The Delhi Debacle

Hello!!! This post is based on my experiences of IIT-D sports fest where we lost 1-0 to the hosts in hockey.

After struggling with the ‘what if…’ kind of thoughts for almost an hour while trying to study Operations research, I finally decided to pen this post down. This post is different from my previous posts in the sense that it is my first expression of not-so-pleasant feelings on 'www.itsprabhavspeaking.blogspot.com'.

Thanks to the untiring efforts of our skipper Yogesh, we found ourselves marvelling at the lush green hockey field of IIT-D on the pleasant morning of 18/02/2010.My goodness…who would not want to slip and skid, drag and dribble on such a manicured field .That was the moment I realized IIT JEE 2008 was worth a try.

The competition (named Sportech) started off in the evening with a girls hockey match. Interestingly IIT-D does not have a girls’ hockey team. Soon after the match got over, we were left dumbfounded by the practise drills of one the other team. Looking at their skills, it was not difficult to predict who the winner of the tournament would be.

Back in the common room (where we were staying), a comparison between BITS Pilani and IIT-D remained a constant topic of discussion, especially amongst the first and the second yearites. It was n’t until water ran out in the toilets the next morning, that BITS Pilani was able to regain some of its lost glory.
Meanwhile, we were able to persuade the organizers to reschedule our match on the next day.

Our match with the hosts started with a rally of their attacks. Their repeated attacks got all of us in the panic mode. Despite rehearsing roles in a penalty corner for a number of times, the referee had to signal us to stop discussing the strategy to be adopted and set the ball rolling. Amidst such commotion in our minds, we succumbed to one of their onslaught. In the latter half, we missed at least 3 close chances. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between lack of luck and lack of practise.Albeit, almost all of them were a result of the overconfidence of their defence rather than of our coordinated attack. The performance of our debutants was however promising. Personally, I faired rather badly in the do or die game.

The evening was at our leisure, which I spent in meeting a friend and a cousin. The pizza at ’Niurla’s’ and the ice-cream cake at ‘CCD’ were not an iota worth of their cost. Strangely, I always land up at such expensive eateries in my bathroom slippers. This time it was because my feet were too sore to wear shoes after the match.

Overall, BOSM (Bits Open Sports Meet) proved to be a much better managed and engrossing fest than Sportech. The cheering and jeering by the enthusiastic crowd at BOSM was conspicuous by its absence at Sportech where the junta hardly seemed to be interested.

The humiliation began to sink in only after returning to Pilani, with consolations of dear ones aggravating the feeling. The captain’s ‘treat’ on return seemed to be out of context .and if I am allowed to use a hyperbole here, the food too seemed tasteless… :P….

I hope that the Delhi debacle shall increase manifold our determination to win BOSM 2010.

PS: This post is dedicated to Chahat(our ex captain) and Aditya(our ex(xL)captain !) who were so sentimental that they virtually on their way to pilani from Bangalore when they learnt that we had made it to the finals of BOSM 2009, and who represented BITS for the last time in this tournament.

THE HOAX

Never before, had I noticed the annoying sound that my tube light made. Neither had I turned back after hearing the sound of a chocolate wrapper being pushed over the floor by the flowing breeze.Never before I had given a thought to the sound of water drops leaking from the water cooler and never in the past had I run to save my life.....

Well, all this happened when I stayed back in BITS during the winter vacation for about a week.I intentionally delayed writing of this post because of two reasons
a)Its always refreshing to cherish pleasant memories later
b)I did not want anyone to think that I was having loads of free time during my stay here :)

It so happened that just after leaving for his hometown, my superside Ali Bhai had called me back to check whether he had switched off his heater or not.After preliminary examination,I had informed him that everything was fine.Couple of days later, I was watching "FRIENDS"(that was the only solace without real friends like you) with rapt attention.Suddenly,I smelt that something was burning.It struck my mind that it must be Ali Bhai's wretched heater.With lightening speed I put the laptop inside its bag and ran at a pace I had never known before.I hurried downstairs, only to find that even Chowki Ji was not there.I opened the locked channel gate of the bhawan.After waiting for sometime outside the bhawan, I gathered all my courage and went into the bhawan again to get the contact number of warden from the noticeboard.Few minutes later Warden sir, Superintend sir came to my rescue with some other workers.When I told them about Ali bhai's heater,they decided to break his lock open.But Ali bhai's Aligarhi lock did not give in to the blows of the mighty hammer

The smoke however did not appear to be coming from his room and certainly the smell was persistent and omnipresent.later it struck to one of the workers that the smell might be from burning of some trash outside the BITS campus.It indeed was...It seems you dont have to be a chemical engineer to comprehend the effects of molecular Diffusion.

