Institute of Infinite Tension

3 suicides in past 3 years in IITB alone. Is anything being done about it except a mail everytime which says that a counselling session will be kept for students?

Agreed that the Viswas Comittee has changed the curicullum drastically and has reduced the number of courses. But at the same time, awarding FR (course repeat) grade to 10% of the students is not justified. And the efforts made with regards to students' social life are not sufficient. The student mentorship program started to guide the first year students was a step in this direction. But it has not delivered. Mentors meet the students under them, once or twice a month. Then, how can you expect the students to share their problems with them?

One possible solution in this direction will be to distribute the freshers in the senior wings. Interacting with the people who have gone through similar situations always helps. Also, there is always a person in each wing who is sensible enough to be a mentor.

Then, there are professors, who can play a major role. Majority of the professors here have this devil may care attitude. The interaction level with the students is nil. If a student performs bad, prof. awards him an FR grade and moves on. No one bothers to know the reason. There are faculty advisors appointed to guide the students. But how would a faculty advisor know of the problems when he doesnt even know any student on a personal level?

And lastly the parents.% 90 of the students here have an image at home which is in total contrast with what they actually are at IIT. Parents always consider their child to be the same studious guy he once was, who thinks only of his studies and nothing else. Parents need to know and understand the changes IIT brings in their child esp. to the emotional side. IITians are in general too emotional and get stressed very easily. They take everything to their heart and generally lack a channel to vent it out.

In the end, I would just say that a failure doesnt mean one has failed in his life. There is always an other oportunity. And life to abhi shuru honi hai.

The complexities of human mind-I

At some point or the other, we all want to be true to ourselves. But the thought never materializes into actions.

We all want others to let us know the flaws in us. And yet, if someone does so, we refuse to accept it. If ever, we come across some straightforward person, who we fear may criticize our actions, we endeavor to move as much away from him as possible. Instead, we prefer the company of some of our 'good friends', who pamper us, magnify any trace of goodness we have and scale down the shortcomings by their carefully crafted words.

Deep down our hearts, we all strive to improve upon ourselves, yet, we never part with our insecurities. We all know what we really are, but shy away from admitting it.

Future 'tense'

hi all,

First of all, thank you all for the flak and a few nice comments for my first post. Well, my second post is also going to scrutinize the life of IITians-this time their future.

Let me begin by describing my last weekend-40 hours of no sleep. Two complete night-outs, vigil for the hostel elections, playing dodgeball, football, volleyball and what not in the rains in the morning following that stressful night, the mock CAT exam and finally the wing treat-the second night-out. In short, it had all the ingredients of an awesome weekend by IIT standards.

Never did, for a single moment, I thought why was I involved in the majority of these events. Or for that matter, do we, IITians, ever think why we do, what we do? Do we ever think of the effects our actions have on our future. Probably not.

Recently, I had a chance to meet an old friend which actually triggered these thoughts. He has his life all planned and all set. He knows the work he is going to do, the business he is going to pursue ten years down the line, the problems he's gonna face and their solutions.

And here I(I, hereon refers to any average IITian) am. I dont know whether I am gonna do a core or a non-core job, an year down the line. I dont know if I want to go for further studies. "CAT dena hai?...de denge, sab de rahe hain". How many of us are there who wont sit for core jobs because they want to do a non-core job?

Very very few. Simply becuase I don't have the luxury of a high CPI to be a chooser rather than a beggar. Because, never in my last four years, I thought of my placements. All I knew was that I am an 'IITian' and I am bound to secure a lucrative job in four years-the thought fed in my mind by my parents, relatives and the mohallawallas even before I got into IIT.

I will end here with a line I read somewhere-

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending"

The lows of getting high

I have been mulling from quite some time about starting a blog. The recent turn of events around me in the past few days further triggered the thought and here I am.

Some intriguing one liners: 17 litres in 3 hours this convo; drank 6 bottles of beer this convo; DOSA on fire (after his series of futile ‘attempts’ to nail down the drunkards and then his mails);

Well, these were some of the headlines doing the round in insti from past few days. I had the luxury of some free time to ponder over these. And here is what I have to say.

First of all, let me tell you that it has become a sort of tradition in IIT to drink heavily on each and every treat. And People feel very proud of it.

I would just say that it’s not something to boast about or to be proud off. Man, you haven’t won a president’s bravery award. If so, then why don’t you (with the same pride) boast of the same in front of your parents? They will surely garland you, if not the president.

Even the birthdays here are celebrated the same way. The birthday guy gets talli even before the birthday bumps. He doesn’t even remember the people who came to wish him and for that matter if they were even able to wish him or not. The best part is the reason he gives the next day. Getting high helped him endure those bumps. How funny!!!

These were just two of the numerous examples. Some of you might be wondering about the restrictions, if any, on drinking in campus. Let me tell you if someone is caught drunk, he is asked to deposit a fine of 10,000 bucks. Many of my friends have done that. But, it hasn’t stopped any of them from drinking. It simply means that imposing fines won’t work here.

Nip the evil in the bud. And here, the bud is the freshie year. That is when most of today’s drunkards tasted it for the first time. People who have been drinking for past three years won’t quit it so easily. But, the people who have just started it, can. So, instead of writing those funny emails and roaming around the senior hostels, DOSA should do something about the first yearites. Form a committee. Make frequent rounds to freshie hostels. If someone is caught, call for their parents. Warn them that next time their child is caught, he will be suspended. And it might work wonders.