Manufacturing Buffaloes

                           

Standing in the passageway at the entrance of our department, part of country's prestigious universities. Nostalgically thinking and evaluating whether all the monetary and time investment is worthwhile in a place like ours, where critical thinking is to the minimal, where difference of opinion can prove to be fatal, where history is distorted and then glued into our minds, where things are either black or white because there is no room for gray. The weather is nice and cold but unpredictable. Holding academic transcripts thinking of the days gone by.

Reference to critique: it can only be handled by an open hearted and an evolved individual/society who acknowledge the fact that as humans, one can be wrong and only a strong criticism can make our human state better. All those moments flash-by when as a student we wanted to experiment but were not able to do so because: 'it ain't the norm', 'follow the crowd kid', 'what are you doing?! stop showing off, no one does that. Just be like others' and 'don't be over smart! I know more than you', 'why have you chosen this field? there is no scope in it'. All those urges in front of us, all those questions that still need answering. Worst of those: all those comparisons with the developed nations and the neighborhood education policies. Standing there, thinking... was it all worth it?

Junior students pass-by, religiously giving 'salams', as is the custom to do so in front of senior students or any other senior individual in the premises of the institution. Happy and gay with the culmination of their passing days, where they are getting  nearer to acquiring their academic transcripts, or 'receipts' as some call them. Having petty competitions with peers for teachers attention, comparing grades of a course the exam for which was only based on memory and in that only subjective opinions relevant to the society were adhered to and were not objectively scrutinized or some new perspective explored. The plot is perfect. Follow the norms and customs blindly, do not dare to question anything, respect elders irrespective of the fact that they have not or do not want to contribute towards building the nation by inculcating analytical thinking in youth. Everyone is aware: where the water stands still, it becomes stagnant and then it is home to many illnesses. Looking at this scenario, watching people and days pass by,  the only change taking place is on the calendar. It is always heartening to see smiling, unaware faces of innocent youth, not yet involved in further academic pursuits at an international level. Alas! Ignorance is bliss.

Going out of the department, in search of December's slightly warm and sometimes foggy sunshine, sitting on the front stairs leading to the department. Watching a herd of 6-7 buffaloes crossing by their routine parade of feeding on the perfect green landscape of the campus. A heavenly pursuit for any herbivore, lets hope an academic institutions' grass would prove to inculcate intelligence in the beasts (laugh). Or it can prove to be a good analogy between academic institutions and what they manufacture. The later would make much more sense to a critic because to her it is no different than manufacturing buffaloes. Eat, drink, memorize, moo and go through the daily parade. Holding the receipts (sorry degrees) thinking where to moo next.


P.s: Originally written in 2014 and published in a separate blog.