CaptainSpeak | A Conversation with Chirag Chinnappa

Ishaan Banerji, Class of 2019

In conversation with Chirag Chinnappa, Captain of the Men’s football team of Ashoka University.

Seeing Chirag play on the field, as the main striker of the men’s football team, you probably wouldn’t imagine that there was ever a time in his life when the tall, lanky fellow wasn’t heading goals for fun, but that time wasn’t that long ago.

Chirag Chinnappa, the captain of the men’s football team, was a professional tennis player in class 10. Sports is clearly one of his fortes. In class 11, he had to decide whether to move forward with professional tennis, or continue with school, and finish class 12. He made the hard decision to leave tennis as a competitive sport, and while looking for a sport to play recreationally, found a bunch of people playing football in a public park near his home. Chirag picked it up quickly, and soon became part of his school team, though by his own admission, he got a lot more used to a spot on the bench than a spot on the playing 11 in school.

“I didn’t expect the change in culture, when I came to Ashoka”, he says, when I ask him about whether there was a difference between playing as part of his school team, and playing as part of Ashoka’s football team. “Being part of the football team back home was a sign of your love for the game, and of your commitment to it”, but that didn’t quite translate when Chirag joined Ashoka. There was a functioning team when he came in, but as can be expected with a batch of 130 UG students, there was only a small group playing on the team. There were some seniors of his who were extremely passionate about football, but in general, he reckons that there’s not enough commitment to the game at Ashoka.

“It’s difficult to keep people motivated, as a captain”, Chirag remarked as our conversation unravelled. “Why do you think that is?” I asked him, though I didn’t expect his answer: “No idea”. Clearly, being the captain of a team isn’t an easy task.

He points at personal priorities as one aspect of the issue. Football, and sports in general, isn’t high enough on the list of priorities of most people. There are often people who aren’t coming to practice because something else came up, and they didn’t shrug that off for football. As Chirag pointed out, there’s not much to be done about one’s priorities. However, something that he thinks can be changed is the level of facilities at Ashoka University, and the attitude towards sports that the Administration and higher-ups in the University hold.

Currently, there’s one half-a-cricket-field, which is being encroached upon by the faculty building being built, and one football field that is only big enough for 9-a-side and isn’t even maintained well-enough to be grassy throughout the year. There wasn’t even a functioning tennis court on campus until last month. Issues like these cannot be solved immediately, as it’s a question of space more than anything at this point, but it reflects the importance given to sports during the planning of the University. The sports programs here are suffering, as they’re often considered secondary to academic and other extra-curricular programs. People high up in the chain of command of the University need to take note of the sporting potential on campus, and take steps to realize it, for there’s only so much a football team can do practicing 9-a-side throughout the year.

As captain, the issues he faced included issues of the pitch, and of a larger nature than strategies and line-ups. There’s not enough funding to send teams out to play and compete regularly, and “without tournaments, there’s not enough exposure or scope for improvement in the team” according to Chirag. Players have to pay for their jerseys as well, which is not a common practice across universities. While this is not a major issue, it is representative of how the college could make processes smoother and easier for sports-persons but isn’t. Along with that, the fact that attendance isn’t always guaranteed for sports-persons representing the University is something of a thorn in any athlete’s side. While the OAA forwards information about the student’s activities to the relevant professors whenever something like this comes up, it is still the professor who has the last word on whether the person is penalized for not attending class.

Talking about the football team, Chirag is happy about how the team has been improving year on year, with more people coming in and wanting to play football. When I asked him about his best moments as captain, he pointed his first trophy win at Gateway College, Sonipat in August 2018 as a standout moment.

The Men’s Football Team at Gateway College, Sonipat

However, he also said that the feeling he gets when he takes warm-up before matches is unparalleled, as it is always a moment of great anticipation and pride as captain. An incident during the Agneepath semi-final still stands out for him among his footballing memories. He missed a penalty during the shootout against Jindal, and the team went on to lose the match. Chirag was shamelessly unembarrassed about the whole affair.

As captain, the biggest difference he’s felt has been the pressure on the pitch. “I’m not just playing my own game, I’m playing 10 other person’s games, and I’m also playing the bench’s game”, a mentally exhausting activity which coupled with the pressure sometimes becomes difficult. Nonetheless, he’s enjoyed being captain for the last year, speaking especially about the great pride that it is to represent the team and Ashoka University.

He also took a moment to appreciate Shashwat Ghatiwala, who has been a great help for Chirag over the period of his captaincy. When I asked him about what role football plays in his life, he didn’t have to think much about it before proclaiming that it was a massive part of his life, structuring his days, his weeks and pretty much his entire year.

