96.8 Per Cent -Is She Normal ?!!

She looks like the kid next door .Not too tall ,with specs and fair .She wore a white short kurta and a pair of faded jeans .She reminded me more of a girl from Miranda House (of my times –don’t know how the crowd is nowadays ),Delhi University ,than let us say from a college from a smaller town .She spoke effortless English and was amazingly up front and confident .Yes ,she is Aditi Gupta ,the girl from our school ,who topped the 12^th Board Exams with 96.8 percent marks in Humanities .She scored 100 in Psychology,99 in Political Science ,and 95 each in History ,Economics and English .

“Well done Aditi.You must be feeling really good .Thank God the hard work paid off”,I said as I greeted her into my room ,the other day .

“Actually Sir ,I never really worked that hard and I did not expect to do so well”,she replied .Thats the catch .Brilliant kids don’t work all that hard and they don’t expect to do so well because if you like something ,you don’t really feel you labored for it .How many of you feel you have worked really hard after you come out seeing a movie ?Or after you come back from a vacation ?Or after you have gone out for a 6 hour date ?None I think .Because you enjoy what you are doing .I remember  a teacher of our school in Balbharti School ,Bhopal,(where I was the Principal)  Meenakshi Maggan .We met her at a movie hall .We were entering a 3-6 , and she was exiting a 12-3 show .I still remember the movie –it was “Dilwale Dulhanian  Le Jayenge”!!.

“How is the movie Meenakshi?”,I asked .

“Sir ,I want to go back again into the hall and see it again .Aise laga ke sirf 5 minute ki hai!!”.

Yes when you do something you like doing ,then hours seem like minutes .Ramu Damodaran ,the legendary Doordarshan newsreader and one time good friend of mine hardly attended classes .We were both doing History at Delhi University .He was brilliant and could grasp the intricacies of History without putting any effort .He topped the Indian Foreign Service and is now a senior diplomat with the UN in New York .When Aditi told me that she did not put in much work and that she was not expecting good marks –she reminded me of Ramu and Meenakshi .She hardly felt the pressure of the effort and she is obviously brilliant .

“So where do you go from here”,I asked her .

“Sir I want to do law from Mumbai Law School.Though I have got into Gujerat National  Law University as well”.she replied .

“But why would you like to study in Mumbai .After all ,Ahmedabad is your hometown and GNLU is a good law school .You will have all the protection here”, quipped .

“But I want to be independent .I know I am going to  have to be on my own ,so  sooner –the better”,she said .

“Is money important for you?”.I was asking the obvious question .

“Of course it is.I want a Rolls Royce and I want Gucci bags”, she said with a smile .

“You don’t want to become a teacher”? I asked .

“No Sir”

“But why not .Is it because you wont be able to buy a Rolls Royce and Gucci bags”,I said with a smile

“No Sir ,its not about Rolls Royce or Gucci bags .I don’t like the way students behave with a teacher these days .They are very critical about them and don’t appreciate the hard work they (the teachers )put in for the students .”,she said .

“But Aditi ,let me put it this way .Maybe all teachers are not good .Some teachers will face the flak because they are not up there .And in any case everyone gets criticized –even Sachhin and Amitabh Bacchan .You cant NOT do something because it will entail criticism.”.

She smiled and said “Yes Sir ,even you were criticized when you reduced the unit tests and  held them in the afternoons.!!But Sir ,being criticized for inefficiency is different .Even the very good teachers get criticized”,she said . “And that generates negativity”.

“Do you see a future without teachers ?The computer taking over and no live teaching –only on the board with voice overs.Somebody from Harvard teaching through computers!!”,I asked .

“No Sir .The human element can and should never go out of the classrooms .The care ,the motivation ,the emotion bonding –all these are very important components of teachings .No teaching that is impersonal can ever be successful.That will not be education .That will be information”.Brilliant young girl .!!

She wants to do International law .She does not seem interested in Corporate Law or litigation .She said she enjoyed her life as a schoolgirl and she was effusive in her praise about teachers .She remembered each of the teachers who taught her from the Primary Class to Grade 12 .She thought that DPS Bopal was a great school and would never trade it for any other school in the world .

I asked her about her views on marriage .I nudged her a bit and said that life is going to be so predictable –get a good job ,marry a good and wealthy man ,have kids and go through with the 4 stages  as envisaged in the Hindu System   of life .!But she did not nod her head in agreement .

“My views on marriage obviously haven’t crystallized .I need to grow up much more to have definitive views on it .But marrying someone to give legitimacy and surname to a child is obviously not the purpose of marriage”,I let the thing pass ,though I think the society of the future will have a lot more live in relationshiops rather than relationshiops based on marriage .Good or bad is not something I am going to debate upon here ,but as a student of History and Sociology ,I feel the changes in technology and professions have made it necessary to align social systems accordingly .

I had talked with her for a long time .It was time to bid her goodbye .Before leaving my room ,I told her

“Aditi ,getting good marks and making lots of money is different from being happy .In many ways its far far easier to get marks and make lots of  money than get  happiness .I wish you happiness”. I shook hands with her .In many ways ,I was shaking hands with the future of the world .

I attended her  celebration party in a prominent hotel yesterday night in Ahmedabad .The master of ceremonies asked me to speak a few words .I spoke .But I forgot to quote what Iqbal wrote so tellingly and beautifully .I quote him

Tu Shaheen hai parwaaz hai kaam tera
Tere saamne aasmaan aur bhi hai.

(Shaheen is the mythical bird which once it takes off never comes back to the earth bcoz of its desire to search the heavens )

Keep soaring ,keep conquering ,but Aditi ,do keep coming back to your roots and friends.God bless .