“Success builds character, failure reveals it.”

One of the immutable laws of any competition—and indeed life—is that we cannot win all the time. There will be some hits and some misses. But as I have mentioned elsewhere, our society places so much premium on success and the trappings that follow it that we haven’t spared a thought for the losers.

We fete the successful students, politicians and IAS aspirants while we ignore the trials and tribulations that the defeated go through and the jeers that sometimes greet them. Besides this attitudinal bias, our bookshelves are filled with tomes that tell us how to win and only win.

Hardly can one find a treatise that gives us the tools to cope with failures and moments of despair. And the stakes are high—one small success has the potential to make a huge difference in life and that very fact makes the experience of failure even bitterer.

What do we do when failure stares us in the face? Instead of learning from our mistakes, we reach for our guns, so to say. We cast slurs on those who have made it, kill their reputation and question the fairness of the system that produces the losers-achievers divide.

We simply can’t take defeat in our stride but go out of our way to fault anyone and anything—with wild surmises, speculations and allegations which are fit to be answered with defamation suits. Simply put, we refuse to acknowledge the excellence of others and explain away everything in terms of manipulation and nepotism.

There is no denying the fact that the cancer of corruption has entrenched itself in Manipur but to look at everything through the lens of corruption will be a disservice to those who want to fight the system and bring in fresh air of integrity and transparency.

The habit of opposing anything and anyone for the sake of it has also become a cultural trend in Manipur. This has become ingrained in our collective psyche. Adding fuel to this pathology is the bewildering number of so-called civil society organizations that specialize in making a mountain out of a molehill to carve out a niche for themselves in the mindscape of the people.

I don’t know whether this will be an elitist question: why is the Manipuri public so gullible? Why are they willing to believe every lie and propaganda spread by organizations run by the semi-literates?

Part of the answer to these questions is that many amongst our midst think they are law unto themselves. And their credo—”There is no alternative viewpoint, I must have my way. You are wrong, I am right.” Never mind the facts or the need to show them. (I feel like throwing up now).

Sometimes, I feel there is too much democracy but of the loony fringe type in this part of the globe. Democracy entails a consensus reaching process. What we have here is the hijacking of that process by goons and cheap political touts.

What saddens me most is not that we are falling into an abyss together but that the educated people who have the caliber to pull us out of this cynical mess are themselves becoming a catalyst to the culture of doom.

This is the same rotten culture that the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) led by its venerable Mr. Y. Jugindro and Dr. L. Amarjit is trying to battle. Believe me their job is a tough one full of thorns, which includes among others explaining why getting high marks in examination is not criminal!

A man of the highest order of integrity, Secretary of MPSC, Mr Jugindro didn’t mince his words when he laid out the ground rules of the blame game thrust upon him by a coalition of losers. If MPSC is found guilty of any wrongdoing, then he will accept responsibility and bring the involved staff or any bad apple (if any) to justice.

On the other hand, if the skeptics turn out to be mere speculators shooting in the dark, he will make sure that they pay a heavy price. (Perhaps blacklisting them from any competitive exam in India was in his mind).

I will not go deeper into the details of the allegations as the matter is before the court but the crux of their smear campaign is that all the successful candidates of the MCSCCE ’ 2005 are all incompetent fools who made it to the merit list with the collusion of the MPSC.

Neither Mr Jugindro/Amarjit nor the successful candidates can be moot spectators anymore on the face of such calumny that borders on paranoia, madness and envy. The successful candidates will take the legal challenge as an opportunity to drive home the point that this MCSCC examination, ’05-07 was the fairest and cleanest ever conducted by MPSC in its history.

Of course Manipur being Manipur, there might have been attempts at bribing the staff of MPSC. But the important point is they might not have been effective at all in ensuring any student a place in the merit list. With Mr. Jugindro and Dr. L. Amarjit at the helm, it’s a blasphemy even to countenance any sort of manipulation by the MPSC.

Let’s also not rule out the possibility that the MPSC-bashing campaign could be an inside job of subversion by the disgruntled staff of the MPSC encouraged by the powerful people who have been sidelined during the entire recruitment process. Or it could be as simple as this: some people just can’t see others succeed.

Our trust in the whole examination process is further buttressed by the fact that kids of many Ministers and top bureaucrats of Manipur who could have shelled out crores — if a place in the merit could have been bought — did come a cropper in the results of the exam. They failed. Did the MPSC selectively refuse Minister/bureaucrat’s money? Admittedly, this is a ridiculous question that should be killed even before it is posed.

There is always an element of luck in any examination. An IAS topper may not be as lucky if he sits in the same exam again. Or the marks may fluctuate as many IAS aspirants have found the hard way. UPSC may not be able to conduct exams if it is served legal notices every time it declares the results.

Ditto for MPSC. Countrymen, we need to strengthen our democratic institutions by giving positive suggestions and fair criticisms. Instead we seem to be hell bent on sullying their image and crippling their ability to function smoothly.

At this rate, we will soon have compulsory therapy sessions for the unsuccessful candidates to prevent any post result trauma and pre-empt irrational emotional response from them—like the one we have to suffer now.

Or will someone volunteer to open a centre for imparting spiritual guidance to the down-and-out and teach them how to lose gracefully and try harder next time? Seriously, we need such spiritual intervention in our lives because ours is a society that has not equipped its members with the skills to reconcile to occasional setbacks. Shoving down one’s own will has become our second nature.

But we are confident that ultimately will the truth prevail, no matter how long it takes to emerge. And we will do everything to go to the bottom of that truth without fear and subterfuge. Because when the conscience is clear, half the battle is won.

The unfortunate successful MPSC candidates also have something that the league of extraordinary losers doesn’t have: truth, merit, Messrs Jugindro and Amarjit.

We shall overcome.

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