पलायन तो उड़ना होता है
Summary
The narrator, a former forestry professor, reflects on his life and career, beginning with a philosophical musing on separation and definition. He contrasts his own intellect with that of his son, who understands a buffalo that breaks its tether to graze freely. This buffalo, which must give milk and pull a cart, symbolizes a system where the tether (the system) and rope (the fabric) have weakened. The narrator recounts his journey from a poor student who failed a grade, causing his parents to sacrifice further for his education, to a scientist and professor. Despite his academic success, he felt guilt when a former student surpassed him professionally. He describes the struggles of his department, lacking basic resources like a spade or storage, and his own physical decline, marked by sunken eyes and protruding ribs. His father’s concern for his health made him realize others either pitied him or avoided his harshness. Yet, his poverty fostered a connection with the rural poor through social forestry programs. He became overworked, neglecting his family until his children called him "uncle" and students forgot him. His projects—a turbine, a film, camps—failed or were abandoned. He narrowly avoided jail due to corrupt practices, saved only by favorable planetary positions. The university denied him a passport, preventing foreign travel that might have led to trouble with international agencies. He then reflects on love, homeland, and the arbitrary nature of religious and philosophical divisions. Returning to the present, he describes arriving in Delhi and encountering ticket touts at Indraprastha Stadium. Needing a confirmed ticket to Bengaluru for a new job, he paid extra to a man resembling Naseeruddin Shah. The tout revealed he earned a good income despite being a higher secondary failure, while the narrator, with a PhD and a job, felt a pang of regret. The text concludes with a separate section on education, emphasizing that its goal should be to improve life through ethics and practice, not just livelihood, and warning that a corrupted mainstream will turn education into a tool of destruction.
Conclusion
The document’s narrative reveals a deep critique of systemic failures in education, bureaucracy, and social mobility, where personal struggle and institutional rigidity lead to disillusionment rather than progress. The protagonist’s journey—from academic pursuit to professional stagnation—highlights how merit is often undermined by patronage, red tape, and economic precarity. The recurring metaphor of the buffalo breaking its tether symbolizes a yearning for freedom from oppressive structures, yet the outcome is not liberation but continued entrapment. The conclusion underscores that without genuine reform in values and governance, individuals remain caught between aspiration and reality, their potential squandered. Ultimately, the text implies that meaningful change requires not just personal resilience but a fundamental rethinking of how institutions define success, support growth, and honor integrity over empty credentials.