Nepotism is a very hot topic for people to throw hate towards these days. But in today’s blog I will prove it to you, that knowingly or unknowingly, we all perform actions and behave in ways which are nepotistic.
Let’s start from the basics. What is nepotism? Nepotism is basically an unfair advantage that a person gets because he/she knows someone who can help him/her achieve something he/she wants relatively easily. There are countless examples of nepotism everywhere around you, employees of a company, owners of a business, actors in the film industry, college and school admissions via management quota, etc. On the face of it, it seems very unfair to take away opportunity from people deserving it and giving it to someone who was just lucky to be in the right place and the right time.
But now, let’s look at it from another angle. I will give you an example of my own life. I currently work as a software engineer at JPMorgan Chase. I was able to get a good CGPA, was able to develop my skills, clear the interview rounds and secure a good job. Now on the face of it, you will say that this is completely based on my merit, and you will be correct to say that, but you cannot deny the fact that there is a lot of luck involved in this. I got into a decent college because I could score good marks in my MH-CET exams. For those who don’t know, MH-CET is the entrance exam for engineering colleges in Maharashtra. Why was I able to score good marks in MH-CET? Because I decided to give JEE in my 12th Standard. JEE is one of the toughest exams in the world. I was able to clear JEE but not with enough marks to secure a seat in top engineering colleges in India. But as a side effect of studying JEE, MH-CET exam became very easy for me, so I secured good marks and got into a decent college in Mumbai. Getting into a decent college was key. Because the peer group you have in college matters a lot.
Now you will say, ‘I still don’t see any signs of nepotism here’. Let me answer that for you. There are multiple levels of luck involved here. I was able to study in school because my parents had the willingness as well as ability to pay for the school fees. I decided to study JEE just because a lot of people did that and it was considered prestigious to study in IIT. Again my parents had the ability and willingness to finance the high fees the JEE classes as well as engineering colleges charged. As a result of all these coincidences, I was able to get into a good college where I found a good peer group which led to me staying motivated to study and get a good job. And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that I was born in Mumbai, an urban location with abundance of opportunities and awareness among people. I haven’t even mentioned how big of a role genetics has played in this. Whatever abilities I have, a significant portion of it is just because I am my parents’ child. I haven’t even considered the fact that I was born healthy, without any physical or mental disability.
If a person with the same potential as mine, did not have parents who could finance their education. Or if their parents did not have enough awareness to put their child in school. Or if he/she had to get married early and have kids before having enough money just because that is the culture in their village, they would not have been in the place I am. Everybody in this world has an unfair advantage. In my case it is being born in a city with many opportunities, having parents who were willing and able to fund my education and a series of decisions that went right to bring me where I am. You, the reader of this blog is lucky enough to be in a place where you have internet and you are able to read these blogs.
Now you will argue that this is not nepotism, there is merit involved here. To answer that, bollywood actors like Ranbir Kapoor are children of previous actors and directors, but since their acting has merit, their movies earn money and they get appreciation. Businessmen like Mukesh Ambani or any big family run businesses in India are all nepotistic, but all of them have merit, and that’s why they don’t get as much criticism. Merit is needed anywhere you go. The only difference between a rich person’s child is only that the unfair advantage you have is different from the unfair advantage they have.
Now in no way am I saying that I support nepotism that is done with the intention to bring down people with genuine merit, I would love the world to be a total meritocracy. But the problem is, that is not possible. So appreciate the privileges you have got in life, look to improve yourself instead of complaining about privileges someone else has got. Because you as well are nepotistic.