Criticism is an inherent characteristic of every individual today. Most religious texts tell you to refrain from the urge to criticise. In fact, they go one step ahead and tell you to admire something as His work instead of criticising it. At the same time, modern day ethics makes it your right to express yourself in anyway you wish to with the advent of which has risen criticism. Most people, I have observed, feel a compulsion to criticise things that they do not like, do not understand or do not care about. Criticism has imbibed into most individuals and comes naturally and without effort. It has reached such a stage that the logical reasoning and the basis behind the criticism is disappearing allowing criticism to be an involuntary emotional expression. I can go as far as to say that a seasoned psychiatrist can deduce the personal traits of an individual and the experiences that might have led to their attainment within no time just by careful observation of the criticism patterns shown by that individual.

Most people in my campus criticise everything from the state of the hostel rooms to the teaching in their respective departments. I have heard it from some people so many times that it irritates me to hear it again. The problem with most people is that they just criticise, which is understandable as I have already mentioned that it is an inherent quality and thats just how they have been brought up, but do nothing to change it. This probably sounds clichèd but I feel its definitely true. By expecting them to do something about it, I don't necessarily mean go about changing it to favour them which would be the ideal case but, I feel the least they can do is to change their attitude towards it. Just yesterday, my friend was cribbing about the lack of quality teachers in his department. There are over 700 colleges in our country that are unable to even fill the vacancies for their teaching posts. But then again, ours being a college among the top ten in the country (according to Times last year) one would expect good teaching staff. Until the end of 3rd semester, even I used to find most of the teaching staff inefficient and under-qualified, but I underwent a change in attitude after that and I am actually interested in the classes now. I agree not everyone can be like one Mr. Prakash of IT Department who takes the class in such a smooth flow that it is unnecessary to take down notes or refer any text book to grasp the basics of the subject because eloquence is very hard to pick up in the schooling system that we have in place. We need to consider the effort that each one of them puts into his/her work on a daily basis. Today, Mr. Ananthanarayana was visibly angered by the behaviour of certain people that start a chorus of "saaaarrrr" when there are a few minutes remaining for the end of any class. Putting myself in his shoes, I can see myself reacting the same way too.

It is sometimes necessary to criticise. All personality development books including the most popular 'You Can Win' by Shiv Khera say the same thing - 'constructive criticism is the key to come out of a failure with flying colours' and in order to learn to criticise in a constructive manner, a drastic change in attitude is essential. I'm sad that I don't see that happening anytime soon with most people which is simply because of their unwillingness to change and their ego. I'm just happy that I changed when I did.