Par and Prejudice

At times in life, we question ourselves, ‘did we deserve this?’ or ‘did we deserve any better?’ Often we come across situations in life, where we are left on the cross roads of oblivion. We just have no idea what to do, how to retaliate or just let it go- which happens in most of the cases. Whether it is that long queue at the reservation counter, where a hesitant young boy, gets bullied by some nuisance making brats to draw away his ‘tatkal’ appeal, or just stay back in the queue or it is the question of those hundreds of people whose survival is at stake courtesy the latest bifurcation resulting in 28 (+1). From a local to a national level, everywhere there is one question that beckons every time.  And that is the question of equality. And that is what I would like to talk about in the coming few paragraphs.

‘All are equal in the eyes of law.’ The hypocrisy of this statement is pretty evident in our country. India is a place where people don’t cast their vote; instead, they vote their caste. All this diplomacy that is going on currently and that has continued since decades doesn't really work unless the MP candidate from their constituency does not belong to the ‘majority caste’. Even now, when a common man, be it a villager, or a citizen from a reasonably developed town goes to cast his vote, he would always be thinking at the back of his head, that if ‘X’ comes to power, we may get more closure from the administration as Mr. X is of my caste/religion. There is a sense of trust, confidence and acquaintance for ‘X’ and similar feelings of mistrust, diffidence and hatred (most of the times) for the other one, no matter how deserving, qualified or dependable he is.

Why does this happen? Why are people scared of voting or should I say ‘believing’ in the 'other one', that even though his surname is different from mine, (But he too is a human being) and his ways of worshiping the Almighty is different, he would, by all means, serve justice to us at jeopardizing times. I am not the first person on earth to raise this question. This has been the status quo for the past many years and the fact that many of these questions have not been answered at the right time makes the country ‘unity in adversity’ instead of ‘unity in diversity’. Where the former is still in question, and yet to be tested, (in the modern world), the latter is vitalizing and it is what India is (or should I say ‘was’) known for. Also the fact that India was reborn the way it was on the midnight of August 14, left wounds and scars which needed quick healing. The seeds of this evil were sown then itself, and the Whomping willow (Potter heads would know it) which rose thereafter has been known to attack anyone who disturbs its branches. And no wand is powerful enough to cut it down as of now. This is the harsh reality. And somehow, we Indians have got used to it, which is again disheartening.

What I think the answer to this question is that very topic of discussion right now- Equality. The answer is the fact that everyone here wants to be treated equally, wants to enjoy equal rights, to taste equally good food, to get equally good education and to live an equally standard life. And when this does not happen, people lose faith and they get scared, they get selfish, they get possessive and that is where the devastation of harmony starts. And what’s even worse is the fact that every single Mr. X elected by the majority proves out to be ‘of the majority’ and ‘for the majority only’. That is where equality goes begging.  Anyways, I am not going to go into the details of this, as this is not the field of my expertise. I am a mere observer or I should say, the stupid common man. What I want to talk about, and what made me write this piece of work was one more daily life experience which came my way yesterday. Now, there is a possibility that I may be wrong, and people might differ with me on this, as my best friend did. But then, this is what I felt, and it is purely a generalized opinion and not targeted to any one individual in particular. And also it is not tampered by the rumors as there are in an engineering college.

A reputed IT giant visited our campus yesterday. As the current market conditions are prevalent, we all knew that we core engineering students had a very feeble chance. But then, we are out of options. The core companies do not visit, and if they do, they are very selective and require excellence and nothing short of it. And every one of us is not that good at what they ask, but that in no way means that we are not good at all. And when people develop this perception, and start biasing with the opportunities, it feels really bad. Moreover, the government sector requires cracking some competitive exams, which again is not that easy. Now, I am not saying that we want bread and butter and we do not want to work hard. We do, we work, and we accept when even after the hard-work we don’t get the results. At least, we would come back and tell ourselves that you were not there, just not there where you are required to be. But then, when even after working hard, we realize that it is not respected, and the standards for us to excel are far above than our counterparts, it hurts. Every single one of us needs a job. That is a fact. We need to earn a living. And there is nothing wrong, if try to get it using all ways possible. (the legitimate ones)

