Of speeches & space
FIRST you have to excel in studies and then find yourself a place among the Board toppers. But, that’s not enough. After the results, you also have to prove your oratory skills in front of the mediamen to fight for the newspaper space. Well, these days, the students are well aware of both the mantras. After the HSC result, the ‘hot’ question for the toppers was on ‘Narendra Modi v/s Manmohan Singh’, last week. After the SSC results were declared, the toppers were hunted down by the media for their reaction on the latest ‘Aussie bias against Indians’. Surprisingly, while the students meekly faced the media on the initial patent questions of ‘how do you feel’ and ‘how much did you study’, the toppers sprang to enthusiasm when the million-dollar question was asked. What followed was an uninterrupted (as if rote learnt) monologue by the students on the evils of racism, sympathy over the poor condition of fellow Indians in the Land of Oz, and their pledge to never leave their country for Australia. However, as an end note, the United States seemed a much better option for them!

— Contributed by Amrita Didyala, Debarati Basu, Kamran Sulaimani, Parimal Dabhi and Tanvir A Siddiqui.