A Bag Habit

Today, as I was coming back from the Kshitij Arena, I happened to overtake a bunch of students. Fortunately for me, we all were on foot and hence I was able to hear what they were talking about for a little while. Mind you I wasn't eavesdropping.

The group had a Kgp guy and was accompanied by a couple of girls who looked like his friends from other colleges. They were discussing the scale and resplendence of Kshitij. Then I heard one of the girl comment :

"जब हमारे यहाँ कोइ गेस्ट आता है तो सारी लड़कियाँ साड़ी पहनती हैं। यहाँ कि लडकियाँ तो क्लास वाली जीन्स में ही बैग टाँग के चली जाती हैं।"

(Translation:"When some guest comes to our Institute, we all girls dress formally in sarees. Not like these Kgp ones who just go in the jeans they wore for the class and carrying a bag on their back.")

Did I mention that even I have noticed this umpteen times. Be it usual walk around the campus, or even things like guest reception, every time you will see all the organizing committee members (from Volu to VP) carrying a bag on their back.

I first noticed it in this year's Spring Fest, and I have reasons to believe that this is a new culture. It was when I saw one of the SF Core Committee members go up the dias to felicitate a guest. It goes without saying that he was wearing a bag on his back. I was surprised to see such rude behavior. Wasn't it known to him that he will have to go up the stage to welcome the guest? And even if he didn't, how much time it would have taken to take the bag off his shoulders? Then I saw repetition of this in almost every event I saw. I write almost here because there were a few in which I wasn't noticing any such thing. In all others, it was a sure sight. Just when I was about to dismiss it as an SF culture came Kshitij to bring me back the memories of Spring Fest.

These bags weren't also some special ones gifted to the members. I have seen them in a few varieties and without any Logo. Looking at the people around, it almost looks like a uniform for the event organizers. The only reasonable explanation for this looks like these people feel that wearing bags all the time makes them look like busy people. But almost all of the bags I saw were almost empty (at least looked that way from the outside). I wanted to ask someone regarding the origin of this 'tradition' but unfortunately it hasn't been possible as either the person I saw (and knew) was inaccessible or the person concerned was a stranger to me.

When I meet them, I want to ask them how this culture is doing them any good. Personally, if I were a Chief Guest to a function, and a student comes over the stage to greet me with a bag laden on his back, I would feel it very unprofessional and unwelcoming gesture, if not insulted by this casualness of the attitude. Sure wearing a bag makes a person look more busy, but it looks a lot unprofessional as well.

Ilu Ilu

I know, I know, this is Illu and not Ilu. But there are two reasons for which I chose this title.

1. Ilu Ilu is already established song that everyone can identify with.
2. And the second is that it looks like a short form of Lallu.

Let's get back to the story. After a long time, the Illumination festival was won by a Hall other than RP/RK. It was won by LLR Hall. And on second place was Nehru. RP came at a distant third and RK was nowhere in picture. But the message is clear. The league has been broken. This reminds me of the Miss Universe/Miss World Beauty Pageants where after the Indian princesses ruled year after year, started coming allegations that it was done as a part of conspiracy by the sponsors who allegedly promoted the Miss India's to create a market for their products in India. And within a little time came another news that in order to counter this false rumor, Miss India's will not be declared as a winner in years to come. The Illumination competition is a lot alike the Beauty Contest where there is no way to 'measure' the goodness, only guidelines that are too vague. With year after year the prize going to either of the neighbours, there was a chance that the others may stop doing it if they start seeing foul. As I was myself not present during that time (this being the first Illumination I missed being on vacation) I can't present on my own views on this conspiracy theory. But anyway, I feel happy that even if for an year, there is a change.

