My experience at interviewing youngsters

This week I did a volunteering job taking mock interviews of Senior students at a local High school about their future career plans which they presented to me as a slide show on laptop. They were all young, they have a dream - all into their post High School mode and ready to step into their dreamworld of college, the next launching pad towards their future.

One of the aspects of grading the youngsters was about making an eye contact while communicating. Most of them did well, their body language and dream filled eyes effused confidence. They were excited on getting admitted to various colleges and tech schools to pursue degree in fields as varied as Cosmetology, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Photography, Criminal and Forensic Psychology, Military and Firefighters. All shared a common trait - A passion for their prospective professional goals.

I was expecting a beeline for Engineering and Medical. My wish was belied. No more than 20% were opting for these fields considered highly coveted back home. Suddenly I realized that it was time for me go travel on a Time Machine back to our future a little more than 3 decades back when I was of their age. 

Those days you get good marks (grades) in Class X (equivalent to Sophomore here) you are forced into the Science stream of +2 (Equivalence of being a Senior here). If you can't make it, you default into Arts (Humanities) or Commerce stream - barring a few exceptions. Parent's rather than personal choice played a major role in it.

Now into those final years of +2, for those in the Science stream the goal was to somehow squeeze into Engineering or Medical institutions. The later was ruled out for me as the thought of dissecting dead bodies sounded nerve-racking. Even the enticements from friends about the prospect of having pretty classmates as company in Medical colleges could resuscitate my chicken heart. Rather than floored by the lure of medico femmes, I got nightmares of corpse winking at me on the floor of Med Lab as I leaned over to dissect it. Mathematics being my forte, Statistics overrode Biology as my elective, further ruling out a career in Medicine.

Nothing tested our ability more in our +2 Science stream than qualifying in the Engineering Entrance Exams. Only couple of guys from my batch in the entire Capital of Odisha made it to the coveted IITs and no more than a dozen qualified for the RECs (Now NIT). The following episode aptly describes the stigma of not qualifying in those Engineering entrance Tests.

One fine, windy summer evening this guy from a distance neighborhood waded into our KHATTI (A gathering of boys indulging in silly talks) only to be confronted with this question - "Have you appeared in IIT/REC Entrance exam" ? His answer was a proud, resounding "No", distinguishing himself from the herd tendency of all throwing themselves at the feet of Engineering or Medical entrance exams.

"So you want to be a DHAIN" came back the punchline from a witty friend (DHAIN is the Odia word for an Asthmatic person gasping for breath, as a slang it denotes an useless, good for nothing guy). The poor chap was left with a red face hardly pleased with his just earned DHAIN tag as rest of us burst into laughter. Gladly I didn't end up being a so called DHAIN and proceed to join NIT Rourkela.

In Rourkela the order of choice was Compuer Science/ Mechanical engineering (NIT Rourkela was then one of the best Colleges in India at the time in the Mechanical stream), followed by Electrical, Metallurgy, Chemical, Mining and Civil - the last one the least preferred choice due to the poor job prospects for Civil Engineers those days.

One of my friends in his Civil Engineering class was asked by his Professor the reason behind him taking the subject. Without a shed of pretense he replied - "I couldn't get any other branch and Civil Engineering was the only thing left for me". The entire class burst into laughter and the sarcasm perfectly depicted the order of the day.

Now back from our future to my present interviewing of the local high school students. My last question to all of them - "Do you have any question for me ?" Most asked me about my career and if I enjoy my job. I replied - No. I hardly enjoy doing what I do, but it foots my bills. Stepping into the final miles of my life I can see the end of the road not very far away. But you have a long road ahead of you. Chose your path wisely".

I was flattered when some students complimented me of my knowledge on different areas. Thanking them I replied - "If knowledge is an Ocean, I know less than a drop of it". To those solicited advice, I told them what my Uncle's  advise. Nothing substitutes hard work and however brilliant you are nothing but reading gives you confidence. If you got passion for it, go for your dreams but as Thomas Edison, the great American Scientist famously said - "Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration". 

