Friday, February 08, 2013

How times change

When I was growing up - coming from a middle/upper middle class Brahmin family -  as a male child, one was truly "happening" only if one had participated in a Maths Olympiad, won a couple of Spelling Bees competitions, written the NCERT/NTSE and won a scholarship and at the very least made it to the Extended merit list of IIT-JEE. "Truly arrived" was reserved for only IITM / IITK entrants or for REC B.Tech (Computer Science) kids who ended up in the US with an MS/Phd from the top 20 post grad schools with a job in Microsoft in Seattle.

These days, you are a "minor celebrity" if some local TV/FM channel interviews you, you are "happening" if you have made it past fastest finger and won Rs 5000 in KBC and you have "Truly Arrived" ONLY when 3 lakh SMSs are sent voting for you thereby ensuring that a vastly more talented but poorly networked competitor loses.

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