I had downloaded quite a few horror movies to watch during the nights.Being alone in a hostel of some 300 students would have provided the perfect ambiance.But after this chilling event there was no scope left for any more nightmares..

Besides all this, eating every meal at c'not was proving to be very costly(both financially and stomach wise).I was missing the mess food badly..this was one thing I had never comprehended.

My frustration grew every day as it became clear that I had taken the decision to stay without essential planning.When on 23/12/2009 my experiment failed to yield any meaningful results, my guide asked "so how do you plan to troubleshoot it?" and I replied "Sir, the plan is to go to Chittor"(my home town).

The feeling while boarding the bus after staying back for 9 days is of course beyond description.

THE MIDNIGHT SAGA

To begin with, for all my non bitsian friends, “NIGHT OUT” in the bitsian lingo is a cruel misnomer referring to the all night slogging usually done before a test to prevent the inevitable. Well, for many of my friends out here, it is a way of life but for me the night of 12/13 November, 2009 was the “NIGHT”. The term is a misnomer because everybody usually remains locked up inside their rooms, performing activities that are just the total opposite of what one is actually supposed to do on a ‘night out’. Yeah, the only thing common is that both of these leave you with a ’hangover’. It’s in this hangover and a little jiffy that I am writing this post.

After meticulous planning and tedious procrastination for about a fortnight, I was able to bring together the task of the submission of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals (PRPC) assignment and that of submission of the Optimization assignment on the same day..err.. the night. Of course, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude towards my dear friend Kalia (alias Rishabh), also my assignment partner in PRPC, who left no stone unturned in making this possible and providing me with the much needed inspiration and guiding light for a ‘Night Out’.

The PRPC assignment was to be submitted at 2pm while the OT assignment was to be submitted by 8.00 am in the morning. I had had a tough time earlier that day with my Heat Transfer Operations test going in the drain.

To ensure a complete ‘Night Out’ I tactically took refuge in the so called ‘good’ movie ‘Ajab Prem KiGazab Kahani' which turned out to be depressing .Actually in the current stage of my life sans ‘someone special’, I find all such romantic movies very depressing. The ‘Night out’ began with the PRPC assignment which actually turned out to be quite an interesting task.I found the Offshore Drilling Technology particularly awesome and beyond my imagination. Meanwhile I could feel the outside temperature dropping as the cool breeze kept seeping in through the closed window. After completion of ‘stage 1’of the assignment at about 1:30 am, I and Kalia set out for Food King to recharge ourselves.
As we stepped out of our beloved BUDH BHAWAN, it was a different world altogether. The morning (next) fog was just setting in, with a little drizzle going on. My thought reflexively (refluxively for my Chemical Engineering friends), went to the smell of warm ‘Pakoras’ and obviously the would be and yet unknown ‘Pakora banane waali’. With the cool breeze blowing all over, it seemed so surreal. The dosa was awesome, But it was the ‘coffee on the cold night thing’ that made this experience so cherish able that I could not stop myself from writing this post.

After returning it was the same old Optimization assignment once again which had ruined the sleep of the entire 3rd year batch on four previous occasions. Grumbling, I somehow finished the assignment but a load of the PRPC assignment still remained .As the clocked ticked close to 6am, I decided to doze off.
The next thing I remember was this:
OHK!! I have calculated the thermal properties of air at 7.20 am , hmmm…, what if I calculate them at 7.30 am …should still work…but that’s too close to the threshold limit of 8.00 am!!!..Uhhmm… AND Then the THUD on my door, that woke me up.

Well, the deadly combo of assignments proved voluminous enough that I had to forego my lunch for the first time in BITS. Thanks to the morning glass full of coffee that I was live and confused though.

