Reserved!

So it was the summer of 2002 and I was all set to join college. All I had to do was to choose which college I would get into and this meant attending the counselling session. So here I was choosing some mid tier colleges which my mid tier grades would fetch me and suddenly the guy next to me says to his dad- " So dad which college do I get into, there is Anna university but its too far from our place. Maybe MIT(Madras! institute of technology) would be better." This guy with the same grades as me was going to get into one of the top tier colleges in Chennai and his only consideration seemed to be the distance from his house. I was aghast! He practically ruined that day for me. And that my friends, was my first brush with the reservation conundrum. And it left a deep imprint in me which for many days was decidedly anti- reservation.

Fast forward to 2006- I was involved in an organization(Pudiyador.org) that seeks to enrich the lives of kids who are less fortunate than us. As a part of this I was teaching a bunch of 11Th grade kids their physics lessons. I was shocked at the level of knowledge these kids had. They had difficulty doing basic arithmetic and these kids were meant to compete at an equal footing with people like me? And its not like these kids weren't smart. They just had not been provided the opportunity to learn which you and me had got.

This made me realize firstly how lucky I am and secondly what reservation aims to achieve. It aims for a level playing field which is necessitated by the chasm which exists between the have and the have-nots in our country. It aims to do what our public education system cannot. But is it the answer? The primary argument against reservation is that its on the basis of communities and not based on economic condition of the people. A very valid argument. But that's how our country is being operated. Everything works on the basis of religion and we don't seem to be complaining elsewhere. Its only when it affects us directly do we begin to dissect it and point out its frailties.

Reservation is necessary- If out of 10 people who avail the benefits of reservation only 1 truly deserves it then so be it. At least 1 person is getting benefited. The other 9 would have gotten by just fine either way. Until we can bridge the gap in early education between the rich and the poor reservation is here to stay. Whether it evolves to be on the basis of economic status or will it continue by the divisions which we have brought on ourselves only time will tell.