THE ALPHA MALE

All men are equal, but some men are more equal than the others.

And as far as women go, in a traditional society, those with the more equal men would have been more superior than the other women who would have been plainly superior over the men, but in today's fast-changing times of the new-age liberated women, the men with the new-age women(if any) are more equal than the rest of their tribe!

In any case, all this obscenely feministic crap aside which, before you harp on and shoot me dead, I may clarify I don't really believe in...I stick to...everybody is equal, and I'm slightly more equal than the rest ;-) :-P :-P....the point is, in this famously unequal world, success is measured by the power you exercise over your own life, and over others' lives. In all honesty, the more successful is the one who has real-time power and control over his/her own life, and if one can break out of illusions over this self-control and decisiveness, nobody would be happier. But, this post is not meant to be yet another Art of Living lecture. I shall talk more about lesser mortals, about ordinary men either far or confused in the mazes of existentialist queries, and seemingly content with half-truths and illusions, because sadly enough, this society is by and large full of such mere mortals, myself included.

Anyway, the point is nevertheless simple, power attracts power, and just about everything else too. So every society, every community, every group has the few 'more equal' members who exercise a disproportionate influence about the people and the times, henceforth referred to, irrespective of gender, as the ALPHA MALEs of the system.You find them everywhere, and obviously you all know them. Equally obviously, most of them don't know you, because you aren't one of them. The political leaders, the more famous celebrities, the Godfathers of cinema and sports (or on a minscule level, of your class, of a certain course you are about to flunk in, of a certain activity club in college, of blogdom, just about ANYTHING) basically all the larger and smaller, to borrow from IIT lingo, "studs".

What makes someone an Alpha Male, or if you insist, the Queen Bee? I used to think it's purely natural, some people are born with an innate flair for doing some tings well, and better than others. Some people are born as people's people, as natural leaders, as success magnets. While this is true, there's also a certain section who acquire this magnetism, and it's more or less due to a sharper and more active brain(and smarter usage) than the others in the particular area. I'm tempted to believe this is rather fair too, because this implies inequality on somewhat "meritorious" grounds, but I'm digressing too much.

As I mentioned before, the poltu season at IIT is just over, and with mixed results and reactions, the insti has seen yet another year of horse trading and intensive calculation. And of course, loyalty and disloyalty, alliance-breaking and formation and re-formation, rediscovery of trust, and far more frequently, trust breaking exercises. I'm not particularly fond of the filthy game, and tried avoiding it to the extent I could. But I had a vote, a crucial vote, and so you can't count me out of the system!

Besides, there were at least three occassions where I had to break my dormancy, albeit temporarily, and 'do something'. Maybe because I don't despise poltu to the extent that I'd meekly allow a fight to break in my year in my hostel(I'd NEVER let this happen, and I have manouevering skills clever enough that in two consecutive seasons I have managed to keep Blitz@Kailash together, touchwood. For once, I'm proud of something.) Also because I dont despise poltu enough to let too many heartbreaks happen because some jerk in some hostel suddenly decided to carpet his vote, or to switch alliance, so I can use my PR to get in the reqd carpet.To be honest, I didn't really feel good after doing these acts that sorta required 'influence', but WTH, when I look around and see the amount of muck, I realise mine is not even a miniscule evil in a game of sins. In popular Slot P lingo, maine jo bhi machayi, positive poltu hi machayi. And frankly, I'm nobody in front of the poltu Gods and Goddesses, the realtime alpha males and queen bees who swung votes and fortunes around, and the better ones got better shares in the poltu pie (my hostel got a significant share...hail to Kailash's queen Bees too!) For all the smiles and tears I was a part of, or I saw closely enough to be moved, I have only one prayer, may the impact they leave behind on our souls not be harmful in any respect.

But the most interesting things happened just the next day after poltu was over, when over the reservation issue, students decided to do something and in a crowd of confused little groups all assembled at the wind-t wondering what to do next, spontaneously emerged a few who took the initiative and helped decide what to do next. For the first time, I saw a trace of student union-ism in IIT, and the most heart-warming aspect was people from two opposite 'alliances' of the previous night, standing together for the same cause. Again what was disheartening was that many of the established Alpha Males and queen bees, with an established influence, chose not to come forward for a cause that really mattered. For the heck of it, it's about the country and it's about future, and I believe it is far greater than intra and inter hostel politics in IIT. If these people CAN, they should. They owe that much to the society, if only because they are 'born' with the superior Alpha Male traits!

I'm just a nobody, and like all nobody's voices, my voice shall probably never be heard. All I want is that those who know they'd be heard, should for once lend their voice to the right words, rather than herding minor vote banks. Not everybody has the guts to fight, not all who do have the right cause to fight for. Not everybody gets the chance, not everybody gets the power. And with powers come responsibilty. So if the ministers up there with powers vested in their hands have forgotten their responsibility, the youth who have the power have to take up the responsibilty. Maybe it's time to wake up. Or else the future would sleep.
All it needs, like active involvement in poltu@IITD, is consistent enthu. What's right should not be left behind.

Will somebody listen?