COMMUNITY-The Rumor Story (EPISODE 31, LIFE LESSONS)

Hi friends and welcome to Life Lessons.

We, no matter what may be the department of work or the way of life is, are always concerned with what the society thinks about us. This thought is very dangerous in the sense that most of people consider it as to. Every day we see news in the newspapers and many other channels about suicide of students due to low grades in their school and colleges. This is directly or indirectly related to the fear for the society. The real concern is what other people think of us.

Not only on the negative side, has it had the positive side. Once a candidate gets on to a good position/ job the people around forget what he/she has done in the past (how worse his/her attitude is). Here the job acts as the perception changing agent for the people. Thus many students have created a perception getting a good job is the ultimate form of success. I want to shed light on this aspect in this episode. Before we can get into what I need to share, let us go through a chronicle that happened with a senior. I have seen and heard the same personally.

The chronicle:                      

There was a guy called Purna (Name changed). He was 3 years senior to me in my high school . I don’t have a good relation with him personally, but I know him to some extent. It was because he was one of those good students in his batch, who always used to be one of the toppers in every examination held. Not only this, he was also good in various extra-circular activities like sports and other activities. He was also an active member in various events held in the institution. He even hosted almost every event that was held. This was the reason he was well known among the teachers and also students of our institution.

I don’t know what girls thought of him, but definitely there were many boys who wanted to turn into a guy like him. He was a role model for many boys in the institution. By then I knew him from past three years and everything I saw and heard about him was nothing but good. At some point I too felt that he was the ideal student.

But we all know days are not same always. One day, a rumor came into the institution premises.  Every one spoke that Purna was in relation with some girl. I came to know about this from some of my classmates. At that point, I was not that concerned about the matter. Soon this rumor turned worse. After few days I heard that he had kissed his girlfriend at her house. I was shocked at that point. I clearly knew that this was a rumor. It was because, even if it was true, how can one see what happened in the girl’s house.  

I observed the scenario was gradually turning out to the opposite side. The fame of Purna was fading out at rapid rate. Soon this rumor has reached into the ears of the teachers too. And the scenario among them was also changing

Soon the eve of Christmas has arrived. There was a regular celebrations going to be held in out institution. From past 3 years, Purna was one who hosted these sorts of events. But this time he was not seen on the stage. When I enquired about the same, I came to know that he was not offered the chance to take part on the stage. After knowing this, I tried to find him among the students but failed.

After few days, I found out that he was under serious depression about the rumors on him. I was not that close or was of same age to ask him or console about the matter. All I could do was that just enquire and know the updates.

Days passed and the final exams arrived. That was the first exam and our batch was placed with their batch in the seating arrangement. As soon as I sat on my seat, a girl flashed before me. I couldn’t recall who was she, after few minutes I remembered that this was the girl with whom Purna was rumored. She was not that impressive in looks. She didn’t seem to be a good student either.

She sat a few benches ahead of me in the examination hall. The exam started. After few minutes, I heard a loud voice of the invigilator. I looked up at once and found that invigilator had red handedly caught the same girl for malpractice. She was crying and yelling for forgiveness, but the invigilator didn’t respond to her. She was taken out of the examination hall at once. Despite of the examination tension, I was curious about what was going to happen. As usual the only way I could find out is by enquiring.

That day, something bigger than my expectations happened. The girl was rusticated from the institution. I was surprised at the news. How can a student get rusticated from the school for malpractice in an examination? It was because something bigger has happened in the parent-teacher meeting after that instance. Apart from cheating, some more aspects about the girl came to light.

During the parent-teacher meeting, when the parents were made aware of the instance, they in return revealed some shocking complaints about her. They found out some papers, letters and a diary in her cupboard. It had some crucial information and narrations. In that diary, she has written all that happened with her in past few years. She also clearly mentioned her thoughts about the rumor too. Rumors were quite intense by then, but the actual fact was something different. The same is revealed in following lines.

She was attracted to Purna from several days. She always found a way to talk to him in some or the other way. She used to ask him his note books and doubts in subjects as a reason to talk. One day she took his notebook on promise to return the other day. But she was absent the next day. The underlying fact was that it was all intentional.  Purna was worried because the very next day an assignment was to be submitted. He has no other option but to visit her house for the note book. That evening he left to her home. As soon as he reached her home, she opened the door with smile and welcomed him in. She revealed that there was no one in her house. Purna felt a bit uncomfortable. He asked for his notebook as he was in a hurry to leave. She knew that he would fly away the next second he gets the notebook. So she insisted to talk an important matter with him before offering him his notebook.

He asked what was it to which she stated that she liked him and proposed him. He was confused. To be clear, he was just 17 when all this was happening. He was confused about what to answer. She tried to get close to him. After few seconds, he got into his senses and pushed her apart and ran away from her house.

There was no one in the house who could witness this. This would only go out of the house if one of these two would say to someone. And the person was the girl herself. She shared some different story with her friends. She said that he accepted her proposal and kissed her at home. This spread out like a wild fire in the whole institute within no time.  Apart from this truth, the main concerning aspect was the position of Purna. He was a victim of the entire scenario. He was removed from events and other areas too.

After knowing the entire story, I felt a concern for him. I feared that he would do something unusual out of depression. But luckily nothing such has happened. All other exams were commenced peacefully. When the results were out, I was equally curious about his result as mine. I found out that he was in distinction but was not among the toppers.

Observations:

The story I narrated would definitely remind us of a movie, but it is a true instance. The story has many lessons to teach us. The chronicle is actually an inspiring journey of an ideal student in midst of the shackles of the society. Lets us look into some of them in the following areas:

·         Purna was not only a good student at studies but also an active person in extra circular activities too.

·         Despite of the rumor and other separations from the society, he withstood it without doing something unusual.

·         Even he knew the truth; he never revealed the truth to anyone because he doesn’t want to spoil the life of a girl in middle of her education career.

·         Truth never dies, it comes out some or the other day. The only thing we should do is to be patient for that day to come.

I hope these observations are enough to know that he is indeed an ideal student.

Interpretations:

Despite of various observations that we have seen above, there was an underlying factor that acted - the society and their perception. It was true that Purna was out of his senses when she proposed him and he too was about to cross the line. But it is worth noting that he was just 17, and this was the age of infatuation. Despite of all this, he tried to come to senses and avoided the situation.

Here comes the important point. Despite of his rightful decision and measures, he was made a victim of the society. For few months, he was considered as a culprit. He was moved out of various positions he deserved to be.

But the good aspect is that he somehow withstood at this tender age. No matter it affected his studies, but he managed to withstand it. This is the first lesson we need to learn. We should learn to withstand the society barriers at times. Because, sometimes it is the need of the day.

I didn’t mean to say that he was completely right. He actually gave a chance to the girl and thus the society to do all this. The girl was claimed to be an unscrupulous person in the institution prior to the instance. Being aware of this, he befriended her and offered notebook. This is the second lesson we can learn from him- keep away from bad people whenever possible.

I hope the narration has made it clear what I wanted to share with you all. It is crucial to understand that society always waits for some bad/ worse things to happen with us. Once they get the right stuff (to be rumored), they forget all the good deeds done by the individual. This is the experience for many people like Purna in various stages of their life. It is equally important to stay responsible for our self from offering a chance to the society. On the other hand, it is also crucial to be ready to face the community if any outbreak takes place.  How can we do this? It is by just remembering that Community never cares for a hundred good deeds that we do, it is only concerned with one chance (bad deed) to bring us down in life.

Hope you like this Episode.                                                                                                                         

For more episodes check out my site:                                                                   

ajiteshippili.blogspot.com                                                                                       

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