Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Fatal Fate: Inspired from a true story

“My name is Aditi and my ambition is to be an Astronaut,” Said Aditi during the introduction session on her first day in sixth class. The whole class looked at her with envy. She had been the topper of the class since she started her studies. Teachers used to say that this girl has a gifted brain and would rise very high some day. Her parents used to feel proud of the intelligence of their daughter. Their home was completely filled with the trophies she used to win year after year.
Her father was a narrow minded rich businessman of a small town  but he was very serious about his daughter’s education. Since he was born in a family where all the females used to be illiterate, he wanted his daughter to be a graduate at least though he never knew what her ambition was. Actually living in a small town, one can not even imagine what she wanted to be. Time went on and Aditi kept being the number one every year. She never got any competition so she kept on breaking her own records every year. She had no idea what being second was like. She used be called by different names: computer, genius, Einstein and so on. It was like confirmed that she had a brilliant future ahead.
Now she was in tenth standard and was expected to set up a new record in the board exams. Exams came and she did what was expected of her. She got 93.8 percent marks, which was the all-time high in Punjab at that time. She was given a special honor by the MLA of that area. Her parents were extremely delighted because of that. She got huge amount of scholarships, awards and honors. She earned enough scholarships that she didn’t ask any money from her parents for anything.
She got into college and collected all information about becoming an astronaut and came to know that road to become an astronaut starts from engineering. She was undoubtedly the favorite of every professor. Even those who didn’t teach her used to come specially to meet her. She again topped in 10+1 and that too with a huge margin of 19%. That means the person who got second rank was 19% behind her. Being in 10+2, she started preparing for IIT-JEE and other competitive exams and used to top comprehensively in each and every practice tests. No one from their town had been selected for any IIT ever. But she had a great hope and so did everyone else who knew the brilliance of her brain.
Finally the forms for IIT-JEE were out and she bought one happily. She went home and showed the form to her father with delight. She had her dream in her hand. She surely wanted to be the first one from her town to make it to IIT.
“What is it?” Her father asked.
“It is the form for IIT papa.” She replied.
“So… What to do with it?”
“We’ve to fill it and send.”
“Then?”
“Then what… Then I’ll appear for the exam and if I clear, then I’ll go to IIT, the most prestigious institute in the whole country.” She replied with full enthusiasm.
He father laughed. He looked at her brother and here uncle who too were sitting there. Then they all laughed.
“Betaji, have you ever seen any girl among our kinsmen going out of the town to study?” Her father said, moving his fingers through her hair. Aditi was stunned. She had no words but she had to speak. She had to fulfill her dream and for that she had to speak.
“But papa…”
“You want to study na? I have no objection at all. You study as much as you want but we can’t send you out. That’s not allowed in family like ours.” Her father said, cutting her short.
“And bhaisahab, there are good colleges here also. She can study there. What’s wrong?” said her uncle.
“Uncle you just be quiet. Ok. You didn’t even allow Meenu didi to complete her education. Was that an age to marry?” She shouted angrily.
“Shut your mouth Aditi. Now you’ve forgotten how to talk to your elders? Just get the hell out of here.” Her father hissed, “And where’s that bloody form?”
He held that form and tore it off.
“Papa please… try to understand. There’s no engineering college in the whole town. And how can you compare any college with IIT?”
“What do you mean? You want to become an engineer? You want to work in a factory? Great… Now women from our family will work in factories. I’ll never let it happen till I’m alive. Do you understand that? Now get out of here.” He shouted.
Aditi went to her room and cried. That was the only thing she could do. What she had been dreaming since her childhood was to be just a dream. She was not even allowed to be an engineer and being an astronaut? One can’t even think of that. She kept on crying the whole night. Her father had torn the dream called as IIT into pieces. Even her mother didn’t support her. She felt very lonely. She went to her elder sister but even she suggested her to submit to the situation. Theirs was a completely male dominant family and females were only meant to stay at home and look after it. That was what they expected of Aditi. She left the tuitions and stopped studying.
Since her father was very powerful and a rigid personality, even the professors feared to talk anything about her. He was famous that he can beat anyone without any reason. So finally it was all over for her. She had no hope. Even her mindset was changing and she was learning various house hold activities such as cooking and all.
One day she went to college and one of her professors motivated her that one should not submit himself to situations. There are times when one can’t even fight the situation but then he should try to get the most out of the situation. He suggested her to keep on working and to leave rest on God. She was really pleased to hear all that and started working hard as she used to.
Finally the 10+2 exams came. This time again she set a new record. She was 1st in the whole state by getting 95.3% marks. She got even more honor than she got after 10th. But this time her parents were not happy as they used to be. One afternoon she got a registered post. It was a letter from an institute called as BITS. It was the scholarship letter which said that she was being offered the admission in that institute and would go through the whole course free of cost. They would also provide free books as well as pocket money. She came to know it in the evening that BITS is the best private institute in the whole country and stands up to the standard of IITs. She was absolutely delighted. She had another ray of hope. Her dreams rose again like the phoenix.
Her father came home in the evening. Again the same drama took place at their home. Her father had the same answer. She could study as much as she wanted but only staying at home. Her second hope of becoming something also came to an end like the first one. There was nothing she could do. She submitted herself to her fate.

