This bellow conversation has taken from my book “The revenge of Gandhi’s follower”. Pre-order of the e-book is available on Amazon.com. you can get it from following link
‘I have just scored 2% less and got the second-class mark,’ gasped Ishita, dropping his shoulders. ‘Can you believe my luck?
‘So! What if you have scored 2% more, would you have got the Nobel Prize?’ criticized Vijay. ‘No! You would get nothing. This marksheet is meaningless, and it can’t judge your talent. And still you have two years left to complete your graduation.’
‘You don’t know my parents, they won’t be happy after seeing my marks,’ said Ishita being depressed.
‘May be, but it’s your duty to convince them. If Sachin Tendulkar’s parents would have been angry with him for his academic marks, then he could never have been able to become such a great player. You also know that you aren’t the best student of our college, especially in academics,’ said Vijay. ‘But as all of us, including you know that you are the best anchor of our college. So focus over your strength, not on your weakness. Convince your parents that you want to be the world’s best anchor or a successful television host. Then, you will see that they will also support you.’
Vijay’s words brought a smile on Ishita’s face, and he became the focal point of everyone.
‘But what about me? I have no such talent like Ishita,’ cried Rashmi. ‘Just for three marks … for just three marks, I got the seventh place.’
‘If you would have secured the sixth place, then what would have happened? Would you be eligible to register your name in the history book or awarded the Bharat Ratna,’ teased Vijay. There was a snort of laughter amongst all including Priya and Rashmi. ‘All over India thousands of colleges are there. There are a lot of good students. Don’t waste your energy thinking about your marks; rather focus on yourself and try to determine your inbuilt capabilities. Search something special within you because you are special and there is something that no one can do better than you. Dream big, work for it and try to fulfill your dream.’
Standing beside Priya, he said, ‘Nobody can judge you because of those marks, one of my friends had prepared all the chapters except one and unfortunately a lot of questions came from that particular chapter. And obviously, he was unable to answer a single question. That does not mean that he is not a good student. Our papers are evaluated by different teachers, and it’s natural that their markings would also differ depending upon their moods and interpretations. Then, how can we judge a person from his marks?’
‘Vijay, today’s world is very competitive and nobody remembers a failure,’ Anil, the boy who was third in class and our friend argued again.
‘Who lost in cricket world cup final in 2003?’ Vijay asked.
‘India. Everybody knows it,’ Anil blurted out.
‘See! You know a failure,’ said Vijay coldly. ‘That time our captain was Sourav Ganguly. We consider him as one of the successful captains of India. Can you now say that you don’t know who Sourav Ganguly is?’
‘But how can you deny the importance of marks, Vijay?’ reciprocated Mr Shashank, one of the lecturers, who was standing beside them since a long time and was listening to their conversation, said, ‘Evaluation is necessary for all. Marks evaluate talent of a kid; we can judge a student’s strength and weakness by marks.’
‘Yes sir, evaluation is important; but its work is only to find out errors and weakness of a kid, not to evaluate a kid’s talent,’ argued Vijay. ‘How can we judge a dancer’s talent from his academic abilities? How can we put everyone in a common scale? Some of us are good players, some of us are good in studies; some of us are singers, some are dancers and some may become writer or actor. Then, how can we judge all by a common exam? Can Priya play cricket better than Ashmit (the best player of their class) or can I dance like Anita (the best dancer of their class)? No! Then, how can they score like us in exams? An academic study is only a road which helps us to reach our goal. So don’t think so much about the road. Rather we have to focus on our goal.’
‘Then, what is education according to you?’ the lecturer questioned. ‘Different for different student?’
‘What is education? Whatever we need to learn that help us to attain our goals in life. To be more precise, if any one wants to be a dancer, then his education is dance, and if he can create a new form of dance or new style, then it is his ultimate result,’ said Vijay, the philosopher. He further continued, ‘Our work is our result, not the mark. It isn’t to mug up the lines in the book and pour them down in the exam paper. For me adding something new in the book is the actual result. For me, inventing something is the work of a scientist and how much it helps in the betterment of humans will be the final result of his invention. To write a story is a writer’s job but how much it is liked by the readers will be the result. For me, there are a lot of other subjects rather than merely academic studies. Like proper procedure of catching fish is education, inventing a new dish, painting, learning cycle, swimming also fall under different categories of education.’
The revenge of Gandhi’s follower will publish on 7th July 2017