Perhaps for the first time in my Bitsian life, I saw how does 5.00 am look like in the alarm clock. And, did you know, the morning aarti in the Saraswati Mandir is held at 5 am ?? I realized the power of caffeine as a stimulant. Three mugs of coffee are more than enough to keep you awake for the next night and half the other day.
While all of my friends woke up to find the fog in the morning, I slept with it!!!
Although, it resulted in our submission of a 45/300 mark report WITHOUT an INDEX (!!!), this was an experience worth reminiscing, I dare say more than may be a real Night Out (May be because I have not experienced a real one as yet :p).

TRULY 'FLIPSIDING' :OASIS 2K9

FLIPSIDE – when I learnt that this was Oasis this time, I smiled in my usual cynical way. The Posters said “discover your flipside”, ”the way in is the way out” and blah blah blah… Yup, so they are gonna show me my flipside now which I was not able to discover for myself in the last two decades.

The gruesome BITSian test schedule makes fests, especially oasis, a much awaited event in every bitsian’s life. My first oasis (in my 2^nd year) was more of a cultural shock to me. As if the crowd was not from Delhi but Miami. This oasis was a much more needed and hence awaited one.

In my school days, I remember, music was synonymous to the fat harmonium and some undecipherable chants to me. Needless to say, I was miserable at it. The definition of music changed a little during my stay at Kota .There, it was the old melodies being hummed on The “Vividh Bharti “ channel of the AIR, chiefly to drive away the sense of loneliness. Never ever in the wildest of my dreams , had I comprehended that music could be so soul liberating as it was in the shanker -Ehsaan -Loy concert. Dancing to the lovely beats with friends hugging and falling all over is one moment of my bitsian life that I shall cherish forever. As the songs went by, so did my unaccounted anxieties. It was so very therapeutic. It has become so very difficult to find such moments when you can just lose your identity and drift away in a totally different world altogether. I had heard all of these songs ‘n ‘number of time before and never imagined these could produce such a hallucinogenic effect.

This oasis started off for me quite a few days before the inaug(ration).I tried to weave a story out of absurd facts for the event “stokes”. Even after striving for about half a week, I was clueless…and therefore decided to quit. But thereafter participating in “POEM A PIC”, qualifying for the finals of
“COUNTERSTRIKE” and WINNING “KAUN BANEGA PATRAKAR “ gave me a much needed boost of confidence with regards to my writing skill which had been languishing for so long. It was such an exhilarating moment to climb the steps leading to AUDI(torium)’s stage after a gap of about 2 years. After that APOGEE prize in my first year, I had always secretly feared that I might never get the chance to go on the stage again.

This oasis was made special by the persistent demands of my friend Rungata(alias Saurabh) to dance .To which I eventually had to succumb . Initially all the moves that I could think of were basically our warm up aerobic exercises in Hockey. For a shy guy like me, dancing in front of the blackberry lounge was nothing short of rediscovering oneself or rather discovering the flipside of myself.

The fact that Shankar Mahadevan had himself come earlier as a participant leaves very little to be sung in praise of the fest.

This Oasis 2K9 has now become a source of endless nostalgic memories .Kudos to everyone involved in making this oasis such a” flipsiding “ experience!!!

GO BITS GO!!!

I stood right there ….right there in front of the goal post, watching in amazement as Prateek shoveled the ball over the helpless goalkeeper of IT BHU..and the next thing I remember is that we were running all over, shrieking with joy …It was as if we had won a war…I had been waiting for that moment for more than two long years now…After a minute or so the whistle blew..Finally a victory.. Our first win in the last so many years and one that shall silence the good -for-nothing gossipmongers for at least a year ..What a nerve wrecker match it was…especially with all the hell lot of jeering going on from the BHU side (especially some of the gals consistently shouting “Sir 1 number chahiye” ; jersey no.1 being me!!).