Preview of 1st phase of Elections in Odisha

The campaign for the 1st phase of Elections in India ended today. It includes 4 Lok Sabha seats and the associated Assembly seats in the Southern part of the state of Odisha going to the polls on 11th of this month.

What's so special about these 4 seats -Barhampur, Aska, Koraput and Nawarangpur ? Once upon a time these tribal dominated constituencies used to be the fortress of the Congress party. Even in the 1977 post Emergency JP plus Biju Patnaik wave and 1989 V P Singh wave, Congress still managed to hold on to these 4 Lok Sabha seats by comfortable margins.

R Jagannath Rao was the MP of Barhampur from Congress for multiple time. Even if he was too old and weak to campaign, he still managed to win. So also his party mates Rama Chandra Rath (Aska), Giridhari Gomango (Koraput) and Khagapati Pradhani (Nawarangpur). 

It had hardly anything to do with the popularity of these local leaders. It was common for the voters of these seats to say in the local Southern Odisha accent - KAANGRESS KU HATHA CHINHA RE VOTE DABARA EKKA (we will only vote for Congress in its Hand symbol). Though the party would lose from the rest of Odisha, the blind followers of Indira Gandhi stood solidly behind her and her son who followed.

Aska and Barhampur were the first to escape the Congress monopoly, followed by Koraput and Nawarangpur. This time in Nawarangpur the Grand Old Party has a fighting chance. What used to be a Congress Bastion which elected grassroot popular local leaders like Habibullah Khan is now slowly getting out of the grip of Congress party.

It will be interesting to see if it can grab the only seat where it has an outside chance of winning in the entire state as BJD and a resurgent BJP are already a force to reckon. 23rd of May will bear the testimony of that.

Smaller sacrifices made for Bigger picture

In B R Chopra's famous TV serial of our epic MAHABHARAT from the late 1980s, the warrior Karna kills Bhim's illegitimate child Ghatotkachha using his most deadly weapon. Karna had earned this indestructible weapon from Lord Indra for his indisputable reputation of charity & benevolence, a quality which ensured no one ever returned empty handed from his doorsteps.

As Bhim sobbed for the loss of his valiant son, Lord Krishna was seen standing smiling besides him. Noticing this an irritated Bhim asked him, "AAP MERE VEER PUTRA KI NIDHAN SE HANS RAHE HAI ? " - "Are you smiling at the death of my valiant son" ? Lord Krishna replied with his smirk, "KARNA NE IS BAAN KO ARJUN KE LIYE RAKHA THA. INDRA KI IS SHAKTI SE KOI NAHI USE BACHA SAKTA. MEIN BHI NAHI."-"Karna kept this weapon reserved for Arjun for one time use. No body could have saved Arjun from this potent weapon. Not even me". ( Krishna wasn't shy of proclaiming himself as God in that serial, reinforcing his Godly status by occasionally showing it off as and when necessary).

If you look at the political landscape of Odisha right now, it seems in many seats weak candidates are deliberately put by the opposition BJP against the ruling BJD. Convinced about the likelihood of it finishing second in the state, it doesn't mind keeping its competitor and earlier partner in good humor. Because this regional party from Odisha can very well extend its support to BJP at center if and when needed (though official position of BJD is to be equidistant from both BJP and Congress, it has a history of standing by the saffron party when push comes to the shove). 

With that bigger picture in mind, BJP doesn't mind making smaller sacrifices what it considers as collateral damage, same as Ghatotkachha was sacrificed to save Arjun. Only solace - a la Ghatotkacha there is no ignominy in the loss, rather one can emerge stronger basking in limelight in case he gives a better fight or even manages to win.

There is another angle to it. In political world big fish eats small fish, so that the small fish won't outgrow its bigger counterpart. If a young bird is high flying its wings are clipped - even if it is necessary to shake hands with the political opponents to achieve that goal. It is as dirty as it gets and now very pertinent in Odisha. Fixing rivals in own party has become more important than winning over rivals. 

No wonder someone said politics is the last resort of a scoundrel. In the murky world of politics there is no permanent friends or enemies. Only permanent interest thrives.