You dont need to know Latin to know im Royally Screwed.
Part of the final assignment of the ART 105 : Introduction to Video Making course I’m doing this semester. Check it out and comment :
I loved how well a few of the shots came out. Mohit was brilliant as the drug guy, and Addy’s rapping was awesome too.
I wrote most of the lyrics for this one, with help from Ashish. Hats off to him for the supreme editing . Too bad I couldn’t feature much in the video itself ,as I was acting in the other main video.
A black Canadian deigned “Eighty five gangsters helped in juvenile killings last month near Omaha” pointedly quoting Reuters. “Shoot that usurper!” vehement white xenophobics yelled zealously.
I was dismayed at reading this post in facebook by my good friend Rachit. This is a response to that post and I would suggest you read that first.
I can very well understand the frustration of Rachit and many others when conduction of events is ambiguous. Professionalism and transparency are of utmost importance. But what dismays me is the negativity in the article, and a lack of a unbiased point of view. I agree it is impossible to be unbiased, this article too is bound to be biased a little, but there seemed to be no effort to remove bias, and no effort to see any positives out of the event.
Rachit’s account of the run – up to galaxy is very very obviously biased. First of all, I vehemently disagree that discontent in the people of one hall led to pushing of galaxy in this year itself. I am quite sure there quite a number of people in Hall 2 as well who wanted the event to go through.
The hurdles that he mentions that Revival of Galaxy faced was -
1 ) Security 2) Judging of the event 3) Timing of the event
He goes on to say given the magnitude of the hurdles, the idea should have been dropped once and for all. These are the things going against galaxy. Let us look at the motivation for having galaxy itself.
The importance of an intra-institute inter-hall cultural&sports festival is HEAVILY underestimated. There is a reason IIT Kanpur consistently performs poorly in Inter – IIT in sports and there is such a poor participation in many of the club activities and I have long been of the opinion such an event is very much required.
IIT Madras has Schroeter and Lit-Soc (sports and cultural activities respectively) – 12 hostels have been contesting it for more than 30 years. IIT Bombay has a GC – Cult (General Championship) and GC – Sports. IIT Kharagpur also has it s respective General Championships. All of these institutes have a huge multi – hostel rivalry on par with the rivalry we see here – a rivalry based on judged competition for decades. In all these institutes, we see healthy rivalry. And please Rachit, an already “THRIVING” culture in IIT Kanpur? Thriving? Seriously?
Let us look at the obstacles Rachit said should have led to the idea being dropped once and for all. Security – it is a shame to the Students Gymkhana if it cannot ensure that it s students – supposed top intellectuals and definitely civilized at the least – can refrain from beating each other up. Possibility of bias in Judging – this is an issue that is a factor in any subjective event ranging from street cricket to International competitions – and having it as a REASON for NOT having galaxy? Definitely not so. And timing? The time between Antaragni and End – sems is 3 weeks as well! In a semester of 4 months, a 3 week gap I think is ample. And isn’t it very reasonable to ask for a weeks postponement of the event because no students stayed back? I think neither Hall2 OR Hall3 would have been able to finish their structures if not for that week.
So overall, I think it definitely was a right decision to go through with the event and Rachit’s suggestion that it should have been dropped then itself is I feel unreasonable.
As for the conduction of the event, I don’t think there is any reason to suspect foul play on a large scale. In most of the events, the judges announced the results themselves. And as for the nature of the events and the point system, there was equal representation from Hall 2 as well and heck, I’m sure Vaibhav is sensible enough not to be duped and to intervene if he feels there is something wrong. Most of the complaints I have heard is about the results – which is totally subjective and there is nothing to be done if the Judge feels differently from the strong crowd sentiment. We have to ask ourselves – how much of the complaints arise from disappointment rather than sound reasoning?
Yes, I agree the organization of Galaxy left much to be improved. The points system and Schedule etc. should have been intimated earlier. The rules should have been less ambiguous. The events should have been conducted more professionally. These are very serious issues that have to be rectified.
But to suggest that the event was mismanaged on purpose – just to make sure one hall wins – is a little extreme. He is very much justified in casting doubts on whether it was WELL – JUDGED. ( results of many events – dance drama, musicals, solo dance and not to forget structure too were controversial). But the way he has written the article – he seems to be carrying the conviction it was one whole rigged fraudulent event – which is totally unreasonable. And many of the flaws in conduction that he mentioned – though they definitely should not have been there – werent so big flaws as to change results of events ( which are – I reiterate again – totally down to judges and subjective)and thus, his claim that these were made so as to make sure one hall wins is definitely unreasonable.
Rachit goes on to say the purpose of Galaxy was lost and the expected increase in participation was not realized – with same students participating again. This is a statement purely out of disappointment. It is very evident to anyone even mildly involved in Galaxy that this saw a significant increase in participation and interaction. The number of GH – 2 girls in the dance, drama, musicals etc? The number of y8 baccha’s assiduously practicing Dumb Charades,speaking for Debate, declamation etc., solving cryptic clues and practising for word games in Lit events? The huge turnouts to watch the events – ranging from dance, musicals etc. to even the small quizzes? There was also DEFINITELY a huge increase in PG involvement. So this was very definitely a major plus point of galaxy and Rachit waving it away in one sentence I think is a big insult to all those who have put in effort to organizing the event.
And the need for such an event is further shown by how badly the unlucky took their loss in the various events. This holds for people of all halls of course. The lack of composure and level – headed reasoning was immature, whatever the result be.
Overall, I feel that having Galaxy was a step in the right direction. I feel very happy that the students finally realized the need for such a festival. The conduction could have been much better – but that will come with time as the students keep pro-actively being involved – and such complaints are sure to make next year’s coordinators much more careful.
