Recently we saw how two “Astronomers” gamed the system and became social media’s favorite cautionary tale. Astronomer wasn’t just a scandal—it was déjà vu for many of us who’ve seen manipulation beat merit in the real world. It instantly transported me back to my early career—when I saw, up close, how merit often loses to manipulation in the corporate maze.
I was in my early 20s, fresh out of IIMC, when I landed my first job at a top media house—one that proudly called itself the “largest-selling English-language daily in the world.” I was assigned to the fashion vertical, reporting to a young woman barely a few months older than me. I looked up to her. She was confident, articulate, and already a rising star. But it didn’t take long for the sheen to fade. The more I saw, the more I realised—she wasn’t a role model; she was a master of manipulation. Her meteoric rise wasn’t fuelled by talent alone, but by transactional relationships with top management—a fact that circulated in hushed whispers across media corridors.
I was naïve but driven. All I knew was hard work. I poured my energy into reporting and writing, and soon my by lines began shining in the print edition. But that drew her ire: It seems you have abundant time to write for the print edition. You think you will become a star? I’ll make your life hell.” And sure she did. Every assignment became a battlefield, every day an uphill climb.
At the time, I couldn’t make sense of it. Why would someone feel threatened by my work and sincerity? Why did the system reward charm over competence? It took years—and many similar encounters—to realise this wasn’t an isolated case. It was part of a larger pattern. In far too many workplaces, ambition without integrity wasn’t the exception—it was the winning formula. And women, ironically, weren’t just victims of the system. Sometimes, they were its most ruthless enforcers.
It isn’t just about one woman or one company. This is extremely common in corporate India and globally. As a mediawoman commented- The Astronomer case of a cheating couple was not an outlier, it was a mirror to society.” Such instances are swept under the corporate carpet—swiftly, snugly—because it’s easier to maintain the façade of harmony than confront the rot.
But what’s the cost of this silence? Every time we let such behaviour slide, we normalize it—and merit, integrity, and dignity die a quiet death. When promotions are earned in bedrooms, not boardrooms, it destroys faith in fairness. When you work hard, burning the midnight oil to earn your place, and someone else leapfrogs the system through unethical means, you start doubting the very point of hard work. Talent doesn’t just get over-looked; it gets punished. The belief that “merit wins” gets shaken. It breeds self-doubt and resentment. It belittles not just your work but your worth as well.
The problem is not with ambition. The problem is with ambition without Integrity. In a nation obsessed with toppers and titles, no one asks how you passed just whether you topped. From doctored resumes to casting couch promotions—our culture claps for the end, not the means. It’s about a society that rewards results, not the route
t’s visible in business, politics, sports—even academia. Until we redefine success to include integrity, merit, and fairness, these power games will continue.
And women are not a monolithic segment. There are women of all kinds good, bad, ugly—just as there are men. For some women, the end goal of success out- weighs the means, no matter how questionable. They are willing to trade dignity, morality, even relationships to get ahead. On the other side of the equation, there are men with wealth and power who abuse it, trading opportunities or favours for an ego trip.
The Astronomer controversy is not just a tale of private misconduct—it’s a mirror to systemic rot. Women in male-dominated fields—like science, tech, or academia—often face environments where mentorship, funding, and career progression are controlled by a few powerful individuals. The unspoken message: conform or stay invisible. A young researcher once told me: “We’re told that science is about merit, but when your supervisor’s approval determines your research funding, promotions, and even conference slots, power gets misused.”
We saw cases like the Harvey Weinstein scandal which was about a man misusing power. #MeToo India movement (2018) exposed exploitation in Bollywood, media, and corporate sectors, revealing how men in power used their position to demand sexual favours. It’s a toxic dance of ambition and entitlement, where both sides are complicit. The real casualty? Culture. Merit. Ethics.
t’s critical to distinguish between choice and coercion. Many women don’t “trade their bodies for success”—they are forced into silence because the system leaves them no choice. But there is also a category of women who willingly play the game and that is what leads to the real cultural collapse.
Ultimately, both genders lose. Talented professionals feel demotivated and disillusioned. Or kplaces lose credibility and integrity. Society becomes cynical about success stories. Talented women, who rise purely on hard work, end up being overshadowed by whispers like, “She must have done something to get there.”
What kind of world are we leaving for our children, is a question we ought to ask ourselves. When the powerful continue to ex-ploit, and the ambitious continue to comply, the next generation grows up believing that talent alone isn’t enough. That success is not about competence but about “who you know and what you trade.” As a psychologist said: “When success is idolized and process is overlooked, both men and women become players in a game where ethics don’t matter. The Astronomer case is not just about misconduct—it’s about the mindset that says ‘winning is everything.’”
As I see it, the real scandal isn’t just in individual misconduct—it’s in the collective cultural collapse we enable when we glorify the outcome and ignore the route taken to get there. If we don’t speak up now, we aren’t just tolerating the problem—we’re manufacturing it.
When we applaud success without asking how it was earned, we set the stage for more shortcuts, more silence, more “Astronomers.”
