Oh, I so love Sunday afternoons. A week of ‘life and work’ (antonyms in my dictionary) has just passed by, and its time to relax so as to be ready for the coming week. But, I rather thought of writing a blog.
While I was enjoying Miley Cyrus’ music video “Can’t be tamed “ (she looks damn good in that music video, at-least), I recalled one of her interviews on a TV channel long ago. She was 15 then and was in high-school. So the reporter asked her how she managed her school work along with the tight TV shoot schedules and singing and concerts and what not. She replied that it does become very hectic sometimes and she often has to bunk classes, skip exams. Besides, when she’s short on preparation for exams(which is very often, Miley exclaims), she takes it at home, and maybe even copies the answers. Now surely that seems to be an unsystematic method of high school studies. Isn’t it an inappropriate attitude towards primal education? Where does the learning process fit in here? It was shocking to hear this, maybe because I was also in high-school then. Even though she lacks time due to her stardom, I still won’t advocate her neglecting school work to such an extent.
This is not the only instance I have come across of an irrational attitude of some well celebrated people towards education. Apart from many Hollywood celebrities, most of our own Bollywood studs have neglected their studies during their tender age. There was this one time in “Koffee with Karan” talk show when Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan both were invited for a chat. And when asked about their academic life, they frankly (rather mockingly) told that they BOTH had secured some 50 odd percent overall in their 10th ICSE board exams. And they didn’t even care about it. I thought, hadn’t it been for the guarding hands of their influential family members backing them, they would have been no where. I mean, I don’t deny them being talented (or are they!!!), but no one, and I mean no one, who gets such an opportunity to complete their studies should neglect it in the first place. BTW, they couldn’t figure out but even Karan Johar (himself a graduate form the famous HR college) was deriding them of this fact.
Ours is a country which gives much importance to education. And education is the only way to have a secured life, if in India. No one can deny this. Like one of my teacher (Ninji ma’am) used to say “Yeh America nahin hai jahaan sadakchaap anguthachaap bhi carorepati ban jaata hai. Yahaan janam liya hai toh mehnat se padhna padega “. And in one sense, its rather true. People would definitely give you examples of eminent figures like Bill Gates, Bryan Adams, Ricard Branson, Mukesh Ambani and so on, who dropped out of college/high-school but still achieved success in their respective fields. But even though they may shine like the sun, they have dark spots on them. And definitely, it’s a discredit on their part.
But, even though this deficiency is concealed under their glare of stardom, it does become visible in awkward situations. And in that stage, they do have to face the humiliation. One instance, that I can recall, was this episode of Farah Khan’s “ Tere Mere Beach Mein ” with Asin and Deepika Padukone. Farah revealed that Asin was a brilliant student in her school days and also was interested in the field of financial management. Since she was in her 9th class, she sometimes used to accompany her industrialist father into boardroom meetings and was interested in the trade of financial planning and accounting. And just through learning by participating, she was able to help her father in that department. She also is a B.A. graduate and always wanted to be a professional and taking up acting was just an accidental turn in her life. While all this was being said about Asin, Deepika was quietly listening to her with a numb face when Farah finally turned towards her and disclosed that Deepika was not even a graduate till date. She was trying to do some random correspondence graduation course from some random college but wasn’t able to pass the examinations for the last 6 years. Deepika couldn’t take this abashment and she started blabbering and giving random excuses to escape the humiliation. Throughout the show, she looked quite disconcerted. Since that day, my respect for this beauty decreased (~\/~) and whenever I see her on TV, I say “She is not even a graduate“. And this thought by itself is a disgrace to the person whom it is aimed at. Secondly, getting offers in films is not a permanent matter and film industry is not a secured field. What if she finds herself without any roles, left out to live on her own one day?
On the other side, there are quite a few personalities who have fared well in their respective fields of expertise besides fulfilling their duty of completing their education, and completing it excellently. Take Shah Rukh Khan for example. Who doesn’t know him, the king of Indian cinema. During his school days, he was accomplished in both sports, drama, and academics. He even had won the best student award of his batch. Others include Vidya Balan (who has multiple degrees to her name J), Preity Zinta (psychology grad), Bipasha Basu (MBBS), Anil Kumble, Sania Mirza, etc. who are a few of the very few people in the limelight.
I am not criticizing any particular individual for choosing what they have taken up, but am rather not appreciating the ignorance that they have shown towards the basic amenities that they lack in life. My conclusion is not that one shouldn’t go into the film or sports line or what-so-ever, I just wanna say that - first be eligible to support yourself, then take your own personal decisions. In total, one should hold the charisma and the confidence to win the world which one can avail through education. As I always say, “I would rather be happy to open a paan shop in Orissa near my home and stay happily forever in that business, but even for that, I need to be eligible for doing so by getting a proper MBA/MBM degree, so that no one dare point out a finger at me.”