Today, I can’t stop being proud as I see my silver medal gleaming in my laptop screen as I type this post…

Physical fitness was one of my top priorities as I entered BITS and it could not have been better achieved without hockey. A hockey striker fits completely into a description of an alpha male. Athletic, quick and loaded with stamina… After one and half month of gruesome practice I found myself in extras for my first BOSM(Bits Open Sports Meet) .It was due to a couple of horrific injuries (our captain being one of the injured with 8 stitches on his lips on eve of BOSM)that I finally got to get into the field. In every game I found myself panting and helpless .The SBMJC guys were a class apart. The only significant contribution I think I made in that edition of BOSM was missing a half chance against BHU.

In the second year our practice sessions resembled more of a nazi military camp. The work out was really gruesome and our skipper (who was our goal keeper) unrelenting. The only relief being watching the volleyball girl’s team practice. This BOSM turned out to be particularly frustrating as we were not able to score a single goal. Although, our defense managed to put up a brilliant show, the other two teams were simply way better than us.

Every BOSM leaves a huge impact on every participant. With a lot of memories to be cherished later and a lot of physical pain to suffer(which is invariably the case with me…got smacked with the opponent’s stick on my fingers this time round J).This is what happened after BOSM in 2^nd year…

Maheshawar ! Mahesahwar! Maheshwar! I shouted for a pass as he dribbled his way through the defense and he casually pushed the ball towards me. It was an usual pass but was destined to have some unusual consequences on my Bitsian life at least…as the ball struck my ankle ,blood oozed out from as it had hit an old injury and I winced in pain .This was to render me immobile for at least a few days.

Sometime later that week, I decided to open the burly ES1 text book. I had taken a make up for test 1 due to an injury while playing in BOSM that (2^nd) year. As I lifted the book a sheet of paper fell on the ground which on a closer look turned out to be the hand out and somehow these words caught my eye (”ALL NOTICES WILL BE PUT UP ON FD2 NOTICE BOARD ONLY” ) and I realized that I had committed a grave foul (that too inside the D !!!). It so turned out that I had missed my make up test while I was in the field. Actually I had been checking for the notice on the EEE notice board for the past so many days and the test was conducted when the reinjury had rendered me immobile.

It also seems opportune to me to mention my heated argument with my roomie (Teka) after the hockey team suffered a humiliating defeat from BHU. Ranging from stamina, libido to commitment towards the sport, it culminated into a challenge of defeating IT BHU in the next edition of BOSM. I am too glad to mention that we finally managed to get the better of BHU this year.

The situation with hockey is quite peculiar. Unlike the other sports which people generally pursue since their school days, many of us learnt how to hold a stick here in BITS. Getting proficiency in hockey is believe me, not that easy as there are multiple skills to be learnt that require regular practice and perseverance. Be it basketball, football or volley ball, they involve direct contact with the source of impact (hand or feet) and the ball but in hockey there is a instrument of impact which you ought to master first. Even if you master your skills well, hockey being the fastest team sport requires a hell lot of coordination and control.

The reasons for the not so spectacular performance of our team are not too difficult to seek. First and foremost is the perennial and burdensome test series that makes it too demanding for the players to be regular. Until and unless we guys somehow manage to play round the year nothing substantial can be achieved. Also the game requires a lot of stamina which cannot be built overnight. Real time practice can only be had if we have at least 22 guys on field .That is a huge number for a game on verge of extinction elsewhere. I feel that our practice needs to be more specific ; specially we need to work on our forward line because these people require both speed and skills.

Hockey has made me realize the fact that something can go wrong even after your putting the very best of efforts. I learnt to drain all my anger, aggression and anxiety in the field itself .I particularly enjoyed altercations with the cricket and football guys who used to encroach upon our field .This ,I feel is the chief reason of my characteristic cool temperament. The hockey field is the only place on this earth where I have literally shed both my blood and sweat. And I deeply wish that this shall turn the silver into gold next year…

PS: ”Go BITS GO” was our war cry during BOSM 2009.

FUTURE OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY UNDER CONTROL OF FAMILIES

Hi, guys! this is my entry for an essay writing competition, so its not a blog in the true sense..but still,I hope my friends who are interested in politics shall enjoy this...

