Let me start with the most interesting and unforgettable incident. The results of our Higher Secondary Board Examinations were released. I had scored just 158 out of 200 in English. I was so shocked and so were my teachers, friends and family as English and Tamil were my most favourite subjects and I’v given a consistent good performance. My English teacher asked me to apply for retotalling and I did so for we were damn sure that I deserve more for I had written the paper so well. I got the telegram later saying that my marks had increased. We went to the DPI to collect the marksheet and we were again shocked to find an increase of just ten marks. Earlier I had scored 94 in English I and 64 in English II and to my knowledge my English II paper was perfect. As I was about to sign the elaborated mark sheet maintained by the DPI, I had the greatest shock. My English II mark was 64 only, but my English I paper had 104 marks. That was 104 out of 100 (the marksheet given to the students contains only the consolidated marks, so that is 168 out of 200). When I asked the officer, all that he said was "You are going to do Engineering right? You have applied for retotalling in Physics also and there's no increase. So just be happy with whatever you have got in your English, sign and leave the place.” These people have the responsibility of bringing justice to the entire student community for our future lies definitely on our board examination marks too. And the catch, my teacher said that she had spoken to one of the officials (as soon as the results were announced) about my marks, that I had applied for retotalling and that they should look into my paper for they would then know that the valuation was wrong. So, our guess is that this person would have simply said, "Hey, give ten marks for this candidate" without even looking into the paper and there was my 104 for 100. Could such people behave so stupidly and so irresponsibly? My teacher's intention had actually turned into a blind recommendation. Her intention was to bring to their notice that neither the valuation nor the cross checking is done properly and she felt so bad at such an outcome, the extent of irresponsibility. But sometimes, it is our mistake also. I was shocked and angry and damn disappointed about the stupidity and I knew that it would be of no use complaining. But I still feel bad that I had not raised the issue to the concerned. So that's negligence on my part for I had neglected reporting and correcting what I call a crime. And, how many of us know students who had omitted questions (covered in Syllabus) and still obtained a centum.
Take the railways. We had booked first class tickets once to Tirupathi for there were no tickets available in the general class. We were actually not interested for we knew that it is not worth paying so much for a three-hour journey. Anyways, we had to go then. We were shocked to see that even the reserved compartments were heavily crowded. In a place where just eight people can sit, there were easily fifteen. We were imagining the fate of the people who had taken pains to reserve, what use? We couldn't have been more shocked to see six people in the the first class coupe which we had booked. And just for your information, the coupe can have just four people (we were four) and before we could go there were six and two were fast asleep on the berths. When asked, we came to know that they were railway employees, some returning home after work and some travelling to Arakkonam and Tirupathi with their families. When we demanded them to vacate, all that they said was they would be getting down in Arakkonam and that this happens usually. They simply paid no attention to our complaints. And the worst part of the journey was, the TT never came, probably he should have known that such things generally happen. We waited for the TT till Arakkonam, he never came and finally we managed to prevent the next bunch of people getting into the coupe. Well, if we could travel so comfortably without tickets, why take all the pain of booking and spending so much.
Temples and the loudspeakers -- belief that loudspeakers mean celebrative seasons, but the loudspeaker blares on most of the days in a year. Makes one wonder if they celebrate seasons or create seasons to celebrate. Temples are supposed to be a silent place of worship, a place of peace, but even temples these days are more commercial. But hey, don't you know the fact -- the bhakti has increased, there is more of devotion and they are devising ways for God Himself to hear the devotion (oops, should that be feel and not hear...well, we are talking about loudspeakers, so "hear" is the word)
Take political meetings. The loudspeakers (for shouting out the filthy words one knows) and the road blocks. Simple concept, shouldnt these politicians have the common sense that they should not cause inconvenience to the public, the people because of who they survive? It is pathetic to see our money being lavishly spent on the cut outs, the hoardings, the stages and the electricity (if it is a big meeting, then the lights are on during the day time too, extra brightness???) Result : power cuts even in the hottest seasons. Extremely pathetic!!
ottest season -- ozone warning. Too many flats being constructed in places that were green. Cant help the construction of flats due to the massively increasing population, but what about the deforestation. How nice it is whenever we enter areas filled with trees and how nice would it be if every such area is like that? hmmm...pulamba dhaan mudiyum. Deforestation, plastic covers everywhere, inorganic wastes, industrial dumps, huh!! where are we heading?
Negligence is the word that occured to me when writing and it seemed apt too. Neglecting one's responsibilities, be it the wrong doer or the victim. The victim neglects his responsibility to correct or complain effectively, but the victim's situation is understandable. In a world of threat and money power, one would prefer adjusting and accepting rather than complaining and correcting. There have been times when we have complained, but do we see any action being taken?? Influence matters, you see and the concerned officials have other useful work to do, they cant waste their time and life and ambition taking actions on the complaints from the public. So, what use complaining is what has set in. But there are still some officials whose focus remains on executing their duties and promises towards the society and they still remain reliable. So, let us not be negligent.