After the torturous second mid-sem, the break is a welcome change, with a week of peaceful no-guilt, all-fun awesomeness stretching before you.
I sleep less when I have holidays than not. I dunno why. Come college, and I end up snoozing through the whole morning getting up around 12 – 1. But when there s a break? Hell, no, sleeping times take a beating.
Friday morning 9 30 : I get up for the TA exam in a such a dramatic fashion that it deserves a post on it s own which I shall write next.
Friday night was a night out studying for Q – Mech the next day. Didn’t sleep till 4 P.M, when I slept for two-three hours. And from them straight, the next time I slipped into dreamland was Monday,7 30 A.M. A whopping 70 hours with 3-4 hours max sleep in the middle. Sat night was spent watching Gangs of New York with Soum, and Sunday night – half of the movie Big Sleep before I finally gave in.
The state of lacking heavily in sleep is awesome. I just had to close my eyes – just close it, no need to recline or anything – and i could feel my mind wandering into dreams.. there is never enough time when you are awake to do all the things you want to do! It was surprising how easy it was to stay awake though, I totally didn’t expect to be able to stay awake the day after a night out.
The next time I have to do a night out – it s gonna be a cakewalk. 
It was around a year ago that I made a trip to Kolkatta in the summer, and spent three packed days in bong-land. Seems like I am going to make the trip one more time – this time to buy books for the Book Club.
Kolkatta was extreme from what I saw. Free french movie screenings ( packed audience), awesome food, great travelling on the river – the good stuff. The ganguly-mad crowds, emo teens, disgusting face-eating everywhere and loads of Bong-The-Best jackasses on the other hand.
Loads of argumentative, opiniated chaps. Total ignorance wont stop them from arguing a case vehemently. A unique stupidity reserved for bongs.
I had a heck of a time shouting tamil swear words at passerby’s and shopkeepers. Dont critisize me – they seemed to be swearing out loud with every word they spoke. Shouting at the top of their lungs everywhere.
I went to quite a few of the popular places last time. Victoria Memorial, Eden gardens, Park Street, Dakshineswar temple, Belur Math, the three bridges, Nandan theater etc. And lots of traveling by boat and the Metro.Hope to catch a few of the others – including College Street and a few of the museums – this time around.
I remember a few Bong jokes me and a friend had made up. 
Where did all the little bongs come from? A : The Big Bong
When in Rome, do as Romans do, when in Kolkatta, get the fuck out. 
It takes one to get a Bong to argue, but even thirty cant make her see reason.
Will upload others as and when i remember them…
Our second video. Our poorest effort of the three probably. Still, this was the first time we were making a proper long video, learnt a lot from the audio editing.
I am doing ART105 , an introduction to the art of video-making. Our first assignment was to show going from hostel to faculty building top floor in 6-10 seconds.. this was our entry.
Well?
Semester IV – I st mid-semester examinations has left me with an even stronger conviction that the examinations in this place are a farce.
Take my Thermal Physics Paper. This exam was had 20% weightage of the course. The exam was for 20 marks.. so each mark in the exam = a percentage point for the whole course. Reasonable so far eh?
Well, there were only two questions. One was a fucked up tough question – 10 marks. It was from one particular topic – so if you hadn’t learnt that particular thing well – or worse, make a small mistake somewhere in the middle – Whoosh – 10 % gone in the blink of an eye.
These teachers should attend a course and learn how to set question papers or something. I remember chemistry last year. Inorganic – complicated structures of 4 different exotic compounds – two marks put together. And in physical – you had a 6 mark MCQ with no negatives. Absurdest thing I have ever seen.
And the TA guy put 243 slides on his website – and many questions were vague things he had mentioned in the side in the class.
I don’t know – either the level of hatred for setting easy papers just keeps on increasing with the prof’s who teach me.. or I am not studying at all. Hmm.
Sigh. No, seriously. What happened to the good ol’ MCQs and simple numericals?
I love travelling. From autorickshaws to aeroplanes, looking at people and places…drinking in the beauty of the rich diversity on the streets.. It is rarely that we actually sit and contemplate about life, and there is no better time than when travelling.
But there are always the sticky situations. It was a crowded bus in Chennai, and it was a long journey. I was standing in the middle, and was hanging on to those thingummies that you hang on to in buses and trains.
I was feeling extremely sleepy.. and i had just had some heavy food at my friends place. Now usually, in crowded buses, you just SLEEP, leaning on people, taking support at weird angles. But, there was a sight problem here.
I was surrounded on all sides by women, young women. Front, back, left and right. All twenty-something. If i slept, i might just lean/fall on one of them. I tried desperately to keep my eyes open…but weariness took over and i slipped into dreamland.
“You Bastard!”
I woke up with a jerk. I drearily opened my eyes..
“I cant believe you.”
With a start, i realized that the girl in front of me( a pretty looking girl in her early twenties, one of those rich city types in skimpy clothes and with the latest accessories) was making a very nasty face at me and was uttering the above holy phrases.
“Err..uh…”
” Huh, always the same, you…( Tamil expletives I’d rather leave untranslated).”
“Err…I’m sorry..i slept off..”
She removed her earphones and said “What? what do you want?”
Double Whammy. I suddenly realize whats happening.I mumble and grope for words.
She s in a clearly foul mood. “whatever”, and gets back to her phone.
The other passengers start giving me nasty looks, thinking i was cracking indecent comments at her.
Sheesh! And just when i composed myself, i realized that my stop had already passed.
Talk about bad luck.
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