And The Award Goes To..
The title of the article draws picture of a
glittering award ceremony where stars from Mars and Venus descend on the planet
Earth and million pairs of curious eyes glued to millions of television sets.
And the host dispels the cloud of suspense by announcing the most worthy recipient
of those coveted awards. We are used to imagine such award ceremony. But award
is equally important and motivating in everyone’s life as for those stars. Be
it a school child, a wrestler, a sweeper or a luminary of any field. Awards had
been elusive to me on many occasions but there were occasions where I felt I
was an inch closer to 'The Prestige' which was directly linked to awards.
I was in class 8th. My annual results
were to be declared. I had worked really hard to get the first position in my
class. I was waiting impatiently in the queue of students for the results. The
principal of my school was going to declare name of the student who got first
position in my class. Hormonal rush was too high to stand there. The principal finally
announced name of the girl which pushed me back and snoozed my hormonal
overflow. I was awarded second. She was the same girl who had secured first
position last year too. The whole class including me had serious doubts over
her capability to get the first position. But she had double edge over me as
she was taking tuitions from the teacher who was teaching science as well as
mathematics in my class which I was not doing. Like a poor looser, I was finding
it difficult to digest the result. Unfortunately there was no ‘RTI’ those days
to look into the papers. I reached my home with a heavy heart. I threw my shoes
and socks on floor and bag and trophy for getting second position, on sofa. I
went closer to my ailing grandfather. Looking at my downcast face, he understood;
the results were not as per my expectation. He held my cheeks with his thin
palm and wiped droplets of tears which started to roll down. He looked into my
eyes and said, “Don’t worry. You have stood first. We all know and one day
everyone would come to know". He handed over a hundred rupee note to the
maid and asked her to bring gulab jamuns from the famous 'Bansi Sweets' for his
grandson. The mere imagination of delicious gulab jamuns settled cozily in hot
sugar syrup, viscose my tears and brought cheers to my face.
I had got similar fate two years back in a
different school. I was getting second position in my class for three
consecutive years. Reason: The boy who was securing the first position was the
son of a powerful school teacher. I kept on cribbing till the board exam of
higher secondary. When the board results were announced, I was declared the
topper of my class. I was not only the topper of my class but I had also broken
record of the student who had secured highest marks in the school history so
far. Sadly my grandfather was not there to see what he believed right from the beginning.
His words had finally come true.
I grew up. I graduated and got job. Life started
to teach the nitty - gritty of the world. When we enter corporate world, awards
are given in the form of appreciation, perks and promotions. But the parameters
for choosing worthy candidates for such things had changed neither in school
nor in corporate. Candidates are not chosen just based on their capability or
conviction but more than that. That included the rapport that you enjoyed with
your supervisor or sometimes your grand supervisor. Most of the readers might
have experienced this in their lives. We cannot blame anyone for the biasing or
favoritism but the human nature which seeks nourishment or massage of ‘ego’ at
regular intervals. Like good oil massage gives you good sleep. A good ‘ego’
massage gives you good perks especially if the size of brain of your supervisor
is not more than a mole.
This human tendency is not limited to schools or
corporate but wherever there are humans. Of Couse it has to be. Be it the film
industry where awards are given not just to appreciate the performances but to
keep the buzz alive. Some of the coveted awards are always fixed for the chosen
mega stars just to ensure their presence in the award ceremony. As the presence
of these megastars ensure the commercial success of these award ceremonies.
Nonetheless some genuine actors and theatre artists avoid such hypocrisy of
award ceremony which has become tool of appeasement with an eye on money and
status.
We cannot restrict just film industry to such
tactics. Many literary awards too are being fixed. Higher is the intellectual level,
better you should be in the ‘egos massage’ business. If the author is singing
paeans of praise for the authority in charge of such awards generally
government bodies, then the authority tries its best to provide them comfort to
facilitate such praise singing throats. If you sing coarse then your throat
will be stifled. ‘Parshuram ki Pratiksha’, a book written by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
which was difficult for the Nehru to digest post China defeat, was banned for
years. The classic case of famous author, Janki Vallav Shastri. He was awarded
Padma Shri twice and he rejected it on both the occasions. This shows his
belief on such awards. The controversies surrounding such awards also get
mileage with the recipients like journalist Barkha Dutt, hotelier Sant Chatwal
and many more like them. The leaked video tape of Nira Radia showed how Barkha
Dutt was working to fix ministerial portfolios in central govt. The role of
Sant Chatwal in infamous ‘Cash for Vote’ in parliament is also dubious. Such
highest civilian awards have become subject of mockery. There are numerous such
cases where awards are given on the merit of loyalty ignoring the merit of
personality of the recipient.
Though I don’t have expectation of such coveted
awards, thanks to the parameters set for getting such awards, I feel pity how
general public is made fool so openly. It is better to sit on boundary than to
join ‘EGO Massage Parlor’. It has been rightly said that there are many slips
between your cup and your lips.
As the award goes to…
