Aamir Khan has a knack of awakening the collective conscience of a society too deeply smug and hypocritical. Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots are fabulous examples of the impact that a movie can have on an entire society. Lagaan was about team work, and what it means to be a good leader. Rang De Basanti went far in inculcating a patriotic fervor in our youth, which countless speeches by politicians and millions of DAVP advertisements could not do. Taare Zameen Par helped India rewalize how kids need to be treated and cared for, and educated. And 3 Idiots has famously blasted our obsession with IITs and IIMs. It truly has been a privilege to watch 3 idiots at the beginning of a new year; quite akin to the feeling of saluting the human spirit, which came by after watching Avatar on the last day of 2009. While Avatar, for me, was 2.5 hours of amazement, at what is capable of being achieved, of the achievement that singular, focused vision can attain, 3 Idiots was a salute to highlighting a issue i have always been aware of.

3 Idiots is an expression of one’s individuality. It’s about doing what you think is right. It’s about believing in yourself, and pursuing it with complete honesty and dedication. Its about questioning the norms. About developing an ability to ask questions, irrespective of how dumb others may find it, or what implications the question may have. Its about lateral thinking. The irony for me is that though i have always thought this way, i myself have been very much part of this system. With the IIT and the IIM tags attached, I have always been part of this rat race. Of our marks mentality. Of educating myself not because i want to be educated this way, but because my society has defined for me, right from childhood days, that this is the best that’s possible. And hence it needs to be achieved. I became a Chemical engineer not because i wanted to be one, but because that was the best option for me, if i wanted to graduate with a IIT tag. I became an MBA from IIM after just 1 year of corporate experience, because my society was sure that an engineer needs to have an IIM degree as the best possible professional combination in India. Most of our youth pursuing engineering do not care what branch they get. Most of them get absorbed in IT. And hence, what they learn never really finds the right outlet. Most of our MBAs are ‘fresh’, and they do not know what is best for them. They just chase the companies which give them the highest salaries. There must be some merit in the fact that most MBAs in the developed world are non-engineers and most of them have 5+ years of work experience before they are allowed to do an MBA?

Even before my child was born, i have been fairly clear in letting her be. Just be. My role model is Calvin, that 6 year old genius who, for me, defines what a child must be like. Oodles of lateral thinking, the ability to ask a question every minute throughout the day, a knack for challenging each and every thing which is considered accepted by the society around him. That’s how our children need to be. And that’s how I wish i was. Since i could not, i simply want my child to be that way. We never stop her from asking questions. We rarely scold her for making a mess of the house. We let her imagination run equally wild from ranbir uncle to pocket me rocket to alphabets to nursery rhymes to understanding inter-dependencies between things. Look around you. The kids are getting burdened by the education. By the parents who are more into teh rat race with other parents. The obsession to ensure the child stays in the top 10 of the class. Rarely do i find kids playing outside these days. Even if they do, its more like a quota system. 1 hour at max, and then back to studies. Please, let children be children. Let them play for as long as they want. Look beyond education and their books and the rat race you are forcing on to them. Think beyond the philosophy of ‘doing to them what has been done to you’. Think fresh. Let them take charge of their life. Let them decide for themselves what works best for them. And trust me, they will. With this, let me once again salute Aamir Khan, Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani for creating 3 Idiots. And Aamir Khan, for knowing what plagues us, and highlighting that time and again. Sure he did indulge in some over the top acting in 3 Idiots, primarily to look like a 20 year old. He did appear nerdic in some scenes. But then, he started his career looking like a 21 year old. Then again with Dil Chahta Hai in his thirties and now he is back to playing the same age in his forties. What more can we expect from this versatile genius? I await the next cause that mr perfectionist highlights!