D-Day Ahoy!

Okay. Since the Doomsday of my life, the one event that will change the course of my life forever and irrevocably, the day that will decide my destiny henceforth, the one defining day of my life, enough adjectives I believe, anyways, the day for CAT-07 is on the anvil, I decided it was about time I flexed my grey cells a bit and saw to what extent the vocab and intensice reading exercises(brief in my case) have helped boost my chances of survival in the competition. Simply put, I have an exam tomorrow and have hence decided to waste my time a bit in front of the idiot box (or maybe note book? cos its a laptop) and silence my guilt by justifying it as an exertation of the brain cells. Well, tough times, like these, call for effective measures, of loosening up the strained energies(mostly negative) and release the pressure. What better way than to tranfer it on to the readers? Not that they're sitting there waiting for it. But what the heck, what you read affects you. Why do people get tensed? (or take tension as some of my friends succintly put it, much to the discomfort of my ears). Nervous disorder? Peer pressure? Other external sources of pressure? Or the inevitable internal pressure(coming from home, ie;) or is it just a way of life? To be honest, it has become a way of life with me. I can't seem to be able to help it. Not that it helps me perform better or strive harder or push myself more or any other such constructive purpose in life. It just aggravates my sense of discomfort as regards exams. I hate them. Who doesn't, you say. Well, yes. Who can be blamed for that. I wonder if it's the education system that instills such utter disgust in us, or the parent-element or the societal aspect or what? In toto, it has to be a bit of all. But still, especially at times like these, seem to have all sorts of these revolutionary ideas of renovating and completely changing the education system in India, radically, so that no one would dread exams so. Its a tough job, yes. But it's not impossible. I mean, not after a debilitated indian Cricket Team CAN win against a defending champion like Australia. I guess that's a bad example to quote, considering the inconsistent performance of our team India as also the irrelevance. What am i talking about? I don't know and I dont really think I care all that much either, as long as my fingers keep typing and I'm letting off some energy this way. What was I talking about initially? Pressure. Yes. Really, if the kind of competition here wasnt so bad and if we really had a much better ( read qualified, capable and dedicated) teaching staff all over the place, who, instead of being the butt of all the jokes in a student's life, can actually be role models, at the primary level, to start with, something of a change can actually start to happen. Who is to blame for all of this? Our economy, which is still in its nascence of staggering altitude? Our inefficient leadership at the top notch? Our laggard nationalistic orientation, which instills a sense of patriotism and international competition? Or, boiling down to the individual, our own lack of interest and dedication to our respective jobs, whatever they may be? As in a previous illustration, I guess its a combination of all, with varying degrees of each. Are we lacking enough motivational speakers in our nation? We often get to read of some so-and-so motivational speaker, shipped in from some exotic foreign locale, which happens to be an economy worth emulating, come to grace and enlighten the staffs of the various Fortune-500 sorts of companies, here in India. My question, do we have to start something of that sort at the school levels too, while the teachers' (as well as teaching standards and methodologies and technologies adopted) are changed gradually? Sounds far-fetched? Perhaps. Well, we dont need an imported motivational speaker. A national, who is equally effective would do. But it IS a start, in the right direction. Of course, its sad we need to hire motivators right from the school level, but what the heck! Look at the kind of attitudes and priorities kids foster, right from their schooling, thanks to their materialistic growing up environs! Parents are no exception to this influence. Not that they can really be blamed. But, isn't it time we started paying a little more attention to the bigger picture too? Like the nation as a whole? Well, this could be one step more, towards something that may lead to a better tomorrow. Layman's terms and understanding and presentation, I know. But its just an idea.