We had to qualify the written test to make ourselves eligible for the interviews. There was a paper specifically meant to test our analytical skills. Quantitative aptitude was the subject asked. We were really hopeful as we had to study aptitude for our core engineering tests as well and most of us were practicing it continuously. The first slot went in for the written test followed by the second and the third. We had a decent number of candidates from our branch, though not as many as the other branches. The results were announced, and at first, there was nothing surprising. The attitude of the IT companies towards the civil engineering students has been deteriorating since the recession which was clearly visible in the first round results. Where as many our batch-mates made it to the interviews, there were none from our branch. And mind you ladies and gentlemen, some of the best students of our batch appeared for the test only to get rejected and question themselves and their hard work. Same was the case with the slots that followed. By the end of the day, only 5 of my classmates and 100s of my other batch-mates from different disciplines made it to the interviews. Now there is a question- Are we really that deficient when it comes to analytical skills? Do we really need to work very hard in this regard? Were we so poor that only five of us made it through? The answer is no- A loud and a clear NO.

Before the placement drive began, our director assured us, that there would be no partiality involved at all and they are not at all inclined towards any particular set of students. But then, those words were far from the truth. The attitude of the corporate gave more impetus to it. Even after attempting the same number of questions as our other batch mates, and attempting them correctly, it was them who made it and we who didn’t. Now, I am not all of the opinion that they didn’t deserve. Please don’t get me wrong here. I am just saying that we too deserved to qualify the writtens. And the rumor, as said by our director, of branch wise cutoffs, wasn’t just a rumor. We had to attempt 24-28 questions out of 30 to get selected where as the number was 17-20 for our other friends. This is the inequality and the biasing which I am talking about. I am not saying that we people deserve to be there more than anyone else. I am talking about the biasing. I never said that all of us have those exact skills which these IT companies require for software developing and related stuff. You want to reject us, do that during the interview, but this kind of prejudice does not go down well with us. Either you do not allow us to participate, or if you do, make it fair and equal for all. That is all I am trying to say. Had you rejected us during the interview, courtesy the fact that we were unable to answer those questions which you asked, we would have been disappointed, but at the same time contended. We would have told ourselves that you don’t have what they require. That would have been completely okay with us. But what happened is hard to digest. Why the hell do I have to score extremely well to get past the first round whereas similar attempts from my other friends are appreciated and are successful? What it does is, that it makes the candidate question his/her abilities- Those abilities on which he was working very hard to polish. I am not saying that we have got what it takes to work in an IT company or we do have those competencies that they require. Maybe we would have been rejected anyway. But at least that way, there would have not been a question of doubting our abilities and we would have known that this is not our cup of tea. And most importantly, we wouldn’t have felt played upon or treated with blinking eyes.

Lucky were those who made it to the interviews as they were treated equally and were asked equally good questions. Yes, no biasing here. They require programming skills, and we were asked programming questions, and even though we had little knowledge, we gave our best and won’t be disheartened if we are rejected. But what about those who are sitting right now in their hostel rooms, rejected, disappointed and of the opinion that they won’t get a job. Because, if this was the attitude of India’s best IT company, we don’t know what to expect from the rest.

Now, as to where did I know this from, i.e. evidences. As I said, these are not rumors. People coming out after giving the test are my evidences. They themselves discussed the questions with us and told us as to how many did they attempt. And mind you, one of them may lie or two, but not all. And these times, where all of us desperately need a job and are toiling for it, you don’t expect us to fool each other. Each one of us sitting in that auditorium yesterday wanted the other one to get selected, because none other than the final year students would realize the importance of getting a job. And when such a thing happens, it really is heartbreaking.

Once again, Mr. X played with us. Once again, we are scared, we do not trust and we are not at par. Once again, equality went begging. You may not realize the gravity of the situation, but we, the ones who have to face the music, and have to bear the ever increasing burden of expectations, do. Those corporates know exactly how it feels to be unemployed at these times of one’s career and yet they do this. I am just requesting one thing- don’t give us false hopes if you cannot fulfill them. We would rather be happy to be called a fool in ‘mockery’ than to be called intelligent in ‘sympathy’.

But then, this is how it goes as pointed out by my friend. And it’s right. This is exactly how it goes and is the harsh reality. And I am not going to illustrate how to eliminate this. Because we already know!