FUTURE OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY UNDER CONTROL OF FAMILIES
One of the most remarkable features of the great Indian democratic scenario of today is the dominance of political dynasties in the political arena. This is a characteristic which unlike many other features of the Indian democracy can be seen at all levels of the political system. Right from the local self government to the national level, political dynasties are everywhere, enjoying the fruits of power and prestige. This is one feature of our democratic system that has transcended all boundaries of time and space. Be it Assam or Jammu and Kashmir or Tamil Nadu or Rajasthan, political families are at the centre stage everywhere. If we zoom out a little we shall find that this trend is as widespread in the world as it is in India. The United States (the Bush family), Poland( the Zamyosky family) and Srilanka (The Rajpakshe family), Bangladesh(the sheikh Mujibur Rehman family, Pakistan(the Bhutto family), Indonesia(the Sukarno family) etc in Asia have all got their share of political families. Before beginning a critical analysis of this phenomenon and its effect on the future of our democratic system it is worthwhile to ponder a little over this question: What is that provides this phenomenon such universality? First of all, Like medicine is generally a preferred choice of profession for a doctor’s son , politics is not an unusual choice of career for a politician’ son. Secondly, with a relative playing the role of a mentor, guide, protector and a Guru, chances of one’s succeeding in the political arena are increased manifold. Thirdly, many of the new members of the family become successful riding on the goodwill, prestige or wave of sympathy towards a senior member of the family. Lastly and most commonly, the immense power and influence the politicians enjoy is often misused to ward off any other genuine contender.
When a common man votes for a candidate, he expects that the candidate has a genuine interest in the development of his/her region and welfare of the society. If a candidate fulfils this criteria than it’s immaterial whether he belongs to a family with political background or not. A political background may in fact be an added advantage because the candidate has a readily available and reliable source of guidance and help. Also being brought up in a politically active atmosphere, he is expected to understand the do’s and don’ts of politics better and hence is expected to falter less. And, Keeping in mind that political families are/have been at the centre stage of politics in almost every democratic nation, this does not seem to be something to really worry about. But, looking closely at the Indian scenario it turns out that this phenomenon in reality has been undermining the basic philosophy on which our constitution was framed!!!
The founding fathers of our nation chose democracy as a tool to empower the lowest of the lowest strata of the society. This was also supposed to be the tool to ensure that fruits of development are shared equally by all sections of the society and by all regions of the nation. The emergence and continuance of political dynasties in India has effectively ensured that the power remains concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. Even after sixty years of independence, three fourth of India continues to live in villages that are deprived of even most basic of civic amenities. This is probably due to the fact that for about four decades India was ruled by foreign educated aristocrats. How can a person who has never travelled in the general compartment of the Indian railways expected to do something about improving the conditions of the Indian railways?
This tendency has deprived the Indian democracy of many deserving and capable leaders who perhaps did not have any political link. This has virtually made the emergence of grass root level leaders impossible. It is often the case that a relative of a political leader is chosen as the party candidate over a sincere, hardworking candidate. With all the important posts reserved for the kith and kin of politicians, a common party worker is left baffled with a feeling of dismay. They are the people who work night and day to consolidate the party’s foundation and in the end they end up being frustrated. The desire of quick personal gains by some political activists gets manifested into pleasing the party supremos, often leaves the honest and earnest ones hopeless. This tendency has even brought unwilling kin of leaders (as was the case with Mr. Rajeev Gandhi) on the political centre stage. The continuance of political dynasties (with many of them belonging to erstwhile royal families) is often supposed to indicate that Indian society has not yet become free of feudal mind set. Rather, it points at the misuse of money and muscle power by such political families. There is no denying the fact that both muscle and money power plays a crucial role in Indian elections. This has had such a deep impact on the Indian political system that today a common man cannot even think of getting into the political arena. This is evident from the scarcity of professionals and highly educated persons active in politics.
With the sole purpose of retaining power within the family, the principles and ethos of the party are often compromised with. The democratic practises within the political party which are soul of democracy are replaced with whims and fancies of the family patriarch. With the party itself being governed in authoritarian ways, how can it be expected to uphold the democratic credentials of the Indian political system? The family ideology soon becomes the party ideology. There is virtually no scope left for the opposite view point even if it is held by a majority of the party members. This stunts the growth of a party’s philosophy and system of beliefs. Such political parties continue to hum the same old political song, even if it is an erred one.
The influence of a person’s/family’s charisma is limited; that’s why such political parties tend to be regional in nature (Indian National Congress can be considered as a big exception).This has perhaps hampered the blossoming of these political parties into national level political parties. The future of Indian democracy seems to be full of such small, regional, pseudo-democratic parties, if this trend is not checked. This has also led to the practise of over glorification of the political contributions of the senior family members by their successors. This is often alleged that the Nehru-Gandhi family is being projected as the sole champion of the Indian national freedom struggle. The more visible effects of political families on the life of general public are epitomised by the riots in Mysore over the succession row of DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kashagam) supremo Karunanidi. The clashes between Shivsaina and Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena are also a case in point.
The above discussion makes it crystal clear that the future of Indian democracy under the control of political dynasties is gloomy. This menace is comparable to that of termites eating into the roots of a huge tree (symbolizing true democracy) and rendering it unable to take in nutrients (symbolizing fresh political thoughts).This results in a government that may be for the people, by the people but definitely is not of the people. The aim of democracy is to empower the masses by giving them a say in the government and not empowerment of a selected few sections of the society. Concentration of power in few strata of the society is the root cause of problems like naxalism.
As with the other problems faced by democracy, the solution again lies with the people!!! Einstein’s son was not Einstein, so it is our responsibility to judge a candidate by his calibre rather than by the goodwill of his/her senior family members. The voters only can make sure that the candidate does not win simply riding on a sympathy wave but rather on the basis of his character, calibre and desire to serve the society. Measures to ensure strict implementation of the model code of conduct during elections and to check the misuse of money and muscle power by unscrupulous politicians will go a long a way in curbing this phenomenon. It also becomes an ethical duty of our present leaders to ensure that their kin also have a genuine interest in the welfare of the society if they intend to join politics. The citizens should understand that a person who has suffered the same problems as they face is more likely to lend a sensitive ear to their problems. Nothing else, but a greater level of political consciousness among the people can check this tradition.
I would like to end this essay by making a sincere appeal to my fellow countrymen to exercise their right of franchise judiciously and thus help in reaping the benefits of a truly democratic system.
THANK YOU