And with this came to an end another year of unmindful spending and wastage. The world of IIT Kharagpur has entered into a vicious cycle. Every year the hall that loses pushes up its expenditure on this to get the prize and other halls follow suit. This has led to a steady increase in the Illumination budget even after considering the inflation. Currently it stands at around Rs. 250 per head and is steadily climbing. Read my previous blog to know about other hidden expenses. The figure makes me dizzy. If I ask myself how much would I be willing to pay in order to get a ticket to see such an art, I would not consider anything over Rs. 20! Even if we take Rs. 25, there's still a whooping margin of ten times the perceived cost. And if I add the factor that I will not be able to see it, there's no way I would be willing to shell out that amount. And to add to my woes, I have to compulsorily pay this ransom money even after knowing a lot more things.

While the whole of India joins hand in this festival cutting across communities and even religion, here in the IITs (regarded by many as the institute with best intellect) it has been reduced to a competition where its Diwali for one and Diwala for all (Yes. Including the winners). Those who lose are equivalent to lankawasi and those who win, wanarsena!

Question: Which is the only place in the world where there is a scheduled power cut especially on Diwali night?
Answer: No prizes for guessing, its IIT Kharagpur.

Even so much is the irony that people are not allowed to lighten up their rooms because it will interfere with the competition process. And when the world comes out in the open to celebrate, we are forced to go into hiding. If you are not a part of IIT, don't get surprised. It is 100% true. For these and many more reasons, I consider Illumination as anti-Diwali.

The IIT Dream

A couple of weeks back, Prof. Gautam Sinha (Training and Placement-In-charge of IIT Kharagpur) held a meeting with the students to discuss the changes in the the Training and Placement schedule commencing this year. As major changes have been introduced, he wanted to take the students in confidence by meeting them in person.

Here's the jist of the change...Starting this year, the training and placement process of all IITs will begin in December.

Definitely, if there's smoke there had to be a fire. So what was the collective 'fire' in all the IITs that resulted in this collective decision? The answer is obvious to the insiders, but hardly guessable to any outsider.

It was observed that IIT students (regardless of the IIT they study in) have been making the T&P process an excuse to miss classes. Regulations allow students to miss classes provided the timing of the Test/GD/Interview of any company clashed with the lecture hours. But it was observed that many a times the students start skipping classes even a day before the event, and missing all classes on the day in question is considered a birth-right. If the students were really serious, there would have been no problem, but the truth is that the students hardly utilized this time to prepare. What most of them do is spend the time on their computers, looking for new movies to watch, or just spend it playing LAN games.

And this wasn't difficult for the T&P section to find it out. With a majority of students flunking the tests, one doesn't need a sixth sense to guess. There is one very famous incident about the student's attitude that many of us know. It so happened that Tata Motors came for an interview last year for jobs, and majority of the students (including the department topper) flunked scoring less than a score (20) per cent. And what more, the guy in question argued that its not possible for him to get so bad marks and challenged the integrity of the Tata Motors selection panel. What happened next brought shame to all of us. Tata Motors sent back his copy to show that his answer-script has been graded according to the established norms and standards. What more, they pulled up the T&P section for having such mediocre and arrogant students, and claimed that the same question paper in other colleges like Jadhavpur had plenty of students scoring well above 80. The reprimanding trickled down the level and our Head of Department scolded us for being similar to him.

And this was another issue that Prof. Gautam Sinha discussed with us in the meeting. He told us how the times are changing and the IIT stamp is losing ground to the NITs faster than expected. He told is how the other colleges have started scoring better than IIT Kharagpur in the placements.

Companies are fast realizing that the IIT stamp is fame and no longer valuable as it used to be. Many companies have even started to avoid coming to IITs as they believe that IIT students are usually aloof, don't work hard enough, expect higher salaries and leave companies early. Even those who come to the IIT campuses have felt that the IITians are no longer the material they used to be.

But what has changed over the last few years that has spelt doom on the IIT dream? Here's the things that have changed.

