adds that the coaching classes also conduct their classes in a most unprofessional manner, cramming students in stuffy classrooms.

Prof. Amit Iyer, previously teaching Electronics and now Management related subjects believes that the HSC setup has become a complete rat race to attain the highest marks and thus tuitions are absolutely vital for these students. On being asked who was to be blamed for this ruckus, he said it is the collective fault of the students, their parents and the colleges. He added that the students of today are so used to this system that they are incapable of using reference books on their own.

There is a growing trend nowadays of toddlers hopping onto the bandwagon from their school days. It is alarming as encumbering children at such young ages is the de facto fault of parent’s helplessness and the burgeoning drift towards results and marks. Parents and children have to play an important role to tackle this virus.

Coaching classes can be deleterious to a students overall pragmatic knowledge but have become a necessity now in any field. As long as steps are not taken to improve the standard of teaching in colleges, the classes will stay. Finally, it all boils down to a student.

Some students are consummate in their studies while others are not; most have a laid-back attitude towards education (who can blame them!). But there are things more important than marks or percentages in life.

Think of what William Love Bryan said, ‘Education is...

One of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get.

DNA NEW MUMBAI