1. THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
Pick out a random bloke from one of the prestigious IIT’s, the echelons of
scientific excellence and engineering expertise in India. It is very probable that
your random sample will follow a certain prototype. He will be a fine database
of cinema with in-depth knowledge of all genres-from Eastwood’s westerns to
Tarantino’s crime flicks. He would be able to recite by heart the lyrics of any
Metallica chartbuster you throw at him as a challenge. While his own practical
experiments at college would make him yawn, he would have an avid interest
in the life and works of His Highness Dr. Sheldon Cooper. And he would be the
institute record holder in his accuracy of-no not experiments’ readings-but
killer headshots in Counter Strike. Now ask him to express his views on the
validity of existence of Higgs’ Boson and he would give you an Oh-so-boring
look. Don’t stop, persist and ask him to elucidate upon The String Theory of
particle physics. Don’t be taken aback if he responds with “Dude, I can
elucidate only upon the G-String theory”. Now read through the above lines
again and never ask two questions-Why despite being branded as the brightest
minds in the world Indians have failed to win Nobel prizes consistently, which
are the epitome of excellence ?Why despite having a great number of
exceptional employees in the Silicon Valley, we still don’t have a Zuckerberg or
a Jobs, a.k.a entrepreneurs?
The assessment of success in a typical Indian society is unfortunately directly
proportional to your percentage in the cram and vomit, commonly called
Board, examinations, then to your All India Rank in a competitive examination
and then to the number of zeroes at the end of your paycheck. It takes balls to
oppose the conventional and say- I love science and engineering; I want to take
up Msc Physics at IIT Kanpur despite being AIR 50; I don’t want a 70 lakh job at
a software firm cause I have no interest in it and I want to devote my career to
research despite the fact that the number of zeroes at the end are comparably
quite less. And I’m not saying that such people are extinct ; no, they exist,
many of them. But their population falls way below than what our immense
potential vouches for. And yes I also do not advocate complete seclusion. Have
your share your fun but never allow that fun to evolve into procrastination.
Your passion should always be priority number one. Even if one is performing

2. at his college in a dance or drama it should never be the glint of the winners’
trophy that drives him on but the desire to give his best should. For masters
immersed in their work life begins when a platform is attained, for the majority
of Indians the funda is that attain the platform and then life is “set”. I have
taken the IIT’s as an example but frankly this attitude is sort of omnipresent
here. And I would rest my case by saying that by being engrossed in the pursuit
of success, that too defined by societal parameters, we have lost the quest for
the pursuit of excellence. And believe me the latter pursuit is the real “Hot
Pursuit”.(NFS maniacs would associate).
-Akash Tyagi