When the conversation turned to the difference between the men’s and women’s team, he said that he’s extremely proud of the way the women’s team functions, not only showing commitment but also showing results on the field. However, he said that he had noticed a regrettable difference in the way the two teams were perceived, with the women’s team never being considered on the same level as the men’s, though they’ve been much more successful in tournaments. He spoke with pride about how the guys in the team are invested in the girls team and always show up for their matches, and vice versa.

Chirag spoke highly of Sunil Dahiya, the Sports-In-Charge of the University, and believes that he’s doing the best he can, with an understaffed sports department and not much backing from the administration. He’s sure that with a better support system, Mr. Dahiya will be able to greatly improve the sports programmes at Ashoka. He said that he knows of people who’ve chosen Jindal over Ashoka simply because of the better sports facilities across the highway, and suggested that if sports and sporting abilities could be taken into account during the admissions process, Ashoka is bound to better its sporting record.

As a closing comment to our talk, Chirag mentioned that he’s happy about how skill is increasing in the football team, but is still slightly puzzled about how to encourage and bring out the kind of passion that he has for football in the Ashokan community.

The NDA Government at 4: Mr. Yashwant Sinha at Ashoka

Vinayak Sahi, Class of 2020

The Ashoka University Economics Society (AUES) invited Mr. Yashwant Sinha to give a lecture on 3rd April 2018 for the last talk of its “Indian Economy at 70” series. The talk, in my opinion, was a depressing, but accurate picture of the Indian economy as the NDA edges towards the 2019 elections. The NDA, in essence, has failed to tackle any of the problems it inherited from its predecessor, UPA-2, and instead has made the situation worse by mismanaging the economy.

Yashwant Sinha is no light-weight in Indian politics. He was a career officer in the IAS from 1960 to 1984. He then switched tracks to politics by joining the Janata Dal, and then the BJP. Later, he became the Minister of Finance for a year, in the 1990 Chandra Shekar cabinet, and for five years in the Vajpayee government from 1998 till 2002. He is seasoned in dealing with the Indian economy, so when he speaks against the present management of the economy, his views need to be taken seriously.

During the talk, the former Finance Minister delved largely into three areas of concern — the agrarian distress, the swelling Non-Performing Assets (NPA) of the banking sector, and unemployment among the youth.

Members of the AUES with Mr. Yashwant Sinha

He said that the agrarian distress is the issue that may come to hurt the ruling BJP the most in the coming general elections. The farming sector of the nation is in peril. Today, the farmer, not being able to generate even half the cost of production as revenue, goes to the bank and secures a loan with his land as collateral for the next season of production, only to realize that the supply glut has continued, and this time, too, he cannot generate enough revenue to pay back the loan or invest in the next season of production. Naturally, the politician seeing this problem as an opportunity, promises loan waiver to the farmer and the farmer (which constitutes over 25% of the Indian population) votes for this agenda, hoping to get out of the mess. The politician, however, after entering office realizes that he cannot fulfill his promise due to another problem in the economy — the NPA issue.

The banking sector today is in the doldrums due to the massive NPA burden that it carries on itself. NPAs are those loans given by a bank to institutions or individuals that aren’t repaid, keeping in mind that these loans are essentially just a transformed version of the common man’s banking deposit. Willful defaulters (those who, at the time of taking the loan, have an intention to default) constitute 14% of the total NPAs, and corporate defaulters are over 35% of the total. This means that banks cannot take the further stress of a loan waiver. Governments are formed by politicians who promise loan waivers, but after they get into office, they realize that banks are already stressed. Since they don’t want to default on their promise, they waive loans and guarantee the same from government coffers, which is essentially the tax-payers’ money. The obvious opportunity cost, which was highlighted by the former finance minister, was that as a result of this, the already strained budget sees a further increase in the non-productive expenditure of the budget, which opens another Pandora’s box. With smaller part of the budget going towards capital expenditure (productive expenditure), the economy becomes less productive, and with the added problem of a credit crunch, jobs take a hit. Youth unemployment is on the rise, and though it might be invisible due to the lack of statistical data, the former minister pointed out that the government will “hear the people talk” in the coming elections.

Yashwant Sinha has been at odds with the current government for the better part of last year and has opposed many of its policies. Yet, the BJP has accommodated him. The question that most begs an answer is why? A simple plausible answer is that as a senior leader like Mr. Sinha has traction among the people, and removing him officially could come to underline more boldly the mismanagement of the Indian economy, which is no secret, as can be seen with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) , to which amends are made on almost a daily basis. To summarize, the BJP would prefer Mr. Yashwant Sinha inside the tent attacking outwards, and not outside the tent attacking inwards.

