The Quiz

A small hot dingy room had varied occupants in it. Some kids and some teachers, though the difference was only physical. It was a semi-final of the quiz competition organized by public school system and informed to respective schools 2 days prior. Quizmasters were fixed on the spot and so were the moderators. There was no audience as transparency is a strict nono in these cases. The scoreboard literally was scores-on-a-blackboard. Anyone entering that room would have taken a leap back into the old times when such things were the norm. And so the quiz kicked off. No one was told of the rules because no one knew them.

After 2 rounds it was clear who would win. In appreciation of the team, the quizmaster asked the name of the school and what happened after the name was told is something which I would never forget. It was something which made me believe why corruption is a norm in our society, why majority of our youth suffers from inferior skill levels and why incompetency is never questioned and sometimes even appreciated. As soon as the quizmaster came to know the name of the school, with naivety beyond belief she shouted in anger, “Oh, that’s why, the question paper is of the same school?” Post announcement the schools which hadn’t even scored a point started crying foul. They got a morsel to feed on.

I was in the audience seeing one of my friends assigning points to the team. I was the scorer in the first round. I couldn’t stop laughing. And so with utmost selfish interest I asked my friend be the scorer. I couldn’t stop laughing on the seriousness I saw on the faces of the people who were putting up this farce. I couldn’t stop laughing at the game being played there, with everyone except kids believing totally in it. I couldn’t stop laughing on the hollow promises we are making, the basis of which is the education system which creates snitches out of our kids. I was ultimately horrified at the sorry state of affairs and the nonchalance of the state.

The events later in the week confirmed some of my underlying fears. We are all part of a big game. The kills we are making in this game are none but those kids who are oblivious of what is being done to them. A Kafkan tragedy indeed.