IITs have emerged like a brand, brought popularity by the strong alumni, and over-hyped by the media. But IITs are not soap-making factories that can churn out good soaps given the quality of the raw material remains the same. The IITs have been based on discipline that has been inculcated in successive batches given the competition they faced from their peers. Getting into the IITs was tough and then competing with the 'chosen few' made the IITians strong as a rock when they went on to face the world. All the IITs strived to keep themselves out of politics and set aspirations for higher standards. This created the IIT brand as we know it and the recruiting organizations knew they would get the gold if they came to recruitment here. But what the media did was a doomsday spell. It created an atmosphere that made people feel that cracking the JEE was the final frontier, and failed to account for the IIT system and the real value addition. This had a very bad effect. People who aspired for IIT felt that once inside, the IIT will take the trouble of giving them good jobs regardless of whether they are serious or not. And this was apparent from my very first year in IIT Kharagpur and the same experience continues till date. And it has been this attitude that has spelled doom. As years pass by, more and more companies are realizing that judging a batch based on its predecessor is getting more and more illogical.

Even the assumption that the raw material is the same is no longer valid. With centres like Bansal's that make the student mug their way into the IIT, the proportion of mediocre students in the IITs is increasing.

Another major change that the IIT system has seen is the introduction of free internet facility for the students. While originally meant for education, it is hardly used for what it was originally established. This started some four years back in most of the IITs, and the result is obvious. Instead of reading in libraries and playing outdoors (read:enhancing their personality), people glue onto their computers and do all sorts of activities, even bringing their IIT into the news for the wrong reasons. And today, the LAN of IIT Kharagpur boasts of 10 TeraBytes of data, most of which is pirated softwares/videos obtained from the net.

A person who joins an XYZ college knows that the world is tough. And throughout his education, he is reminded that if he has to survive, he will have to improve himself. Its a different story about those who don't have any inclination to succeed, but those who want good, do good. And at the end when they emerge out of the college, they are prepared to handle the world. An IITian on the other hand, feels that he already has success stamped on his back and need not stress himself any further. In the IITs, there are many people who want good results but refuse to stress it out. And the trouble is, this tribe is fast increasing.

Then how come we still have IITians among the successful in business world and even in IIMs, etc. The reason is similar to the gambler's world. Only those who make it big make the news. Only the alumni who are successful will come back to his alma mater with a head held high, giving us the false impression that all IITians are successful.

So is it the end of the story? The end of hope for all those who pursue IIT as a brand? Thankfully, the answer is "No". And there are enough reasons for this.

Ironically, it will be the media again who will bring back the glory to the IITs. And this process has already started. One regularly gets to see news that a certain college student has achieved something big and then the newspaper claim "and he isn't an IITian!". The stories of NITs and other colleges doing well will also find welcome approval with the media as this is "News". Slowly the horror of these details will trickle into the minds of the IITians and they will stop seeing themselves as special. The technologies that made the IITs elite (like the internet) will reach these colleges pretty soon and establish a level playing field. And this will happen before a student freshly out of school starts to choose an NIT over an IIT giving the IITs an edge with a better raw material. Amen.

A Treatise On Mess Food

For those who have had the fortune to eat mess food, it is an unforgettable experience. And moreover if you belong to a place where mess workers are government employees and not contract laborers, the experience is moreover linked with nightmares that you will try to forget as soon as you step in the world outside. But for us who still live in the hostels, eating lunch or dinner is the last thing that can be looked forward to.

In IIT Kharagpur, most of us feel the situation is as worse as it can get. With the mess workers being government employees, backed by CPI(M), there is hardly anything that we students can do to improve the situation. As the mess workers are neither willing nor bound to cook well, the situation goes from worse to worst. But unfortunately this topic has been so thoroughly talked upon, I feel that you will have no inclination to read any further without any incentive. So I hope to enrich this with my assortment of PJs.

