If my Dad was a politician

This post is written for the Weekend Contest in association with Shoes of The Dead at BlogAdda.com.

 If my Dad was a politician, I would have won myself this contest by calling up the office of Mr. Nirav Sanghavi and asking him whether he knew who my Dad was. It is such a common question in the power corridors of Delhi that it has become a joke format on twitter. (Tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hai?)

My student life would have been much more comfortable and less competitive. Instead of reaching school by struggling for a seat in the school bus, I would have been dropped and picked up daily by the govt on duty jeep. They would have made me the class monitor, school captain etc. without me having to do anything with the work associated with those posts. And since the seeds of procrastination would be sown in my soul from such an early period, all I'd need to achieve anything would be to wish for it.  After completing my 12th, I had to drop two years and study for pre-medical entrance exams. If I had my Dad in the health ministry, I could have just made a few calls and there would have been a seat reserved for me in my college of choice. If not through the merit list, I would have been able to enter the college through the "management quota" by paying 30-40 lakhs as if money meant nothing.

In third year of my college, in general surgery practical examinations, the examiner asked me a few questions during the viva, I fumbled a little but I had diagnosed the case correctly and was confident that I would clear the exams smoothly. There were friends who hadn't got their diagnoses right and also had a not so perfect viva. Later, when the results came, I had flunked in the practical while all those had passed. I came to find out that in practicals, the results are completely random. Previous years' exams were also like that but those who knew someone "up" there got the result reversed while those who didn't, kept suffering. I did go to the principal for help but he was apathetic to me and others like me because there were other matters of prime importance than such petty requests. Had my Dad been a politician, I would have easily made a call to the examiners, known my result in advance and made the proper bribe arrangements. I have come to know that these General Surgery examiners are highly underpaid govt officials who can tweak the results when offered a small amount. There are even official bribe collection campaigns in the whole batch to pay these monsters who play with our future. I am sure I would have stomped all over these corrupt officials with my own corrupt tactics, had my Dad been a politician.

After graduation, I have been looking again for a PG seat, with the fierce competition and high scoring exams, there is low chance for someone like me who doesn't like to cram facts only to score marks and join a meaningless rat-race. I have seen people who have completed their post-graduation and yet are struggling to find a job, especially in the healthcare sector. Those who have the money have already bought the seats through the "management quota" and are relaxed about their future. Their was a slight hope for people like us with the NEET PG system being introduced but the political and administrative nexus got a stay on that exam format by appealing in the SC. Every student knows that NEET would make the whole system more transparent and clean and that's why it's against the best interest of money laundering private colleges' administration. Had my Dad been a politician, I'd have been a part of the money laundering agency and not this pitiable majority of suffering students. I'd also have a job waiting for me in the public sector once I finish my PG.

Also, there would have been so many small perks; so small that I wouldn't even be able to realize how lucky I am! Free transport on govt funded vehicles, air-conditioned life. watching others struggle in life and wondering "What it'd be like? To fight for a job? To fight for a dream?" as I'd eat from my silver platter.