Cursed

After the continuous yelling of the mother, the environment was lit up by the cry of the newborn.
"What is it?" asked Jacob as he stormed into the room.
"A girl," the attendant replied.
"A girl? What did you just say? Is it a girl, Sarah?"
"Yes, my master."
"Oh my Lord! Why have you forsaken me? Is this the outcome of our prayers that you give us a vile creature as our first child?" Jacob looked up and shouted.
"But at least have a look at the girl. She's so beautiful." Sarah requested.
"Not for a mountain of gold will I have a look at her .... Nevertheless, what's done cannot be undone. All we can do right now is get rid of this curse as soon as possible. Go and throw her into the fire before the people become aware of this calamity that has hit us."
“By the maker of heavens and Earth, don't do this to me. It's my first child. For God's sake, have a look at the child.”
Jacob came near Sarah with signs of anger and disgust clearly visible on his face. As he looked at the girl, his facial expression changed. The little creature looked at him with bright eyes and moved her hands as if she were saying, "Take me up, father. I am your very own child."
Jacob also got an impulse to hold the child in his arms but he reined in his emotions. The stern feeling of disgust was however softened by a single look at the child.
"Alright, if you want you can keep the child alive but mind it, no one in the village should know that we had a baby girl. Tell everyone that we buried her alive."
"Yes, my Lord. And thank you."
The girl was named Rebecca by her mother.
She lived happily, away from the public eye. Jacob also developed affection for the child and brought her toys and eatables every now and then.
Five years passed and Rebecca grew up inside the walls of her house. She was rebuked whenever she even thought of going outside.
"You know Sarah, I am scared of one thing always." Jacob said.
"And what is that, my Lord?"
"As you know our law does not allow us to have a girl as the first-born. What if some day the judges of the village come to know about this dual crime of ours?"
"I too am afraid of the same but let's not lose faith in God."
One day Jacob left home early while Rebecca was asleep. Sarah went to have a bath without bothering to shut the gate. Rebecca got up and seeing no one near herself she went outside the room. Seeing that her mother was in the bathroom and the gate was open she went outside to quench her curiosity of the outside world.
"Who are you girl? I've never seen you in the village." a passer-by inquired.
"Yes I don't come out. I am Jacob's daughter." the child replied innocently.
"Jacob's daughter?" the passer-by wondered and went away.
In the evening a messenger came at Jacob's place.
"Jacob, you have been summoned by the judge tomorrow morning."
"Me? Why? What crime have I done?"
"I am not aware of the details. You'll know them tomorrow."
Jacob could not sleep the entire night. He knew what his crime was but what troubled him was how the judge came to know about his daughter.
~ Next Day ~
"Jacob, you have been found guilty of having a girl as the first-born and then concealing it from the people. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"No, my Lord."
"The punishment for you is that you'll throw that cursed creature into the well tomorrow and get rid of her but if you fail to do so your entire family will be executed."
Jacob passed the entire night weeping and wondering about the events of the next day.
Next day Sarah dressed up Rebecca in her best clothes.
"Where am I going today, Mum?" she asked.
"Your father will take you out for a camel ride today," Sarah replied with teary eyes.
"Wow, that'd be so cool."
Jacob took her outside on the camel.
"Wow father! This feels so good."
"Y..yes my child."
"Why are you sad, father?"
"To tell you the truth my child, the village folks have ordered me to kill you or they will kill us all."
"Kill me? But what have I done, father?"
"Because you're a girl, my love."
"I love you and Mum. If taking my life can save you then I would love to die."
On hearing this Jacob started weeping.
Jacob placed her over the well. The child was strong but was a child after all. Horror was evident on her face. Jacob looked at her fear stricken face. Her eyes were pleading but she did not utter a word. Jacob closed her eyes tightly and pushed her.
"Faatherr...!" she cried and caught hold of the rope.
Jacob opened his eyes and pulled the rope hurriedly. He held her up in his arms, raised his sword and headed towards the village to fight for the life of his child.

Welcome to IIT

Main Building, IIT Roorkee

So you've cracked JEE and are about to get into one of the ‘prestigious’ IITs? 

Are you excited? 

Ah. Stupid me! Definitely you are. Why shouldn’t one be? After all you are one of the few thousand people who have sailed past the remaining 12 lac people.  Though you may mark this achievement as a milestone in your life’s diary you should know that this is not the end of the road. Interestingly, it is not the beginning either. You are just about to cross the START mark. 

Bottom line — you know nothing. And by nothing I mean — NOTHING!

Before I continue I must make you aware of the fact that this write-up is not meant to demoralize you, it is in fact meant to motivate you to such an extent that you start imagining your name with one of the greats and not just as an EMPLOYEE NUMBER 5421 at Facebook or Google. Don’t get me wrong though, this is one of the best things you can achieve in life but can you do better? Yes, you can.

Soon you’ll get on, high, with the life of IIT. You will not feel that cool about being an IITian inside an IIT as you’ll feel outside. “Oh Man! You’re from IIT?” — People will react like they have just seen an alien. They will assert your super ‘intelligence’ even before talking to you but know that the same ‘intelligence’ will decay faster than Ununoctium once you get inside an IIT. 

You will get along with cool stuff like night-outs, night long gaming, partying, trips, bunks etc. and I advise you to enjoy all of these because you may never get time or you will never enjoy them as much in your life ahead. I don’t want you to be one of those people who’ll sit on a bench in their old age and think — ‘Yaar, kaash woh trip pe chala jaata!’ (How I wish I could have gone on that trip!)

I don’t want you to be one of those people who after a year or two at IIT smile at everyone who says — “Teri job toh mast lagegi” (You’ll get an awesome job) — but deep inside they know that they haven’t learnt anything after they got into IIT. I don’t want you to sit on a high-paying job and regret — Yaar, kuch gain nahi kiya IIT mein (I have gained no knowledge while being at IIT). 

 You will meet all kinds of people in IIT –

a) The one who will study for the sake of learning.
b) The one who will study for the sake of CGPA.
c) The one who will not study.
d) The one who will have more knowledge of your field of study than you.
e) The self-enthusiast.
f) The sports-keeda.
g) The gamer.
h) The musician, the dancer and the list goes on.

You will meet different kinds of teachers too –

a) The teach-nothing type.
b) The super-cool type.
c) The knowledge-lover type.
d) The weird depressed-of-life type.

One thing that you’ll experience for sure is that there will be more number of people running after placements and marks than there will be people running after knowledge. I want you to be of the second category. 

Remember at the beginning I told you that you know nothing? So, how do you start?

Start small; you don’t make an OS on day one. When you’ll taste from the ocean of knowledge you’ll realize even more that you know nothing.

It is more like — the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.

I advise you to keep two things in your mind, always –

1. Every new thing, however small, you learn makes you better than thousands of people on this planet.
2. However much you have learnt, know that there are still people smarter and more knowledgeable than you.

 I advise you not to run after money or placements. When an almost illiterate person dealing in scrap will earn more than you, that day I will ask you, ‘What is the use of your knowledge and smartness?’ and I bet you won’t be able to answer.

Gain knowledge & Innovate.

Perhaps you will not be able to earn a crore per annum that way but in your old age when your name, your research, your innovation will be held with the greats of past, that smile, that smile on your face can never be purchased by any amount of money. The day you’ll see your nation rise, you will smile.

Collaborate.

Love thy classmates and collaborate with them to design and invent stuff. Competition? I am sure you’ve left it with your JEE result. Or are you still in a competition for salary? What are you actually living for then? Think.

Can we have a silicon valley in India? Can we bring our IITs near MIT in innovation, knowledge and brilliance? 

Yes, we can. You can.