A New Woman — The Brown Art of Instagram

Rohit M. Nair, Class of 2019

Illustration by @sam_madhu | Source: Instagram

A few months ago, I stumbled upon an image which was making rounds on Instagram. It was an illustration of a woman looking at a mirror, and staring right back at her from inside the mirror was a fierce looking Goddess Kali. This image made Samyuktha Madhu (handle: @sam_madhu) an overnight success. This was also my introduction to a part of Instagram that features artists, illustrators, and photographers who are trying to create an identity for the “modern, brown woman”. While feminist illustrators and artists started using Instagram much earlier to feature their works and bring forth new ways of imagining the female body, white-centric feminist art forced Indian artists to create their own niche to redefine and reinvent their identities in the global space.

“Brown Art” is an effort to depict the brown woman, who has unfortunately found little representation in today’s world both inside and outside the country. Several Indian and Indian-born artists have imagined a “modern, brown woman” — one who is fiercely independent, confident and aware of her own self. Their works range from colourful and trippy pop art, illustrations, doodles, drawings, and photography. The struggles of the Indian woman as she navigates through the intricacies of the modern day is a prominent theme in these works. The illustrations are brutally honest and show the ridiculousness of societal impositions on women. These Instagram artists pull down benchmarks of beauty, like hairless bodies and thin waist, by realistic depictions of women with body hair, stretch marks, acne and myriad of regular features for which women are shamed every day.

In an interview for SheThePeople.tv, Samyuktha says that, at first, her art served merely as an outlet to document the funny and irritating bits of her life. But seeing how her work resonated with thousands of other young women like her, she now uses it to address topics like sexual liberation and body standards. Where the majority of representation of women comes from the male gaze, seeing women’s lives from the eyes of female artists is a welcome change. The rawness in the representation of the female body is a strong step towards de-sexualising the female form. By highlighting women’s bodies for coarseness and naturalness, Samyuktha seeks to shatter representation of women as highly sexualised bodies. The individuality of the woman, the work she does, the decisions she makes, and the emotions she feels are what occupy the center stage in her images.

Other artists have explored different ways of representing the brown woman and her individuality. The invocation of myths and cultural symbols seems to be a popular method. For instance, the Goddess Kali figures prominently in several artists’ works. This is significant because Kali embodies strength and power, qualities that are usually denied to women in popular representations. It is an overturning of traditional cultural ideas of the delicate and dependent woman. One of my favorite illustrations is of a very confident looking woman holding up a cigarette. She bears a tattoo of a lotus on one arm and “Om” on the other. Placing contradictions in view of each other, thereby showcasing the absurdity of societal expectations, is another feature of this art.The art then, becomes an exploration for the space between tradition and liberation, and differentiates brown art from white feminism. The effort, I believe, is towards creating another kind of feminism — one that acknowledges the interaction between religion, culture, and liberal values.

Instagram has proved to be fantastic space for artists to explore new, unconventional forms to represent Indian women. However, it is also imperative to explore the limitations of Brown Art on Instagram in its breadth and scope. The art is consumed by a modern, upper-class, (possibly) English-educated population that uses social media extensively. It is, by no means, accessible and open to most people in India. The question thus arises: is it possible for Brown Art to represent women who do not fit into the category of the ‘modern’ and the ‘educated’? I am hopeful and excited to see how Brown Art will take these differences and assimilate them to produce new kinds of identities, based on the realities we live in.

The author is an Arts & Culture staff writer at The Edict.

Fake Lies | Privilege

Rohan Parikh (Junior Correspondent at Free Press Pvt. Ltd.)

Fake Lies is a satire and humor series about Ashokan life and culture (or lack thereof).

With the academic year coming to an end and recruitment for the new batch underway, once again Hoshak University finds itself standing at a fork in the road. The question of diversity in the student population looms large, and unlike the solitary traveler, Hoshak’s love for privatized, untrodden roads will only spell trouble.

The Administration has always been averse to the idea of ‘mingling with the hordes’. It is as opposed to acknowledging the C-word as it is to things like fee-stabilization, appropriate resource allocation, and holidays for national Indian festivals.

“We cannot compromise on the quality of students coming in,” said an Administration official in response to questions about the lack of diversity among the student population. We asked him what he meant by ‘quality’, to which he shrugged and said, “You know what I mean.”

The Administration’s stance is simple. According to them, it takes an English-medium education, tuitions for every subject over and above schooling, a resume proclaiming a history of internships, conferences, and competitions attended and won, and twenty-one lakh rupees to make it to Hoshak. Objective merit, in other words, is what counts.

Moreover, research has concluded that meritorious people love coffee. Thus, Hoshak conducts outreach programs in places where prospective students can sip their beverage warm or cold, whipped or blended, iced or non-iced, with cake or without, while hearing about Hoshak’s incredible student body from various backgrounds that runs wide, but never deep.

Despite the Administration’s indifference, the problem of the lack of inclusivity is all-too-evident, and over the years Hoshakans have attempted to tackle the problem.

