The story that follows is based on things that transpired in the lives of millions; the inhuman things that are still happening every day to the future of our world. The stage is between 2005 and 07, in a city in Andhra Pradesh, with the point of focus being the life of a 16 year old who left home for the first time in his life to further his studies.
The day started late for him. He was always an early riser but he was determined to not let it go to waste. He wanted to have a productive day for once. ‘Your life is the sum total of the choices you take towards realizing your goals’ he voiced the poster at the foot of his bed, before going to freshen up. ‘Walk out, you lazy scum!’ he heard the grating, domineering voice of the supervisor shout outside his room. He steeled his resolve to walk into the washroom that hadn’t been cleaned in a week now and did his business. ‘As long as you can leave this place at the end of 2 years with a good score, nothing else matters’. So he kept silent.
As he walked downstairs to attend the classes for the day, he noticed the usual sombre tone and dour expressions on everyone. Their classes started at 6 AM. And they had classes and study sessions till 11 PM. This was their every day, all year. The years during which they had to be trained in the ways of the world, build their personalities, develop their interests and gain experience in dealing with all kinds of people were being filled with one and only directive – ROTE LEARNING. And they were forced to stay silent, lacking a voice to state their concerns.
Parents want their kids to be great people. They want them to be successful and happy. They want their kids to receive acknowledgements from their peers and the world for their achievements. And they invest their sweat, blood and tears into preparing their kids for the world. But then why do they admit their kids in institutes where the only priority is the institute? Why do they tell their kids to be silent no matter what cruelties are perpetrated against them?
I shall not name those “institutions”, for we all know them. In my state alone, there are more than a 50 of such what I call Internment camps? Let me tell you the living conditions in these so called educational institutes – An apartment designed for a family of 5 sees 24 people crammed into it. Some of them are given a bed in the kitchen, for god’s sake! Water is supplied thrice during the day, irrespective of the students’ needs 5:30 to 6:00 AM, 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM and 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM. But the occupants keep silent, realizing they lacked the power to do anything. Anything they say is lodged as a transgression and they’re subjected to physical punishment, after all.
The city in context is known for being sweltering hot, with temperatures averaging 400C year round. Summers in particular see highs of 46. And even with such inhuman conditions, the classrooms in which the students are housed were not properly built, with makeshift roofs that provided no protection against the heat. In the afternoons, some of the students were made to sit outside with nothing over their heads just so the college could save a few pennies on the electricity bill. The poor souls kept silent.
As he was mulling all these things over, he reached class. They could see their professor was already there. As they entered the class one after another, the supervisor glared at all of them, asserting his absolute dominance over anything and everything they had the choice to do. Believe it or not, one of the supervisors on campus was a convicted felon who had returned from spending 6 months in the jail the previous year. And these were the people who tasked with ‘overseeing’ how the students studied. All these supervisors were folks who had hardly cleared their schooling themselves. They were no more than the goons you would see in movies who misbehave with people. But the students stayed silent, for they knew this was the price they were told to pay for getting what was touted as the best education before they started their specializations during under graduation.
As the class for the day started, he got to thinking – these are 16 year olds like me, who’ve left home to come build their future. And this is how they’re being treated? Like they’re cattle the institute rears till the inadvertent ‘harvest’ of the exams comes around? The institute cares not one bit for our aptitude and unique capabilities. It tells us only one thing- Mug it all up; the entire text book and the additional study material. And in the exam, don’t think, just vomit it all on the paper and hope for the best. Not one day have been taught to approach the problems with a unique problem solving approach. Not once! If all we are doing is being forced to learn the text book by heart, why are we in an educational institution for that? The subject that day was Zoology. The professor was going to teach us about various ecosystems. But before he could internalize what the concept of an ecosystem truly meant, he would be yelled at by the exceptionally under-qualified supervisor to copy what was in the text book into their ‘practice notes’ enough times to parrot it out in his sleep. But he stayed silent, for he knew the supervisors were stronger than him.
The subject he chose was biology. In Zoology alone, he would have to be instructed in the dissection procedures of various insects and fauna before it was his turn to wield a scalpel on a cadaver without passing out. He wanted to become a doctor. If he had to be comfortable with cutting into human flesh, he needed to prepare by starting with other less personal beings, but that was not part of the curriculum! The college did not care! But he stayed silent like those around him, realizing they had no alternative.
In the meantime, they rang the bell to signal breakfast was ready. Of everything on that measly excuse for a human settlement, he feared the food the most. For every time he lifted his head up, he could see the area in which the vegetables were chopped and cooked. That place was 6 feet away from the public washrooms. If you had the stomach to watch, you could see the flies that flitted between the washrooms and vegetables. But they all stayed silent, since every time they requested for more hygienic conditions they were met with the trademark ‘no preferential treatment, you entitled little lout!’ speech.
One day, there was a massive uproar the other side of the campus. We all ran out to see what was happening. A brief inquiry laid it out: Apparently one of the oh-so-well qualified supervisors had bad mouthed a whole class’ parents by comparing them to livestock bred for the fun of it, and they lashed back, asking him to address their parents with respect. Of course, the supervisor couldn’t reprimand everyone in the class, so he took to making an example of one unfortunate soul. He took the kid by the scruff of his neck and hit his head against the bench that resulted in a loud bang. He then lifted the dazed boy by his collar and slapped him around a few minutes, yelling how the kids were supposed to just keep their heads down and kowtow to any and every instruction. This action of unbridled violence was enough to snuff out any further thought of breaking our silence. We went back in to study, equal parts angry, worried and scared.
He thought long, that night. Is that kid who got brutalized fine? Have his parents been notified? Why did the rest of us not break our silence on what was happening? Are we going to be subjected to the whims of these madmen in similar fashion in the future? Why did these institutions come up in the first place? He was a kid without any experience and knowledge of the world, so he could just resign himself to his fate. He went back to sleep at the instructed time, lest he have to bear the supervisor’s brutalities the next day. He spent the whole two years without breaking the silence.
Some of the kids from that college of 553 people went on to achieve their goals in life, some gave up due to the undue pressure and some just changed their goals, realizing they did not want to live a life bound to authorities like the ones that let their ‘college’ exist. A decade later, the kid drove past his old college and got to thinking again. Why do such places even exist? Places filled with exploitation, cruelty and greed. This time, he had an answer: We let them. When the first such college popped up, we should have stamped it out, telling them we did not need such uncivilized means to educate our kids. We should have realized they would kill the inquisitiveness and curiosity that made people want to get up in the morning. But we did not. At least now, let us Break the Silence! Let us strive for better education for our future generations, one that encourages creativity, a love for learning, and nurtures free thinking. Break. The. Silence.
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