mandaiyan maligai kadai ... .. egg-head !!

A few decades earlier, it was Goundamani – Senthil comedy in every film .. ..  like many others, a young Senthil at 13 ran away from his town and landed at Egmore railway .. .. ended up in tinseldom, partnering Goundamani.  Mani would kick him, abuse him, call derogatory words often referring to his head in various ways adding prefixes to .. .. …mandaiya !!  Sendhil would not mind as it brought laughters – and big money for the actors.. .. going by that would you call one an ‘egg-head’ ?

This is not entirely new or the first time – students indulging in cheating / malpractice –   In examinations, dishonest attempts are not new and that includes impersonation.  From famed ‘bits’ to chasing and changing papers, to impersonation – all place such errant students above those who are by nature intelligent and  had worked hard !!

The Kamal Prabhu starrer Vasool Raja MBBS was a hilarious comedy.   Rajaraman, a small time don gains admission in Medical college by forcing Dr Margabandhu [Crazy Mohan] to impersonate and write exam his behalf. .. … then when a tough internal exam is set, Kamal writes the exam with the help of Crazy Mohan through  Bluetooth !   In Sankar’s Robot – Enthiran with the storyline of Sujatha,  Chitti helps Sana [AishwaryaRai] first by voice and then by emitting the visual images of books reflected near her.

Images of students wearing so-called "anti-cheating hats" during college exams have gone viral on social media in the Philippines, sparking amusement.  Students at one college in Legazpi City were asked to wear headgear that would prevent them peeking at others' papers. Many responded by creating homemade contraptions out of cardboard, egg boxes and other recycled materials. Their tutor told the BBC she had been looking for a "fun way" to ensure "integrity and honesty" in her classes.  .. .. and according to a Professor, the   idea had been "really effective".  It was implemented for recent mid-term exams, which were sat by hundreds of students at the college in the third week of October.

A student wears a homemade hat made of egg boxes during a college exam in the Philippines.  Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her initial request had been for students to make a "simple" design out of paper.  She was inspired by a technique reportedly used in Thailand some years previously. In 2013, an image went viral appearing to show a room of university students in Bangkok taking test papers while wearing "ear flaps" - sheets of paper stuck to either side of their head to obscure their vision.  Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her engineers-in-training took the idea and ran with it - in some cases innovating complex headgear in "just five minutes" with any junk they found lying around. Others donned hats, helmets or Halloween masks to fulfil the brief. 

A string of the professor's Facebook posts - showing the youngsters wearing their elaborate creations - garnered thousands of likes in a matter of days, and attracted coverage from Filipino media outlets. They also reportedly inspired schools and universities in other parts of the country to encourage their own students to put together anti-cheating headwear. Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her tutees performed better this year, having been motivated by the strict examination conditions to study extra hard. Many of them finished their tests early, she added - and nobody was caught cheating this year.

Interesting ! and before closing,  in English slang,  egghead is an epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered out-of-touch with ordinary people and lacking in realism, common sense, sexual interests, etc. on account of their intellectual interests. It was part of a widespread anti-informed, social propaganda effort that insisted that credentialed intellectuals were not the only smart people, but that serious human intelligence could be found widespread among ordinary people regardless of deprivation of information. A similar, though not necessarily pejorative, British term is boffin.  The term egghead reached its peak currency during the 1950s, when vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon used it against Democratic Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson. It was used by Bill Clinton advisor Paul Begala in the 2008 presidential campaign to describe Senator Barack Obama's supporters when he said, "Obama can't win with just the eggheads and African-Americans." 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
25^th Oct 2022.