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It is not a true story but inspired from one.
This character, Aditi is based on one of my classmates. I admired her a lot. During all those years we were sick of teachers extolling about her. Now you must be curious that what happened to her.
After 10+2 ahe did B.Sc. , quite shocking, isn't it?
Even we were shocked. In fact everyone who knew her was. And then, she got a brilliant percentage in B.Sc. too.
Now get ready for another shock..
After bsc she did PGDCA. and broke all the records of punjab university.
PGDCA is a course meant for morons, not for a genius like her. So even the examiners were shocked to see the replies on the answer sheet. they were as good as, in fact better than engineers.
And after pgdca she started doing MCA, from IGNOU ie. indira gandhi national open university..
and before she completed it, she was married to a businessman in a small town like the one in which she lived. And at present she's a good house wife...
A Good House Wife...
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I'm sharing this story with you all because I really wanted that girl to rise.
These are numerous such cases in India. So, please help me to spread this awareness among all, especially those who are from business background.
Thinking of the business families is needed to grow.
These people are truly wasting a lot of talent. If there's a boy, he's being forcibly put into business even if he wants to study further and if it is a girl then no education at all...
If we can't help gals like Aditi, we can see that we can decrease the number of such victims in coming future... please help me spreading awareness among all...
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14 comments:

Nehal said...

Simplyy Awesome!!

Cheers said...

hm...gud narration

Unknown said...

i dont feel gr8 after hearing such a story because if she was intelligent enough she shud have striven for it but like i wud say only one thing let india grow in economy or watevr a girl child is still no given as much rights as given to a boy child thats so insane !!!
but u narrated it very well :)

yaksheash said...

untill n unless money is accompanied by a formal education these cases will b prevlant...
we see the case f gujjars in haryana n we c tht the coming generations may improve but we have 2 give time to people also as we have been like this for quite so long!!!

ankur kaushal said...

@ nehal and aruna..

thanks a lot..

@ shruti

we the guys in our field don't come across such people.. if we see the situation prevalent in small towns there are numerous gifts and talents being wasted.. though it happens mostly in the case of gals bt i've seen many boys too.. thanks a lot for commenting.. keep reading..

@ yaksheash..

hey money is not at the issue over here.. she was from a very rich family.. the thing is that thinking of the business families is needed to grow..
these people are truly wasting a lot of talent.. if there's a boy, he's being forcibly put into business and if it is a gal then no education at all...
thanks for reading...

Sree Bhargavi said...

Hmmm...really feeling sad for gals like Aditi...their voices shld be high enuf to achieve wht they wanna do in their lives...but at the same time, parents like aditi's , shld obviuosly understand , encourage n support their child's dreams in education n career...this is totally a world of competition n success...parents shld understand this inorder to make their child one of the shining stars in their lives....and very well narrated yaar n gud msg to all parents n their children...

Unknown said...

nice.....very nice!!!

ankur kaushal said...

@ hitesh..
thanks dear..

@ sree

very right.. but if we see the scenario of small towns it is not at all possible for children to go against their parents.. this was the case of a gal.. bt i've seen many boys too who are being victims of their parent's wishes..

Nehal said...

yea rite ankur.. its too difficult for children to make a choice betwn their family n career.. they simply cant protest them n most of them have to submit like Aditi. If children can sacrifice thn parents must also try to leave their narrow thinking.This small story is conveying a big message.

Matangi Mawley said...

i thought tht the story "felt" true!

i had a friend named reshma begum. we were- more like competitors, whn we were at school. we used to compete- each time, whn i d score more- the next time- she d make sure thtshe gets at least 1 mark more thn i.. i got 94.5% in 12th... she got 94%

she s married n has 3 kids.. house wife, husband in dubai.. she was not even allowed to go to col!!

so, i was genuine touched by the story- having seen somethin similar happenin to a best friend..

ankur kaushal said...

hi matangi..

mine ws a similar story too..
we were competitors for fame in the college.. she was good in studies nd me in xtra activities..
bt nw i really feel bad for her.. bt dnt knw wt to do..
i really want tht even these kind of cases should be taken care of.. people should be made aware abt them in small towns.. bt dnt knw how can it happen..

Saravana said...

another good one,gud natural style of narration. hats off for that. what happened to aditi is not a one-off story, atleast w.r.to our country, there are numerous other examples too.gud tat u higlighted. This is not the only social short-comings facing india...ofcourse u know there were many...i look forward for u to take up such issues in ur coming posts.....
congrats again...
keep writing....

Nivedita K said...

Well, that something Aditi had to decide, her dreams strangled or her family. The women or men in India, have been taught the importance of family right from childhood. It is so strongly endeavoring in our minds that going against it seems like a crime or a sin.
But to grow regretting the dreams unfulfilled is a pathetic and deplorable human in making.

Your narration was good and a touching real life story, could be better with some changes in the paragraph that starts with "One day she went to college and one of her professors motivated her that one should not submit themselves to situations. There are times when one can’t even fight the situation but then one should try to get the most out of the situation."
Keep writing

NISHITH HEGDE said...

simply awesome dude..... i love writting novels. im a fanof chetan bhagat, but u proved to almost equalise him.... simlymarvolous dude...