Tuesday 28 July 2009

Qualification Vs. Experience

The tyranny of qualification has jettisoned the worth of experience. This is undisputedly a debatable topic though my stance is already clear as to which side my favouritism rests. I have reasons to say so.

I happened to accompany my Father, who is a garden freak, to a nursery. It is apt to mention here that I am not a person who fancy gardening. I hardly know the fundamentals of gardening and I used to find innocuous reasons not to have a garden at home. Mosquitoes in India often conspire to discuss their new proposals and targets only in gardens. That being my primary rationale, not having a garden was purely justifiable for me. But gardening is my Father’s passionate hobby in which I did not want to pry upon any more.

The nursery we went to was much beyond my expectations. It was massive and also very beautifully maintained. As soon as we entered, a lady attended to our needs. She was tall, dark, thin, country bred, keen, loquacious and extremely professional. Though her appearance exuded traces of illiteracy, her knowledge truly fascinated me.

My Father had lots of queries on each variety of plants to which she gave pertinent answers without an iota of ambiguity. She had the details of all the species of shrubs, bushes, creepers, crotons and what not lying there. She knew its botanical name, the amount of sunlight it requires, the season when it flowers, fertilizers necessary for its growth, maintenance technique and its price. The only problem that I noticed in her was lack of qualification.

There were thousands of varieties of plants there and she had information on all of them. There was one particular variety of plant that had beautifully bloomed in different colours and captured my attention. On noticing my deep adoration for the plant, she explained to me about it. She told me that it was Gerbera and also provided me more details about the plant. I came home and checked in the internet about the plant and they matched well with all the details that she had furnished. She had indirectly convinced me clearing my hidden belief by explaining that the plants that she sold to us will not attract mosquitoes.

The contour of qualification has transgressed the verve of the indigent legion. I am sure that the lady would not have taken refuge under the cover of a school roof even on a rainy day. To that extent education proved to be an alien to her but for the purpose of survival, she had fully equipped her with all that she has to know. She has the knowledge of an agricultural university professor but not the qualification. Despite having the knowledge, she is forced to work for a pay that would hardly meet her demands. The worst part is that she is not aware of the huge difference in the pay scale between a professor and her. What a qualification could fetch, experience cannot.

How can this be justified? This lady is one among millions who work for peanuts unaware of their own worth. Qualification accompanied by experience is welcome but experience alone will not suffice. What a pitiable situation is this? A piece of paper attesting a person’s knowledge in a particular field holds more value unmindful of how it was obtained. I am not sure how this problem can be resolved but I am sure there could be a way out.

Thursday 23 July 2009

Laud the living

One among the calamities that arise without a premonition is death. In the normal course, on such happening, the news get spread like rapid fire and very soon assemblies of people get gathered and mourn the loss of such people irrespective of the relationship they shared with the dead. The most inscrutable thing is when we see people who always had an antagonism towards the person when alive, giving a peroration on the rich dogmas the dead had when he was alive. Isn’t this paradoxical? In other words, a person is glorified only after his death. One’s ego doesn’t permit to give credit to them when in flesh and blood.

According to our custom, it is considered inappropriate to talk bad about a dead person even if the person had actually been so. Is that the reason why people find it blatantly suitable to spit venom on a living person? Can’t those men unite to maintain the same decorum when the person is alive? Should one die to receive praises? Does it also mean that a living man becomes ineligible to be applauded? This is one part of the argument.

On the other hand, I have noted that simple gestures of love and care gets puffed up when thought of after a person’s death. I have also observed that people claim to be intolerably in love with the dead person to that extent that they assume that they would have maintained the same love and care (sometimes even more) if the person had escaped death. I am a living example for that. I often think that I would have been a better grand daughter to my grand mother who passed away long back; I assumed that I would have been one great icon of true friendship towards my friend who died few months back. I get such feelings just because they are dead and gone. These are all fleeting thoughts that cross our capricious minds. Aren’t they? We are “WE” always – the ‘constant’ “WE”!

Wide across I see a crescendo in the inexorable mass marching in unison with filthy pride. With self importance as the foundation, they construct a huge edifice of vacuum and believe it to be something. They live in a false world and invite the attention of like minded folks and form a huge committee to harangue the rest of the population. I am not a perfectionist but I am glad that I do not fall into such category of people who ridicule people and also shamelessly utter words of appreciation on their death. Such people are plague to this society.

I have personally witnessed people suffering from the endless torture of guilt on many occasions that make them go through critical episodes of depression and mental disorder. For some, it is quite natural to recollect occurrences of the past and contemplate on the mistakes that one might have committed. Thus to ensure a love filled, guilt free life, I feel that there are some tips to be kept in mind -

- Every individual is entitled to be respected from the moment we become aware he exists
- Every act that deserves appreciation necessarily needs to be valued with candour
- A cordial relationship needs to be maintained with all without any bias
- Simple signs of love and care need to be experientially enjoyed and adored
- We should always remember that we have no right to hurt or humiliate others
- Our ego should be less fed

Life is as precious to others as it is to us. Then why not esteem the presence of the others when they are right in front of us rather than thinking about their greatness after they vanish to the world of oblivion?