Marathi Maanusha Jagaho!!! (RIse from slumber ,O! people of Maharashtra)

So, the Shiv Sainiks have done it yet again!! Bah!!! Proved it once again that the only philosophy they believe in is the "Lynch Mob" philosophy .The act of attacking the (Mumbai Terror attack case ) Defence counsel's house (Mrs .Anjali Waghmare) at midnight is not only shear contempt of court but also portrays the utter disrespect for human rights which these people have. Here, it seems opportune to me to remind these so called "custodians" of Hinduism and Indian ethos of the very basic principle on which our culture is based that is the principle of TOLERANCE .The justification of attacking a woman that too at midnight is certainly not available in the Hinduism which I (and hope most of my countrymen )follow.
The role of a defence lawyer is a legal necessity that goes with every criminal case howsoever heinous the crime might be. It is in accordance with the natural faith on which justice is based that an accused is not assumed guilty unless proven so in the court of law. The appointment of a defence counsel is as per the requirements of the International Human Rights Charter. And in a case that basically is as mere legal formality, such an act can not be justified at all.
The shocking thing about this incident is that it was done under full media glare. This simply indicates the level of fearlessness these people have developed. It requires real guts to attack a lawyer's house whose husband happens to be a police officer .By fostering communalism , regionalism I simply fail to understand how are they "protecting" Indian culture .Shiv sainiks I feel , need to get a basic fact right: MINORITIES NEED NOT NECCESSARILY BE WRONG DOERS. One thing that I am sure of is that they are definitely bringing shame to Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaja(After whom they are named).
The thing that disturbs me most is that If this tendency is not checked Maharashtra might go the way Swat has gone in Pakistan .If you go about drawing similarities between the actions of the Taliban in swat and what the Shiv sena is accomplishing ,the list shall go on. It indeed is the time for the Marathi people to rise from slumber and stand defiantly against such insolent, undemocratic , fascist , divisive, sham hinduistic forces .
(PS: Marathi Maanusa jaagaho !!! is the pet war cry of shiv sena )