NRIs...the Non Reserved Indians

It has been close to seven weeks, as I write this post.. a few of them havenot done what they would normally be doing...another few have done what they would normally not be doing....a few of them have been treated like how they would never have been treated otherwise....One died for no mistake on his part....

Many wonder if all this commotion has anything to do with a recent movie, well sub titled, "A Generation Awakes"..

But the recent agitation that is rocking the country, about the reservation for OBC in educational institutions, is something not many have been able to ignore. How could you, with gory pictures of young doctors being treated like some miscreants, storming the media day in and out.

The acceptance or not of such a pact lies in our basics, our beliefs, the principles that have been fed to us till date.. For why else would an equally large number of students all over the country take to streets, in support of this policy. Why else would friends for years differentiate themselves only coz they were from the 'quota'..?

I support reservation..If the year was 1950 and the lower income groups in India were mistreated by the so called upper classes, made to beg for food, retort to all gruesome means to feed their crying children, be treated close to the animals that gave them milk each morning. Agreed there have been times when the forward caste has not acted that 'forward' afterall; not even human infact...but werent these reasons considered when the first amendment was put in, to include reservation in the Indian society..? That was when it was decided that this ill treatment had to stop, that the people who have been bearing the wrath for years for no fault of theirs had to be given what was rightfully theirs.

And that's what exactly happened right..? They had their go at schools..Reserved seats for children ensured that more of them got their basic education....Reservation in high schools made sure that more were motivated to get a decent level of schooling...seats meant for them in colleges assured them through a professional course too...reservations in the various government sector organisations sealed their position in offices too....

So there is a group, that is ill treated and tortured, till the people around them realise that it is time they stop treating them that way...and give them all ways of making null the gap that exists between the lower and the upper ones...Now that the gap is anulled, what more..?
I find it logical to drop the conveniences once they have made sure that all differences are lost...then why carry it throughout your life...? why trickle it down to your grand child, just because your great grand father was ill treated..?

It has to be an honest decision on each one's part, I believe...
What results of the current system, that is being inflicted by oneself, is a sense of obvious division...a sense of branding...Even in the midst of all this anti-reservation campainging, I am against all those who make generalisations; that those who have enjoyed the benefits of the reservation have only misused it; that ones in through this have only managed to scrape through classes, bringing the standard of education down and remain unplaced and all the likes...I totally oppose anybody who chooses to say this, having ignored all those from the general quotas who fail to perform and the ones from these groups who have gone out and made a mark for themselves in this world...

If there is any reason why there has been any ill treatment meted out to my reserved friends around, it is because of the branding with which they enter....so why not eliminate that from the start itself...

I heard a very touching story of a fellow with the AIIMS....a quota student, son of a cobbler father, he slogged his way through college,what with the branding and all...today a proud father of a son waiting for admissions to colleges, he gave up his son's "legal right" to reservation, claiming that he could afford a normal education to his son, something his father could not do to him....

At the end of all this....there are a million deserving students who still donot get the advantage of the scheme...For competition is imminent at all levels...and those economically backward must be losing out here too...

Dr Rela, a famous surgeon in London, roots in India, a starter medical degree from Stanley, Madras, was a "quota student"...During his recent visit to India, he spoke of his college days when he used to enjoy the comfort of a car ride to and from college...of all facilities at home that would not befit the so called "backward"....He stands totally against reservation based on castes...

I salute all those who have given up their seeming rights to reservation...to live on merit...am not saying that the ones on the other side are any less meritious...but if they are...then why the difference....

Why are we fighting against a common body....dividing ourselves in the process....?
Isn't it time we realised that reservations have to be given to those economically challenged kids, forced to work at a tender age to bring back a decent meal a day...?Its time to support those children forced to discontinue schooling midway, to feed an ailing father or a dying mother....It is these little bloods that need reservation, a motivation to get them standing strong on their feet....

Its time we started using our head to think..and let the heart do only the pumping....

PS:The thoughts expressed here are for reason meant to hurt the sentiments of any particular sect of the society...At the end of the day...we all bleed...we all die...and we all are Indians to begin with...