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Today the results of Class 12 is out. There will be a crazy following of the toppers for a few days and really it doesn't matter. This result is not going to ensure a good life or career for many. However let's look at the bright side.
For decades, the good results belonged to a few institutions. Privileged students from rich families only used to enjoy the good results. But the situation is changing. Private junior colleges mushrooming outskirts and villages have caught up.
Now students from even lower strata can afford to dream. Already many of the poor students passing 10th are ensured to have a free education by the private junior colleges. They are doing it in the hope of getting better results after 2 years in class 12th.
As someone who came from a village (highly priviledged compared to my classmates though as both my parents had jobs and already my brothers studied in Cotton College), it made a lot of difference. I could go to Cotton, learn about IIT and AIEEE and eventually cracked an NIT seat.
The information and the knowledge that engineering entrance preparation started right from Class 11th was something totally unknown to me then. Just because of the 80%+ in class 12th, a primary school teacher (my father), put all his might behind me to go study at Cotton College.
Today I boast about an education from IISc Bangalore because of what I did in Class 10 among other myriad factors. So I see the positive. The percentage is going to change lives of many like me and students from worse conditions.
Some of them will go on to make more money in a month than what their parents made in a year. And probably because of that, their brothers and sisters and then a whole village will dare to dream.
Today a family, tomorrow an unknown village called Dakhin Chuburi, and the day after a whole place called Sipajhar will dare to dream. And I only hope that once the dreamers grow they will take a whole state into the dream.
The naysayers might still be grumpy, but I have seen a student who couldn't even crack any engineering entrance, went from an unknown college to a PhD in an IIT with a PM scholarship of 70k per month.
I have seen another crack IIT and then a notoriously difficult PSU entrance after that. And a few more who went to US for a PhD. Now the naysayers will ask, how they are helping us build Assam.
They are not. They are obviously building their own careers. But they are also showing off that others can dream too. And the dream is why propelled a bunch of US kids to work on Space and eventually made it the greatest economy of the world.
I know one junior from a backward area cracking IIST after 12th from a junior college and then working at ISRO. The day Mangalayan took off to orbit, he was given all the credit by News Live. That was absurd, to put it mildly.
But a host of other kids from a place called Dumunichowki were watching and they also started dreaming, perhaps. Perhaps they were reminded of the old glory of Matiur Rahman who became a world class mathematical who hailed from the same place.
The world is being swept off from under the feet of a few privileged from my previous generations who never asked us to dream. Two of the most important medical officers in GoA hail from my village.
I used to look up to them and one of them made a comment that may be I shouldn't try for NIT and be content with a seat in AEC or GMC. And I took him seriously. Now I don't. I actively encourage every kid from my village now.
They never bothered to encourage kids from my village for a better life but instead used to advice them for a lowly government jobs with extra income.
Even when I got a job at General Motors, a dream that I nurtured from the day I took mechanical as a branch but never thought I would actually achieve, a snarky remark was passed that the package was less and there's no extra income.
To hell with it. I was making as much as in a month what my father made in a couple of months. The snarky remarker was actually scolded by his son who knew what a job in the biggest auto company meant. That's however is not the point.
The point is now there's no need of encouragement from the naysayers. With social media everyone knows how the world is changing. And if we can make them dream, they will achieve and then a village will become better. A village and then the district and then a state.
What's the another point of all the bragging I did. It obviously is nothing compared to what people are achieving. I haven't changed the world. But I have changed my family's life. They are still proud that I can speak English fluently.
And then my parents talk about it behind my back. They are still too strict to praise me directly though. They tell my cousins and juniors that when a friend from Tamilnadu came to my wedding, they had to learn a bit of English to communicate.
And one of my cousin who was too scared to speak in English actually started speaking quite well just by being with my friend @manivarmajeeva for a few days during my wedding.
And then he talks about it to others. The other kids will dream of speaking English. Their only chance to make a dent in their family's income is to get a good percentage and then pursue higher studies.
So people from Assam in Twitter, encourage someone to make it big. Deny the naysayers and who knows, we might end up changing a village in another generation. My dream is too small, it's for a village in Sipajhar.
Don't deny the joy of getting a higher percentage to someone just as don't discourage someone just because he didn't score that well. That piece of paper might change the life of a family. And who knows, they might buy an inverter someday to get rid of the incessant power cuts.
That poor kid who got 90%, she doesn't need to change the world. She just needs to take care of her family and then the neighbour kid will dream of doing so too. And who knows, both of them will probably sponsor the education of another one and buy an inverter too.
And then they might gift their mothers a washing machine who will be marveled at the fact that a big bedcover gets washed with zero effort and slowly their waist pain is receding.
And now they no longer need to worry about a 500 rupees electricity bill because the kid pays it online and recharges their mobile just by tapping their phones. They won't approve of the smartphone usage though.
And the father, who is too modest to praise his kid, will light up when there's a WhatsApp call from her from a 2BHK in Bangalore and they will talk about building a better house because now they can afford the tin roof.
And the mother will proudly recount that her daughter talks to her though WhatsApp with the phone she bought for her in a lavish mall in Bangalore and paid for it with an ATM card.
She doesn't get the concept of credit card but for her the important thing was that the daughter spoke in English and so did the shopkeeper. Pranjal from the chowk who sells Paan and stationary neither speak English nor accept an ATM payment.
Also, just the other day when the mom wanted a few thousands for extra expenditure got the money in her account in seconds due to online transfer from the daughter. She will still have to ask a neighbor kid though to get the money from ATM, whom she doesn't trust fully.
But the trust is not an concern because the daughter said through internet she can check the withdrawal amount sitting in her A/C office in the phone. So the mom is jubilant because now she will buy a new set of Mekhela Chador without letting the father know.
The father is too stingy with money because he made 6000 a month from a government job and took care of an entire family of 16 people by counting every penny. While he's happy with the new crocs (3k rupees, no less) that the daughter got for him, he scolds her for spending 2 much
So dear friends, let the poor kid buy a pair of crocs for his father, who washes his rough feet extra carefully even though the daughter said she will get him another pair when she goes home after the pandemic.
By the way, the masks the parents are wearing, they are from something called Amazon. Apparently they don't need to go to a shop to buy things anymore. They are ever so grateful that the Amazon delivery boy was awarded with a sumptuous meal with duck meat.
The mother hides her tears though when she cooks duck meat and the daughter is 3000 miles away working for a Capitalist organization. She's working from her 2BHK though. Mom doesn't get work from home but is happy because Amazon is delivering food to her daughter.
