Picture this: You walk into an exam hall, mildly terrified. You’ve barely studied — except for those five questions you skimmed at the last minute. Boom! Those exact five show up on the paper. You walk out feeling like Einstein, Newton, and APJ Abdul Kalam had a baby — and it’s you.
But let’s be honest: you didn’t “crack” the exam. You just cracked the timing. That’s not merit. That’s pure, unfiltered luck, served hot with a side of delusion.
Now imagine building your whole identity around this kind of fluke.
Exhibit A: Nationalism and the GPS-Assigned Pride
You’re born in India, and you grow up screaming “Mera Bharat Mahaan!” Meanwhile, someone born 50 km across the border in Pakistan is shouting “Pakistan Zindabad!” Both are convinced their country is superior. Across the ocean, a British guy — sipping tea and scrolling Twitter — is watching these two argue and going, “Colonies arguing again. Delightful.”
You didn’t choose your country, bro. Your mom didn’t get a country picker during labor. You just plopped out wherever fate (and your parents’ location) decided. Yet somehow, you think it’s an accomplishment?
Exhibit B: Caste Pride and the Brahmin Boast Club™
Upper-caste guy: “I come from a long line of Brahmin scholars. It’s in my DNA.”
Cool. But your DNA could’ve easily included manual scavenging, social exclusion, and systemic oppression had your cosmic sperm won a slightly different race. Instead of chanting Sanskrit mantras, you’d be dodging casteist slurs and WhatsApp uncles.
Birth isn’t merit. It’s not even a skill. You didn’t press Start on your own life. You were spawned into it like a background character in GTA.
Exhibit C: The Great Myth of Meritocracy
You topped the IIT entrance. Bravo! But let’s unpack.
You had:
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Good internet.
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Coaching classes.
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Parents who didn’t make you work at age 12.
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A quiet room.
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Electricity (a luxury in many places).
And yes, you studied hard. No one's denying that. But so did the kid in a village who had to climb a tree to get a network signal and still missed the cut-off by 0.5 marks. Luck isn’t just about exam questions — it’s about the life you were dealt.
Merit is often just privilege in disguise, wearing a “self-made” T-shirt.
So, What’s the Point?
Stop flexing about things you didn’t earn. Whether it’s your nationality, your caste, your genes, or the exact moment your brain decided to revise question 17(b). You didn’t choose any of it. It was handed to you by a universe spinning a giant roulette wheel.
Be proud of things you worked for. The late nights, the small wins, the times you tried again after failing.
As for the rest? Smile, be humble, and maybe stop getting into Twitter wars over which patch of land is better.
Because in the grand casino of life, we’re all just players who got lucky with the dice.