When debating on whether Dual Degrees (B.Tech+M.Tech in 5 years) are better or the traditional B.Tech(4 years), I am usually confident of my success. We save 1 year of studying time by stressing a bit more for a couple of years. And on top of that, we get to sit in for interviews of companies that are here to take B.Tech as well as for those here for M.Tech. Without losing much modesty, I can claim that in M.Tech batch, those coming through JEE (the Dual Degrees) fare a lot better that those from GATE. This leaves us with an extra edge over our M.Tech friends. And even while comparing to the B.Tech batch with which we will be competing, the fact that there are very few people in my junior batch ahead of me as compared to my own batch leaves me with a sense of satisfaction that I took Dual Degree (as though I had any choice). But this brings us back to the topic that we were supposed to be discussing. While I try and convince my batchmates of the advantages of being a Dual Degree, there is always a guy who smiles and says:

"We won't have to eat mess food for one extra year (in KGP)."

This leaves my arguments shattered. I have to skillfully change the topic as I hate to admit that this truth hurts.

But interestingly, the mess food inspires in us creative language talents. During the dinner, the wingmates take turns to compare the food with different types of shits. And if someone says that the mess workers can do a PhD in making shit out of mess food, someone quips that they actually guide researchers in doing doctorate in Shit-making. The source of this observation is also an interesting tale.

It is said that initially an unemployed person enters the R.P. Hall as a cobbler. Then he goes on to be a cycle stand worker, followed by mess helper, then mess worker and finally a cook. As you can see there is no qualification required by a person to be a cook in R.P. Hall. We have seen the rise of people who worked as cycle stand worker into becoming cooks here. And to see the person who had just been cleaning grease off the bicycles to make rotis for you is a horror tale that you can never forget. Things had been easy for me, though. In the first semester itself, the doctor at the local hospital diagnosed my frequent stomachache to be caused my uncooked rotis. So she suggested me not to eat rotis in mess. And from that day onwards, I have lived on rice. For those whose stomach are fit enough to eat the rotis so uncooked that flapping two such rotis would create so much suspended-particulate-matter to block vision and enough to make another roti out of it, the only respite is in remembering the days in M.S. Hall where we got coloured! rotis even two days after holi.

The problem of hopeless mess food can be divided into two parts, one the procurement and other the processing (it would be derogatory to call the process 'cooking'). Unfortunately for us, there is suffering from both sides.

The problem of procurement can be felt be consuming food that are usually not cooked when they are served. These include breads, onions, etc. With breads whose ends show signs of fungus ever so often and which is as rubbery as rubber itself, it doesn't require an expert to conclude that the bread that is served is at least 4 days old. The only theory that can explain it is that once after two days the unsold bread arrives back in the bakeries, they are sent to R.P. Hall and served the next day. The situation is worse for things like onions. The onions served during the lunch are extremely dry and have patches of black colour on them indicating clearly that they are from a stock several months old and/or maybe the stock left unsold as no sane minded person would buy them. The cottage cheese bought for the special dinners is also rubbery as it is not made from cow milk, but soy-milk, which is cheaper. And the same story continues for other such products.

When a guy in Desperate Housewives claims that no-one can screw up Macaroni and cheese (before eating the hopelessly cooked Macaroni made by Susan Meyer), he seemed to have missed the fact that in a far corner of the world stands the mess workers of IIT Kharagpur. Let alone the dexterity in cooking, even the place where things are cooked are as unhygienic as the sewer line out of hell. Seeing the pieces of food that fell down on the floor being taken up and served to us, seeing that a mess worker using the same knife to cut vegetables from which he has just scraped the sweat out of his skin, are all common observations. And the most frustrating part is that we can't do anything about it. At least as long as there is a communist government ruling in West Bengal.

Now I remember another tit-bit that emerged from the talks between my wingmates.

