Just read this article on www.dailyindia.com. Here is the link to the original article. I am copying the contents below in case the link stops working later.
Rajasthan has an Indian Institute of Technology Temple! By
Lokendra Singh Kota
(Rajasthan), Jan.28 (ANI): Come exam time and there is an unusual number of students carrying decorated plates or flowers making a beeline to worship at
their favourite "IIT Temple" in Rajasthan.With entrance exams for India's top medial and engineering colleges just on the
anvil, the temple, which is devoted to Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, is crowded with several aspiring doctors here.The temple is named after the India's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Students come here to seek blessings of the presiding deity Saraswati so that she bestows good luck on them.
"I want to get selected to IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) and visiting this temple so that the Goddess listens to my wish and fulfils it. I have faith in the Goddess and believe I will get what I have wished for," said, Uma, another student.
The main attraction is when students write their wishes on the temple wall to remind the deity of their requests as a ritual.
"I have written my wish on the wall, hoping that I will clear the exam and get selected in a good medical institute. It is believed one's wish comes true when it is written on the temple wall. I have also written on the wall that I get selected for AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Exam),"said, Vikas, an Indian Institute of Technology aspirant. Every year over 200,000 students appear for entrance examinations to the seven institutes of IIT, considered one of the toughest to get through in the world. Only 4,000 students are selected every year.
Kota in recent years has become a major coaching centre to prepare for entrance exams. Over 50,000 students from across the country arrive here every year to study in coaching centre that dots the city. Researchers say some 10 per cent of info-tech start-ups in California's Silicon Valley have been founded or co-founded by IIT engineers. (ANI)
Now I know why my aunt used to insist that I light an incense stick in her "mandir" every morning. And now I get it why I couldn't get into any engineering or medical college or IIT for that matter. It wasn't because I didn't study hard enough for PET (Pre-Engineering Test) and PMT (Pre-Medical Test). It wasn't even due to the fact that I didn't sit for JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) that one is required to take to get selected to one of the IITs. It was because I ... didn't... go... to... KOTA!... to pay my respects to Goddess Saraswati. I am so disappointed, I could cry. Why didn't my parents, who always stressed on the importance of studying hard "if you want to get anywhere", tell me that this was the "make it/break it" part of all the preparation? WHY??? They must have whispered this little secret in my brother's ears because he did get into both - Jodhpur's engineering college and Bombay IIT. Oh Ma and Pa! Why did you do this to me??? ***SOB***
careful!!! the saffron brigade is going to smell this post out and come to burn your house down. on a more serious note, i feel terrible for the students who have set their hearts on IIT and believe in such stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut then, maybe your brother was a genius?
ReplyDeleteMM: Saffron Brigade! Aptly describes these fanatics. I can't, in all honesty, say that I feel terrible for these students. If they are putting more time and energy into appeasing the Gods and Goddesses, so be it. Maybe when they flunk the test, it is because the Gods/Goddesses took a pity on their future patients/clients :D
ReplyDeleteAnurag: Hmmph!!
And Hyderabad has a temple in which the Visa God resides. Read about it here. In India, one can't really be surprised by all this, can we?
ReplyDelete