Intoxicated by possibility

I was a Goth Kid once

Remember those Goth Kids in Southpark? The kids who never attend classes and prefer to sit around all-day listening to Goth music, drinking coffee and mocking every passerby as Hmph…conformist!

Well, I was one such guy in college (Rock, not Goth though). You know, the kind of guy who refers to everyone else as those conformist a****les. I was part of a bunch who believed in non-conformism to such an extent that double standards were not a rarity.

3 years since I have been out of University, the Goth kid in me has largely disappeared. Bits and pieces remain. 

What prompted me to write this is a bunch of e-mails I have been getting in my inbox lately from smart guys and girls in college - who pride themselves in being non-conformists. Little do they understand that like most things in life, non-conformism is over-rated (and largely hypocritical). Let me not ruin their party now. 

BITSian makes one of the world’s best presentations

Life in Commonalities

Our very own Andy gets a honorable mention in the World’s Best Presentation Contest. Cheers Andy! Cheers BITS Pilani!

We truly get the leadership we deserve

Abhishek writes an excellent post echoing the exact sentiments that I have about elections in India, BITS etc.

Majority of students voted for ‘none’ instead of the only candidate(Rachit) in the fray(after the other candidate’s nomination was canceled). Now that would be understandable if Rachit wasnt good enough to be a president. But that is certainly far from the truth.

We talk about being an intellectual population. Yet, we act as dimwitted morons, for whom what matters is a lapdance, or a quarter litre of brandy. And, then there are us. The pseudo-intellectual city crowd. Perceived to be well-bred, rave thinkers etc. The folks who supposedly are the think-tanks of the nation. We blog, we bitch, we rant in public, and yes, we sit on our chairs. All in all, we are a pathetic nation of people knowing not where we are headed.

I’m ashamed too, Abhishek.

PS. I still love my India. As much as I did yesterday, and the day before.

Legacy.

sriramv:

These 2 men (C. R. Mitra & K. K. Birla) are complete strangers to me. But in a way, it’s because of them that I have had an opportunity to experience a wonderful college life that has taught me lessons for life.

It’s amazing how strangers in the past and present are helping you shape your future. Probably, that’s what is termed as leaving behind a legacy!

You just have one life time to build your legacy.

Sometimes you hardly see the hand behind a lot of beautiful things in life. BITS Pilani was one such beautiful thing in my life. And I know that these two men built that thing of beauty. I’ve never shaken those two hands, but I feel a deep sense of grief as I see their legacy stand without them being around. God bless their souls.

Do such people make a difference?

In BITS Pilani, the Students’ Union used to be elected in a campus-wide elections planned, conducted and presided by a neutral Students’ body itself - The Election Commission (aptly named so). A very small (5-member) body, it built an elitist image of its own over years. Members were nominated by outgoing members, and the selection process was secretive and helped its elitist image. I was a member of that body for 3 elections.

The post was meant for stable-headed impartial fellows, and I was deemed to be one of them. But, at the root of all that, I was a guy who believed that the Students’ Union needed an apt leader. One who defies the ugly politics and is pragmatic enough to make a meaningful difference. This trait never affected my decisions as the Election Commissioner. However, it did bring me in touch with a few people, who I believed were capable of bringing forward that much-needed change. And those few people came to me asking whether they should contest the elections. They were fair, ruthlessly efficient and brilliantly creative guys asking me whether they can contest the elections, win and show the campus that the ugly face of politics can be smacked with a mud pie.

To most of those folks, my answer was easy -
I know you will make an excellent leader. You might even win. But, will it make a difference? I don’t know. In fact, it may not. The next year: everything is going to repeat. It is too hard to seperate muck and power.

Today, I was reading about Ravi Krishna Reddy, the NRI techie who contested the elections in Jayanagar, Bangalore

And  I wondered, whether such people actually make a difference?

Yes, they do. But how many such people do you need to turn the tides?

PS. Here’s Churumuri covering the attrocities Ravi had to face, including his symbol being different on the ballot paper, and the Returning Officer saying ‘It’s not a major blunder’ .