I once noted that even if we bring the suffering hungry people of Somalia to R.P. Hall, they would plead to go back than eat this (so called) food. But then I remember that these people are suffering and to bring them into such cheap conversation is very improper. But then I also realize that we too are suffering and the same thing goes for us too. So such a comparison is improper for both sides. I was about to delete this paragraph as I concluded it to be improper, but then realized that as a whole it showed well what kind of emotions we typically feel during having our food. Many people take it as part of the grooming that goes on to make IITians.

If you can eat this food, you will never have any problem with eating habits at any point in life.

When I see people praying before eating food, I know that they are praying from the bottom of their hearts imploring God to give them the strength to let this pass. Leaving food on the plate is not something I relish, but many times they manage to make it so bad that my initial estimate of how much I can suffer goes waste. It is said that leaving food in the plate is considered an insult to food. But I believe that it is applicable only when the thing in question fulfills the criteria as being labeled as 'food'. I feel that cooking something so badly is even more insult to the food.

Another incident that comes to my mind while eating in the mess is an experience with Ankur (my brother). While we were in M.S. Hall, one day during lunch a guy comes over and sits opposite to us. After looking at the container on the table, he asked: "Yeh daal hai kya? (Is this a cereal?)". To this Ankur replied: "Banane se pehle thi. (It was, before it was cooked)".

Its just by stories and anecdotes like this are we going about in our life, facing lunch and dinner one at a time.

"Just one next time....just one more day...."

And living here I start thinking about the qualities that I will seek in my wife. Cooking skills will definitely be high among my priorities.

Illuminating minds...

After reading this article of mine, some of my friends complained that it is a bit too long. So I have decided on this way to help the readers. I have demarcated the portions that deal with my story and the one that deals with my views on Illumination Festival. The first part, beginning the next paragraph is the story. Look for a change in style if you want to read my views only.

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In the winter vacations of our first year, one of my friends, proud of our accomplishments at Illumination that year went back home to tell his parents all about the marvelous competition. After hearing him speak, his father said, "Did I send you to the IIT to do such things?". He was dumbstruck.

Do we agree with his father, or we do not? Obviously we can't agree as his father knows nothing about Illumination; the team-work, the passion, the elixiration, and what not. We can't agree to anything unless we think for ourselves about it. After all, this is what we have learnt while our JEE preparations, and being into IIT is an ample proof that we can think by ourselves.

My tryst with Illumination(or 'illu', as they say it) dates back 3 years from now when I was in first year. I knew it then as the heart and soul of KGP life. Winning it was the goal of everybody around. It had so much at stake that I can't resist the adrenaline pumping and worked for as much time as I can spare to make my hall win. Being in MS hall wasn't an excuse after all. We were all JCBinas and there was unity among the first years. I recollect working 5~6 hours a day for Illumination work and the figures doubled two days before the finals. On the D-day, when we got the final signal, I started lighting the lamps assigned to me at the roof of HJB Hall. As soon as I was about to finish 80% of the work(we had a pretty tight schedule), we heard the final call saying that we should all stop lighting the lamps and go to hiding as the Jury has come.

"Oh! I couldn't see how well the chataiis were lit by the "Chatai Team" as they are the centre of the attraction of the whole Illumination fest".

"Never mind", I said to myself. "Lets wait for the Jury to finish".

It seemed like a long wait. And when it was announced that the Jury has left, we came out only to find that half of the lamps on the chataiis went out, and more importantly, two of the chataiis caught fire.

"Oh dear! This reduces our chance of winning it this time."

I don't remember exactly what prize we won, was it the consolation prize or the third prize, it was always a consolation prize for the first years who showed so much tempo with so little funda.

This I am sure is the outline of most other "First Illumination" stories that you will hear. All the memories I had of it were the official Gymkhana's or Hall's Photography secy's photographs. I cheered myself with the fact that in addition to Illumination, we also had made a Rangoli for Rangoli competition which stands the wrath of time for two days, and hence we could see to in its original glory after the Jury went. Of course we couldn't see it before as it will leak the theme and somehow damage the prospects of winning the competition.

