What is the meaning of ‘academic bulimia’?
(Aparna Rao, Bangalore)
First, let’s deal with the pronunciation of ‘bulimia’. The ‘u’ in the first syllable is like the ‘u’ in ‘full’, ‘pull’, and ‘bull’. Some people pronounce the first ‘i’ like the ‘ea’ in ‘feat’, ‘meat’ and ‘seat’; others pronounce it like the ‘i’ in ‘it’ and ‘bit’. Whether you pronounce the word ‘bu-LIM-ia’ or ‘bu-LEEM-ia’, the stress is on the second syllable. These are just two of the ways of pronouncing the word.
Bulimia is a disorder. Some people have a craving for food, and when they eat, they proceed to stuff themselves. Once they have finished eating, they usually rush to the bathroom and force themselves to vomit. This act of eating enormous amounts of food and then proceeding to vomit everything is called ‘bulimia’.
Academic bulimia is something that we Indians specialise in. What is it that we do during the time of exams? We usually mug up the answers to all possible questions, and the following day we reproduce everything we have memorised; most of the time, with little or no understanding. This ability that we have to ‘disgorge’ answers is called ‘academic bulimia’.
Don’t be fooled by his marks. He doesn’t know a thing. What you see on paper is academic bulimia.
S. UPENDRAN
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