Something just happened which prompted me to write. I was having tea, listening songs on my newly acquired Ipod Nano, when suddenly some old, besepctacled guy came and stood near me and started saying something. I looked at him but was in no mood to remove the earplugs, so i lazily kept of sipping my tea. He took some coins from his pocket and went to get some coffee, and then he started saying something again to me and came and sat near me.
I observed him intently and here is a description of him, as vivid as i can make with my limited observation and literary instincts: wearing slippers, heels of his feet torn and really bleeding, old torn jeans, he was wearing a dirty shirt in this winter, but there was some sign of intellect. He was carrying a newspaper ( but alas it was TOI, sorry i take my words back about the intellect part) and certain books.
He kept of saying something, but his tone was hysterical and manner very weird. I started realizing that i am in some august company.. i saw some guys at a distance looking at both of us in amusement..
"One guy who is speaking something senselessly whereas other one is listening to songs, oblivious to his rantings". But something inside me said to get my earplugs out and listen for a minute what the other person is saying...My inner voice always tells me to remember Kabir's doha - "
"Najaane kis roop main narayan mil jaayen"
So i just thought that i am getting lucky again..hahaha but wehn i listened to him, i realized he was one of the worst breed of people i have seen in this world - the IITian.. though he was reject, atleast some solace and that made that old, madman likeable to me..
He was talking about something.."he was doing his M.Tech from IITD, ..but i couldnot get the degree" or may i couldnot understand. Then he started on a topic ..he started talking about his M. tech thesis topic - it was "application of least squares method in heat conduction"...Oh Shit he was chemical engineer!!
he reiterated that it was heat conduction and not convection - as if i didnt understand the difference between the two.. i am fucking Chemical engineer from IIT D, doing his PhD from the same place (well thats the instance of my madness, albeit very small in impact)
Then he talked baout the course he has don.. dude no sweat he listed five courses, which i am sure many esteemed chemical engineers from IIT D cannot tell, - ranging from heat conduction, convection, heat exchanger design, plant design and applied maths..
But he was very old and i thought if he has done a Mt. tech from this place, then he should be doing good.. but yaar then what happened and why he suddenly went mad and ended up like this..
Then came the blow - he said " Saalon ne Degree nahin di".. this was enought to make me put my earplugs in my ears and move on.. Thinking who is madder - this guy with whom iw as sitting, or the institute which in its strive to make itself an undergraduate factory has lost its way somewhere... or the students who now a days dont care about science and technology and dont understand that they have an oppurtunity which millions in india can only dream of a nd other hundreds of million can even dream of..
or is it me.. who is thinking so much... why the hell.. some goddamn person wanted to study , couldnot get the degree, became a madman..maybe due to some other reasons.. I should be thinking about my own life.. but whenever i will hear something like this - saalon ne degree nahin di.. i will again get mad and think.. isnt there something inherently wrong with our education system...
or may i should ask.. who is madder?!!! -- kindly somebody tell
or is it