In comes second year and after a brief period in which we got accustomed to the ways and means of my our abode, THE RAJENDRA PRASAD HALL OF RESIDENCE, comes the time to tighten our seat belts for Illumination. We are told about the glorious past RP Hall has in Illumination competition. It is a prestige issue to win it.

"The winners can hold their chins high for the next one year, and the losers will even avoid making an eye contact with you", we were told by an overly enthusiast office-bearer of our Hall.

This and many such motivating speeches infused in me patriotism type of feelings and I became a warrior in the name of my country, RP Hall. No wonder, RP Hall(and I believe most other Halls) spends a greater percentage of its budget on Illumination competition than India spends percent of its GDP on defense. I got introduced to the professional way of preparing for Illumination. With so much funda pouring in and the element of secrecy that we have to maintain about it, made it look like a commando operation. A story similar to the first year experience ensued and I remember bidding good-bye to our master-pieces as the Judges kept pouring in. Later I learnt that we won the competition! But it didn't give me the happiness I wanted. Because I had freed my mind and started to think on my own about Illumination.

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Lets first talk about the nature of the competition. It is an Inter-Hall competition, kept under the GCHA(General Championship Hall Affairs) with 100 points. As half of you are already crying foul, as you thought it to be under Soc-n-cult GC, you are mistaken. It is rightly put under the GCHA as unlike other competitions in which a small team representing the Hall participates, here the whole Hall is a participant. Any competition that is organized, is organized with the aim of improving certain quality of the participant. Be it a soc-n-cult event like extempore, debate, collaging, etc. or a sports event like 100m sprint, golf(sorry! not yet in IITKGP), hammer throw, or even weight lifting. All the events require the contestants to sharpen up their skills in one or more ways to become the champion. Let's see what our good old Illumination has to offer. As far as I remember, I have learnt how to make loops out of metallic wires, and then mechanically tie them up(thousands in number) to the black marks on the chataiis. I don't think that it requires, or for that matter develops any special skill on our part. It doesn't give us anything new to learn that we will require or get pleasure out of in rest of our lives. But wait a minute, don't you think that designing the chataiis require art skills. Also, even arranging for the chataiis for Illumination or gathering people to work requires management skill. Sure they do, and I can't agree even more to you, but does it really matter. The Chatai Design Team as they are called are the well established people of Hall in arts, and they are limited to a dozen in number. Of course they benefit out of Illumination, but not us. Same is the case with the "Management" guys. Most of the work force of Illumination competition is the sophomore population that gains nothing out of the competition. They just work like bulls in an oil-churning mill working day and night to bring glory to their Hall. Many of them stop going to the lectures of their respective discipline(for which they were actually sent to IIT by their parents!). They take night-outs tying the same old loops to the hardly different chataiis, and when the twilight sets on, climb up to the roof of the mess to curse their RK counterparts, taking enjoyment out of the backfire.

Now back to Finance Ministry. Typically, the Illumination budget of any year varies between Rs.60~80 thousand. Unconfirmed sources say that approximately 75 percent of this amount actually gets spent on Illumination activity, while the rest is hogged up by the organizers(OMG, this is exactly like our defense Ministry). As this is not a gossip column, we need not worry what's true and what's not and lets just concentrate on the aggregate figure that actually costs us. Our halls PLF list says there are approximately 400 boarders. And this competition costs us somewhere around Rs.200 per head. This is an enormous amount considering the number of people paying it. Such an amount if had been saved earlier would have led to the making of a new Basketball court some ten years back, that we RPians wanted for so long. Also unlike the Basketball court that gives returns year after year, amount spent on Illumination Competition just vanishes into thin air. The value of the remains become zero even the very next morning. Now comes the hidden costs. As one of our Professors told us, the IIT pays Rs.50 per hour to students doing official work. Although official estimates are always under-estimated, we still take it as a benchmark of the value of time of an IIT student. Considering that on an average, 30 people work for 3 hours daily for 25 days and on the last two days, a total of 150 people give 18 hours, we get the net value of the work as 30*3+150*18=2790 man-hours. This equals a total of Rs.1,40,000 approx. per hall. Assuming an equivalent of 9~10 hall with such tempo, are there, the cost goes up to Rs.10,00,000! This amount is staggeringly high as compared to the direct cost. Even if we don't convert the time into money, what right do we have to force people to waste their time on such activities. I use the term force as the second years are actually forced to do the work.

