Those who are familiar with Indian Cinema, would have heard of the movie 3 Idiots. The movie was a blockbuster and won immense acclaim from all viewers. The director of the movie has tried to tell the audience that they must follow their passion and not study for the sake of just getting educated in order to get a job. He says that true happiness comes when you follow your passion. The story is told through 3 young men who meet at the University and decide to follow their passion..hence the title, 3 idiots.
The American education system has been doing this for decades now. They have offered students various options and the ability to follow subjects of their choice. So, while in India you can do a program in medicine but need to take up science and maths from the 8th grade, you can choose your subjects up to the time you do under-graduate education in the US. So, I have seen children take history or philosophy along with biology in the US or even study music. These options are not available in India today.
I was reminded of a society that lived thousands of years ago and was highly advanced. They had split their society in line with the needs of their lives. They had broken their society along 4 lines. They realised that all people were not born identical. Some preferred the intellectual path, some where more aggressive, some had a very good inclination for commerce and some liked working hard. Based on this and the need of the society, they split the society in to 4 types of people - the Thinkers, the Warriors, the Traders and the Workers. They laid down rules of how each of these types of people will behave so that their society lived in harmony. For eg., they realised that the Thinkers could get a bit arrogant because they were intellectually better off than others. So, they were asked to go house to house and request for their food. The others in the society were told not to refuse food when they were asked. It was also possible that in a house you could end up having a Thinker, a Warrior, a Trader and a Worker. Society, was driven on the lines of specialisation and aptitude of the individual.
Over years, this society morphed due to the greed of individuals. The Warriors ended up having a leader - the King. The King was always supposed to be the most worthy leader. Over a period of time, the King realised the power he wielded and so started working to see if his son (if he had one) could become the next King. The Thinker realised that the society consulted him on all their day to day problems and the King also consulted him/her on complex issues. The Thinker also realised that if he was close to the King, he derived significant power in the society. So, he started aligning with the King and just like the King, he started trying to get his son/daughter to be a Thinker whether he was one or not. This gave birth to the caste system that we know off today in India with so many castes and sub-castes.
However, all that the society wanted those days were 4 Idiots - a way to create specialisation in line with the aptitude of the people. Greed morphed it to become something as deadly as what we see today. We are willing to kill each other in the name of caste. We discriminate each other in the name of caste. Discrimination over the years has given rise to reservation for the so called lower caste for decades in India. This has resulted in the marginalization of the forward castes in India today.
I am sure that when these 4 idiots were created by society, no one would have wondered that it could take such ugly turns to become a monster that it is today.
In India, we struggle to change our education system and keep talking of following our passion when our ancestors had actually created something for us thousands of years ago. It is unfortunate that we let greed get the better of us and instead of creating a system that changed as society became more and more complex, we created a monster.
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ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed 4 Idiots, did clear the misconception that a caste system was created with it's limitations to prevail and grow,and did not evolve from a system so thoughtfully set.Well... story of Great King Akbar, is what strikes me instantly in context,he created a society where all castes prevailed and respected each other equally.But yeah, untouchability still prevails, as much as in India we still have separate set of utensils for the maid, which would be washed only by her, kept away from the rest of house utensils :)), so and so forth.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah to just add on..:) all the four the Thinkers, the Warriors, the Traders and the Workers are now part of my MBA.....how can I be all four...from the books alone :).
ReplyDeleteGood one Prasanna..the Akbar example is great...yes, he did try to bring in a religion called Din-i-elahi that combined best practices from various religlions of the day...did not take off..but showed clearly that he was a great thinker.
ReplyDeleteThe real problem is that Passion no longer prevails and considered as something abnormal. Being Passionate is not taken in the right sense. For many, going through the daily chores of life as a mere formality is the very reason behind this Monster taking a Gargantuan Avatar. Undue Expectation and Comparison is the sole reason for this misery.
ReplyDeleteGood blog! I think the problem also lies with how these castes came to become different social classes. So, if the Thinker/warrior clan is not placed or perceived as higher in the society, it solves half the problems. Coming to Prasanna's point, yes the unfortunate practice of different utensils for maids still exist. The other day, I offered a cup of tea to my maid and asked her to sit on the chair. She smiled, refused and sat on the floor. Even my persisitence didn't break her stand. She's been conditioned to do this for many years. I think what Reservation does is, it helps her sit on the chair and be comfortable on the chair. I am not sure if we've reached that stage yet, where people from certain parts of our society are comfortable on that chair.
ReplyDeleteGood way to look at it Rubalsabode (sorry, not sure if that is your name)...
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