..On Sophistication

  .. "Keep it simple " ,someone said once..I don't remember who , but it works. It has worked for me through years and works for others too,I'm quite sure. Simplicity has its own value and has character too. I'm not sure if its true the other  way round i.e. an entity having a character (a proven one),necessarily , have to be simple or not ..im not sure . Character comes first ,simplicity/ sophistication / complexity comes later ..that ..Im sure of..


On sophistication of any entity ,  whether it be a software , an essay, a person or an exam taken by "20 million " over-zealous students ,whatever it is ,  a mute observer  would not have any problems . But , one who feels like betrayed in some manner can AT LEAST have a say ..MUST have a say ..not only as a  cathartic medium but for the sake of  others ..common good ,shall I say ...for, anything done, written, spoken, communicated or  spread which might do some "common good" from time to time ....is not that bad,you know .. ( especially,if it is done with a proper flair attached , in an elegant manner ..in a .. .hmm...sophisticated way? )    


Here the word "sophistication" is used more or less synonymous to "complexity"  and this blog-post is about the ill-effects of  such complexities ,amalgamated with any such entity ,which might have been quite simple and clean , in order to make that entity look more important than its real  value  ...or look more alluring or shall i say ..more  SCARY (the last effect for the  case of numerous over-rated entrance exams taken by millions all over the world )  ..because if any such entity ,in due course of time , starts loosing its luster ...then you need to jazz-it-up in order to maintain its grip  on people's mind (or on a student's psyche)  for even a longer period of time ...and how do we do that ? ...we make that entity MORE COMPLEX ..sophisticated ...so that the observer is unable to understand the entire process and is taken in by the glitterati associated with it and at last gives in,  thinking that : " may be some MYSTICAL  formula  involved in the whole process which i am not able to understand " ...and THAT  makes things very simple for  people who  make things complex .But what if someone who is a hard NUT to crack ,comes along       who is not ready (..nor willing)  to fall for this sophistication bull-shit and starts blogging ?? ..


                                                                  Strictly speaking , if someone gets deluded  by the glitterati ,then its  his or her own fault . Maybe these  entities are meant to test the nerves and judgement of  people ...like who are the one's not being affected by the charms and complexity of these tests ...who are able to retain their cool and have the insight to view these things as they really ARE...their real values ...and are able to survive the hype. But,things get really  sleazy, comical  (by my standards,of course) ..and ..what is that word ...arousing suspicion ...FISHY..right fishy ..when someone takes a test  of , suppose, 'X' marks  and gets his score out of '4X'. The reason behind this transformation ...the FORMULA involved...the scaling methods adopted ...the weighting techniques used , being  a REAL MYSTERY for the test takers . ...and yes, NO information about the real score (out of X)  being given to the test takers . NOW,in these conditions only , an inert guy ,like me , is propelled to act with considerable resources at hand ..(this blog ,being one of them).
                                                           
                                                                  Now, I , personally  , not being a great fan of the country's education system , am alright with ..even ...NO SCORE ..like , give the test and expect nothing at all ! ..it approves that great saying in our great Holy book ...but  that very book tells us to stand for our right ..and I believe in both the sayings . There may have been many others ...yes, many others who would have felt betrayed by this.. shall i say..absurd method of scoring which treats all the test takers like being  nothing more than high school mediocre ,who wont be able to understand the "gruesome"  statistical methods involved in these scoring techniques and keeps all of them in dark . The score-card , which  MOCKS  the very right to know about a candidate's OWN  performance ,  is USELESS and should be thrown in the bin .


 There is nothing  much to feel THAT hot  about . Like my few friends would say :" what are you feeling so hot  about , .a cool guy like you who doesn't get hot about girls even  ..whats the big deal ?/ " .I would give them only one reason why I ,not being a great fan of blogging   ,am writing  this post:
               
                                       -- Because these kind of  practices give ample SCOPE  for  exploitation  in one way or another ...(for / against any particular  test-taker) .


Enough of this exams and scores thing ...when nothing substantial  can be done ..then its almost as useless as that  score-card itself. But,if it makes a certain difference then its worth writing and reading too...one of my friends suggested  : "Rahul ,do the RTI thing"  ,which I think has been done by some of the test-takers ...I said :"its for unhappy people" ..and I overlooked the suggestion.


..So,of numerous  things on which complexity plays its trick ..this was just an example ...and what a proper timing to write this post !..and contrary to generally accepted view of making things complex...I would like to keep my posts simple..