This now brings us to the part where we discuss Principles, Tradition, Morality and Values. Most supporters of Illumination say that it has been our tradition since long back and therefore we should continue it. I totally disagree with the conclusion. On the same lines, Child Marriages, Sati System and Caste system have been our tradition. So do we need to continue them just because they are our tradition? At least I don't think so. What's rotten must be thrown away. In ways similar to the evils of our society, the Illumination competition has its evils. Firstly, it is not based on competition spirit, but on hatred and misplaced patriotism infused by our seniors. The students are forced to part away with their time, money and belongings. Yes, as you all will now be remembering, that many of us have to part away with our furniture. These are soaked in oil and returned on first-come-first-serve basis. As many people take multiple servings, many of the people have to return with a horrible piece of furniture or even no furniture at all! I remember that during our second year I gave away one bucket for filling oil and an umbrella to protect the lamps. Although I expected them to be returned in bad condition owing to rough handling, I didn't expect that they both will be stolen. Same case was there with my compatriots as all the 7 buckets and 3 umbrellas were stolen! When I went to inquire this from a 'Illu Head', he said "Do you think we haven't lost anything in our second year during illu". This confirmed my belief that ours was not a one-off case. There are many more incidents of theft as people are forced to work in the front lawn while the power is deliberately cut-off! Don't you think that by holding this competition we are encouraging such thieves?

Another thing I came to know about illumination is that it is the biggest reason behind the pathetic state of R.P. Hall's garden; Even so much that we were forced to opt out of the Inter-hall gardening competition. Here's the story for the uninitiated. R.P. Hall had to pull out of Inter-hall Gardening competition as during illumination, the ground is defaced so much that its not possible to hold a gardening competition. Also, due to oil spill, the capacity of the soil to support good garden is tremendously reduced.

Also, I don't think that this competition gives us any satisfaction it ought to give even in this ugly shape. This is because we the people who make it are hardly given any chance to see and enjoy what we have achieved. Instead, we are forced to go into hiding when people belonging to the families of Jury admire the hard-work. Does Illumination comes under social service that first we allow other to reap the benefits then take what is left over? So we see (Sorry, "I see" as you are still free to think on your own) that Illumination competition gives us nothing but a chance to catch Tetanus(as at least five injuries due to contact with metal parts happen everyday) and get our grades screwed up(as it is usually around Mid-Semester Exams).

Even illumination goes against the spirit of Diwali festival. When all of India is illuminating with diyas, flickering lights, etc, we (the KGPians) have our power cut-off and are not allowed to light even a single match-stick. And what's more, we are forced to go into hiding! Is this not infringement of religious freedom as provided by the Indian Constitution? If someone would have asked me in my school days giving description of how it is celebrated, Diwali is the last day I would have suggested.

But I am not allowed to stop here. How can I just babble about the problem and not propose a solution! As you might have guessed, the only solution is to stop this with immediate effect. (People note that I have nothing against the Rangoli Competition. It draws participation from a dozen people who represent a hostel. It has lower budget, people improve their personality by participating in it, and everyone gets to see the benefit.) For how long will we go along the same Mahabharat or Ramayan theme and wondering if we can keep it a secret? I have spent 2 hours writing it, and if this can stop Illumination even an year earlier, I feel that this Rs.100 investment was invested well. After all, it helped me improve my creative writing skills!

-Ambuj Saxena

PS: Your comments and constructive criticism are most welcome.