"Desire nothing; Chafe not at fate, nor at Nature's changeless laws. But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the perishable."
The editorial is one part of a magazine which I’ve never read, I’ve always felt that it was a waste of time reading the ideas of an old man in his 40 something wearing horn-rimmed spectacles, balding a little as a sign of intense thinking and scratching of head (a favorite past-time for editors) working under a table lamp with a dingy typewriter and a cup of simmering hot tea. But, now after reaching the end of the editing part of our own ‘Biovignettes’ I feel like the father whose son has made him proud of his achievements.
People congratulate me citing the completion of the first edition of ‘Biovignettes’, which to their surprise is the second edition of the first “Biotechnology” magazine of AIB, I agree to the fact that the first edition was unable to create the impact that the original idea had promised, partly because of technical errors and partly because of scarce publicity, but what also bothers me is the inadequate response that we got while collecting articles from students of the institute who are not only good at research in biotechnology but also in expressing their thoughts with the pen.
A seminary magazine is nothing short of a heritage, I remember the times when I used to feel elated when my name used to appear in the school magazine, their used to be a feeling of pride and content on being a part of something remarkable (the word seems to be an understatement). But what I see today, at the verge of completing my 4 years in the institute is a breed of youth which are content with just keeping their attendance to 75% and watching new flicks every Friday evening.
At this point in history, India is standing at the verge of a bifurcation, a junction between good and bad, right and wrong. A time when a capitalist country where a black was not allowed to serve a white 60 years ago, is ruled by black man with a will to ‘Change’ the bylaws of the society, did we learn something from the great US of A? Does our generation, you and I, tagged as the money churning mindless fanatics ascertain nothing of this phenomenon? The social aspirations of a youth in the 1950’s were endless, they had a new world to create, a country with emotions and aspirations, today we ‘Give a damn’, we read the 4th page of Delhi Times just to confirm the timings of movie screenings and occasionally the sports page at the time of IPL, in fact just 25% of the people of my age are aware of the fact that the Lok Sabha was first constituted in 1952.
Guys, I think it’s high time we change this attitude of ours, at the bottom of our hearts and souls we’re all proud of our rich heritage and culture, a little effort could squash the side effects of a paltry looking syndrome of being “socially naive”, terrorism and corruption being the foremost. This issue is dedicated to the youth reaction on terrorism, which I daresay has till now been portentous.
I advice my compatriots to read newspapers, discuss politics, join civil services and to the least be vigilant and true to your motherland. Try and be a vital cog in the functioning of this nation or else I fear one day, we’d all become nothing but laid back cynics with a nation without ambition and souls without zest.
“The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain”
Ayush Shankar Dixit
Chief Editor, Biovignettes.
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