Talent needs competition. Conformity produces mediocre. A construction is being engineered here where a student, to be good, should not argue with teachers. He must not ask uncomfortable questions. The mark of intelligence here is one who secures top marks in his grades. No wonder those who secure positions in postgraduate get lost with that. Obtaining position in PG for them becomes living obituary. No one hears about them. The position holders in science do not become scientists. Same holds true in social sciences and arts. Despite having hundred seats in political science and history departments: how many political scientists and historians have we produced?
Why are Kashmiri scholars is unable to stimulate our thinking? Why are our scholars educated but not erudite? Why is it that hundreds who do their post graduation do no good to society? Why is it that despite literacy rate going up we are not progressing? Every year we add only numbers.
If Kashmiris are talented, as almost all outsiders say, why is it that that talent never gets reflected? How do they assess that Kashmiris are talented? What is the benchmark of talent? What have Kashmiris done that makes them talented? These questions they never answer and Kashmiris don’t quiz them on this. So why do they praise Kashmiris if we don’t have talent?
“One of the methods,” wrote Paulo Freire in his book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, “is to inoculate individuals with the bourgeois appetite for personal success. This manipulation is sometimes carried out directly by the elites and sometimes indirectly, through populist leaders.” The talent myth is spread to make the population passive. And for talent they would always suggest that you need exposure. Who would provide that exposure? Those who praise us want our minds to be fossilised. They don’t want restive generation who will question their questions. Talent needs prodding. Adversity waters it. Confrontation nurtures it and resistance makes its roots stronger. But when you pamper someone, s/he never feels excited to excel and prove a point. Humans have excelled only when they have been pushed. It creates unrest among them that they have a point to prove to their detractors. That unrest chisels them. Sharpens their mind. Talent always creates chaos first and order later. Talent is never moderate. It is, has, and will continue to be extreme. That is why every outsider Joe pampers Kashmiris with the myth of talent.
They want to create a cult figure among the masses of those who speak their language in the garb of serving peoples interest. We must start questioning ourselves where is the talent which they talk about. How many scientist have we produced? Which social scientist we can name? How many thinkers do we have.
So a social construction is going around where people are routed in too instill false pride. A simple corollary can be drawn from the hartal that we observe when injustice and killings take place. With hartal we feel we have done our share of protest and therefore let us move on. By pampering, our young generation is constructed in such a way that their brain becomes docile, and head full of vanity.
Talent creates unrest. It doesn’t live on laurels. It doesn’t believe in cult following. It confronts even its followers. Talent is not worried about grades and jobs. Karl Marx lived a life of penury. Iqbal was declared an infidel. Galileo was tortured. Socrates poisoned. Talent needs no stage for conformation. It bursts through dark skies. If you have talent prove it. Prove it on your own terms. Prove it without compromising your principles. Talent has to endure difficulties.    

Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST