So many Idiots

My friends in metros across India tell me that going for a movie will cost you cool 300-500-1000 bucks. Unmistakably almost all the Indian films today concentrate on the upper middle, its market. Out of every 100-200 movie made in B-wood each year only 1-2 movies are worth its over-priced ticket. But if you have got a date and if he/she is hot enough to show off or if you are quite sure that experiences in the dark cinema halls are going to be worth it, then may be the price of ticket and pop-corn is going to be worth it.

I didn’t mean to say that 3 idiots is a worthless movie. In fact I am not going to write about 3Is at all. I am going to write about someone who came to watch the movie and someone who didn’t.

I met Geri during the most colourful years of my life. 18 is the age when everything around seems beautiful. Your relationship with a girl balances precariously on sisterhood, friendship and love. 18 is the age when you dare to cross the boundaries your dad sets. You dare to take a different stand on sexuality, morality, faith and religion. To be a rebel is to be cool and T-shirts of Che fills up your wardrobe.

Geri was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl in our engineering class. Except long hair she had all the qualities of a ‘dream-girl’- hour glass figure, fair skin, a certain level of sensuality. Guys stood in queue to woo her. Stories spread that she was already someone else’s. I being a shameless, self-confessed flirt praised her looks, her white salwar kameez and her big, steel coloured ear-rings. Anyways someone else took the courage to propose and got dumped immediately.

She was one among the rare specimen of women who has the combination of brain and beauty. She got selected into a company in a field close to her engineering specialization.
I was seeing her for the first time after graduation. The matinee show of 3 Idiots was about to start. Her hour glass figure become curvier and she still retains the sensuality. I asked her what she was doing.

To my surprise she got into Tata Institute of Social Sciences and had been selected into Coco Cola.

Ron was a typical geek. He never watched TV. He never knew what went around in the world. His only dealings were with physics, chemistry and mathematics. He got into one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. He got into L&T as a mechanical engineer. Last heard he resigned the job and is preparing for IAS.

When Geri said she is into Cola I was surprised. I had no doubts about her academic capabilities. But it’s still a pleasant surprise to hear that someone you knew made it big. I told this to my friend VR. He is a socialist with lush beard.
‘So after 4 years of Engineering she starts selling soft drinks’. It struck me that it was true.


The current Indian graduates, including me, have made the exercise called graduation a waste of four years of our life, huge waste of someone else’s hard earned money and waste of public resources. We have no clue about what we are studying for, for whom we are studying and the ultimate goal we aim to achieve.

At the end of four years we realize we are not made up for it and ultimately end up selling mobile phones, soft drinks, movie tickets etc. Yes, there will be a hefty pay packet and fancy job positions but ultimately that is the job you do at the end of the day.
And should a person qualify into administrative positions in the country simply because he is academically brilliant? It’s just a food for thought.

The 99% of seats in prestigious professional institutions are cornered by well to do family members. So ultimately opportunities of less fortunate people are denied.
And do they switch from job to job or from one specialization to other or go for ‘higher studies’ in some unknown college for the passion of it. No it’s because of the insecurity felt when some friend of yours earns a couple of bucks more.

Yes my dear friend, money is the only material that motivates us.