Tryst with fellow aspirants

I was waiting in the Safdarjung Medical Board Room along with a few other aspirants for our medical check-up. The room was small and generally unclean. A low hanging dusty fan, lots of tattered and dog-eared files in the racks, old-style windows and window-panes, and peeling wall paint completed the look of a government place.

Almost all the aspirants getting their medical test done that day were from South India, but were settled in various parts of India. There were engineers from the IITs, doctors from AIIMS, guys with PhD in History, lawyers from the National Law School, BSF trainees and others who did not come with the tags of elite institutions of India.

Our conversation initially veered around the totally non-transparent ways of the UPSC, even as we acknowledged that the institution was doing a reasonable job. As some time passed, one of the guys remarked that none of the recommendations we had put in with our applications for reforming the UPSC would actually be read let alone implemented. Another said that we would end up in offices like the room we were in, and that 'nothing would change'.

In the general mood of pessimism, Aditya said, "guys, we are the young blood, let's show some idealism. If this is the state in which we come to the interview, what's going to happen after you get selected?" And that changed the tone of the conversation.

Aditya is from JN University. I had heard a lot about the leftist orientation of the faculty and students of JNU. I was curious to see if this was true. JNU is supposedly the birth place of so many leftist intellectuals and politicians of the country. I could clearly see Marxian dialectics in almost everything Aditya spoke about. The oppressor versus oppressed angle was visible in his arguments about reservations, dalit empowerment, and general orientation towards western institutions and racism.

I am tempted to say that a reasonable proportion of India's civil services (at least those coming from Delhi University and JNU) are going to give a leftist orientation to our bureaucracy. And foreign policy.

And it probably isn't just JNU and DU, but the whole preparation for the Civil Services Exam, makes you lean left, about which I had written a post earlier.

In fact, I was advised in the mock interviews not to wear the very chic watch that my friends gave me as a graduation gift. Lest I should be thought of as a materialistic, money-minded man. I opted for the safer way, and did not wear it, because I was treading new roads. In hindsight, I might have done the right thing. Though I can never be sure.

In any case, we had a stimulating conversation at the medical check-up. Guys remarked that it put their faith back in the system, after seeing people with similar passion about civil services. Irrespective of the result of my own interview, that itself is comforting.

Surajya

JPN plans to launch 'surajya' campaign in Andhra Pradesh.

I am excited to see how this campaign will turn out. He is a patently honest and intelligent person. More over, he is eloquent and can strike a chord, at least with the thinking voter.

In one of this speeches, JPN had said "Ee surajyam kosam porade vaadu sramo, samayamo, swechcho kolpotadu. Deeniki meeru siddhamena!" (In this struggle, one might have to put in our energy or time or independence. Are you ready for this?")

Is Andhra ready for clean politics?

Will people muster enough courage to cast their vote for an honest party?

I don't know.

But imagine!

You cast your vote for the right party, and your job is done. It is that easy. Such fundamental reforms, so necessary to sustain and accelerate our progress, will be made a reality in a jiffy.