Dear Friend with a Certificate

Dear Friend with a Certificate,

First and foremost, this is not a hateful write-up. Not another debate on the need of caste or gender-based reservation. Not an article on the origin of caste or the history of oppression. Not pointing fingers to political, religious or communal groups. It is not meant to offend you or anybody. It has no pun intended, no sarcasm hidden between the lines.  If it still displeases you, I offer you my apologies and the below quote.

If you are still reading, let me address you in the most appropriate way I know- FRIEND. Just as Oxford Dictionary defines the word. Plain,Simple,Friend. Dear Friend, We, you and I- we go to the same shopping malls, eat at the same restaurants, read the similar kind of books, play at the same grounds and breath the same air. We go through the exact same feelings of love, hope, despair, pride, shame and loneliness throughout the course of our lives. The sound of our laughter, the composition of our tears and even the smell of our farts is same. We have shared our lunch-boxes, made fun of teachers, bargained in street shops, used each other's clothes and jewelry, celebrated festivals together and what not. Amidst all similarities, however, there is a difference- a piece of paper, undersigned by a  government official, differentiates us. It is a certificate that you are entitled to, and I am not, on the basis of your Surname and this certificate can bestow you a seat dream in a Government institute or Organization. 

Though I detest the reservation system in its current form, I have absolutely no qualms against you friend. It was not your choice to be born in a 'caste' as it was not my choice to be born a particular 'gender'. I don't understand why 'what' and 'where' we are born matters so much despite the fact that we have no control over it. I am not a socialist enough to support stratification of Surnames or a feminist enough to talk about gender equality and women reservation in a single sentence. Dear Friend, I don't deny your hard work, believe me. You are doing amazing things in life. I know many friends who have certificates but they are pursuing PhD's in top US varsities or presenting top-notch innovation strategies in corporate summits. I also know a friend, a class topper, who had a certificate but she never used it at the time of admission or during placements. The entire batch respects her even today. I know there are more like her.

Am I going to ask you to start a revolution and burn your certificates? Absolutely not! Everybody likes privileges or free gifts, to be very honest. Who knows, if tomorrow, people who share my surname go to streets and protest for reservation, I might also get a similar certificate and start using it. Just One Life, dear friend. And each one of us has an appetite for a little luck in one hand and a bunch of certificates in another. Always,no?

Well, what is this write-up about then? It's about a small ask. The ask is, to tell the truth. The truth that you owe to people who don't have certificates or who have but don't use their certificates. The truth about your actual marks, actual percentile, actual rank.You owe this truth not to your friend, colleague, competitor or foe but to something known as hard-work. Because Hard-work is not a caste, gender or surname thing, it is a discipline, determination and sweat thing. Dear Friend, when your Facebook wall is flooded with congratulatory messages, that someone who scored more than you and still didn't make it, is contemplating over his mistakes and doubting his capabilities. He is unable to decide if he should quit or compromise or give another try. He is someone who quit his job for his dream, someone who skipped innumerable movies to buy books and take test series, someone who slept two hours less every day to analyze his mistakes, someone who is hell bent to not use his certificate or someone who was barely able to make both ends meet and counted pennies to fill forms. I am not saying that you didn't do any of it. You did. And so did he. But I know somebody who scored a 66.79 percentile and bagged a seat in a top institution but reported 99.79 to everyone! People who don't have certificates or don't use their certificates do not deserve such a lie, especially when they score a 96. 

I am not stereotyping anyone, I am not defending anyone, I am not generalizing anything. I know many people who tell the truth straight away. I know a friend and mind you a very adorable one, who openly accepted to use her certificate and it never changed anything in our relationship. Except that, I was in awe of her honesty.  

We are all humans who fall and rise and grow and not a 'tool' of a political party.Hard-work is a revered thing, friend. WE should not mock somebody else's with a lie. And WE as in 'WE' in the Preamble of the constitution.

~A friendly 'I'ndividual 

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