Celebrating Mediocrity

The past few weeks have been mediocre to say the least. After suffering from a horrible writer's block (How is that for an excuse for not writing for so long???), aggravated by the fact that i joined a software company known for mediocre vegetable products(You see,i dont give names) ,the past few weeks have been frustratingly (no points for guessing) mediocre.

If you think the mediocrity ends there, read the title of the blog again. A self-confessed CRICKET-fanatic( not indian cricket-fanatic mind you), i shouted the loudest when india won the T20 world cup,the mother of all mediocre sports. But that shouting was borne out of the built up frustration owing to reasons totally unrelated to mediocrity or cricket.

Ok, now i can imagine you thinking 'why am i even reading this?' I'll get there. My point is that we have become a generation that celebrates mediocrity. It is quite wonderfully complemented by the era of instant-gratification. We all want everything to be done in a jiffy and in the hurry to get things done our way we don't wait to think if it was the right way or if we actually achieved what we wanted. We can also be called the almost-there generation. Examples follow.

Cricket being the only sport i follow as passionately as i follow the count of the latest boob-job that Pam gets, T20 perfectly exemplifies what i'm taking about. 20 overs a side. No chance to think. The horrible-'hit-out or get-out' theory. Bowlers who?. This is what cricket has become. Where are the grafters? Where are those sublime cricketers who could bat all day and yet manage to score not more than 10 runs(probably turning in their graves or commenting on star sports). Where are the bowlers who sent shivers down the timbers. The very fact that someone like Rahul Dravid wqould probably not have been picked if he had made himself available tells you how things stand.

The other level of mediocrity comes from my very own life. The place i work. Software company. Definitely not challenging work,agreed, but atleast it should be WORK!. We are being trained now on a particular software and we'll be assessed on that. The more marks we get, the more salary we get. How professional?!?!. Side-effects of campus-corporate interaction,i say. What's next? Ask us to pay fine for flunking tests? I didn't do that even in school!!

This again is connected to mediocrity. Because you see, mediocrity breeds itself rapidly. The pressure to make money right after your graduation pushes you into a job just for the sake of it and you end up in a mediocre job. But your parents are happy. You are making 20k a month, why should you be complaining. What if its just a little matter of not enjoying what you do and having to stare at blue,black lines for hours together. Get a move on. Money is what is important. Typical middle class insecurity helps too.

So, those were the ravings of a middle-class boy living in a space big enough to be Paris Hilton's trash can in a city where most people don't even speak their local language but beat you up if u speak any other language. Life could be better. Hoping for better times.,