A second-year undergraduate student attempted to grapple with the problem. “Like, yeah, inclusivity is a real problem, man. You know, we gotta represent.” Upon asking him to elaborate, after some hesitation, he continued, “Yeah, like, this is not cool, you know. Like, inclusivity, and representation, and… yeah, it’s important. We need more oppressed people.”

Most times, however, Hoshakans are articulate about their views and do not hesitate to voice them. Yet, often they fail to realize the fundamental contradiction between what they say and who they are.

Almost every night one can find a group of students sitting at The Humble Capitalist (THC) having heated discussions about inequality and privilege while munching on pizzas and pancakes. The most outlandish claims are argued for, and like good philosophers, they do not feel the need for practical experience. Theory suffices, always. Moreover, we found that such conversations become more fruitful when Hoshakans are drunk. Thursday nights, therefore, are when all of society’s problems are solved, once and for all.

As the problem of privilege becomes increasingly popular, the student body is coming to realize the great social capital it carries. Inclusivity has become the new feminism; understood by a few, but harped upon by all.

Now, instead of flaunting their wealth, Hoshakans are turning away from such vulgar displays of affluence. The ‘cultural intellectual’ is the new fashion statement on campus. An increasing number of people now tend to speak in broken Hindi, grow out their hair, wear round spectacles and kurtas, and carry satchels. Of course, when a MacBook emerges from the satchel, the image is broken.

The Student Government, keen on wanting to remain relevant in the eyes of the student body unfailingly raises a deafening call for inclusivity every election cycle. However, it seems not to be very concerned about how ‘real’ inclusivity is actually brought about, so long as empty words and phrases like ‘inclusion’, ‘lack of inclusion’, ‘#inclusivity’, ‘inclusivity ministry’ etc. are thrown around.

It has been noticed that an increasing number of people are taking an interest in the neighboring village of Hansawarpur. Learning about the life of ‘those people’ has almost become an obsession.

Illustration by Ketaki Mathur, Class of 2020

“I’m like, so excited,” quipped a first-year undergraduate, “my friends and I are going to the village. I’ve packed granola bars, mosquito repellent, and glucose water. We’re gonna, like, go there and take pictures, collect samples, and record observations in our log books. People say there are, like, wild animals out there. I haven’t told my parents, though. I don’t want them to be worried.”

The student is keen on writing a first-person story about the hardships of poverty for her creative-writing course.

“Hoshakans have the roar of a lion and the memory of a goldfish,” said an MLS student, “We raise a racket, but soon enough forget the reason for doing so. But we continue ranting nonetheless.”

The Free Press has realized that the hypocrite wears a mask not only to fool others but also oneself.

The Creators | Sumit Sadawarti

Nivedita Nandakumar, Class of 2020

The Creators is a fortnightly series of artist profiles of Ashokans who are actively involved in different creative fields including music, photography, creative writing, and visual or performing arts.

I was first introduced to the musical genius of Sumit Sadawarti when a video of his Asia’s Got Talent audition was circulated within the Ashokan Community. As someone who has always had a soft spot for Jazz and Blues, I was pleasantly surprised when I recognised the song as “Cry Me a River”, a heart-wrenching piece performed by Ella Fitzgerald. A renowned musical virtuoso, her music calls on the vocalist to sing with equal parts of strength and grace. Sumit’s voice, which is inherently big and yet smooth and soothing, did Ella so much justice that everyone was left with goosebumps and teary eyes. Sumit has a way of connecting with the music he performs and ensures that his audience connects with it too.

Sumit knew ever since he was a child that music was integral to him. At a very young age, he began the search for genres and songs that he was passionate about and that he could connect to. Sumit gave a lot of importance to the tone, emotional delivery, phrasing, and the lyrics of every song he listened to. After a lot of exploring, he discovered jazz and the genre really struck a chord with him. Eventually, he also found himself listening to a lot of blues, soul, and classic rock. Diana Washington, Adam Lambert, Bessie Smith, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Chet Baker, Freddie Mercury, and Jennifer Hudson became some of his biggest inspirations.

When he realised that he wanted to turn his passion into a career, Sumit knew he would have to work for it. His family had their doubts about his ambitions, but on seeing just how much he was willing to work and push himself to achieve his dreams, they put aside their initial trepidation and became a huge source of support for him.

When asked as to why he chose Ashoka University over a traditional music school, he said that while he had gotten admission in New York University (NYU), Amsterdam University College, and Columbia University, he didn’t get the financial support he was looking for. So, he decided to come to Ashoka University and pursue Literature and Creative Writing.

It was during his first year at Ashoka that Sumit got his very first gig. He was at a party when someone came up to him and requested him to sing a song for everyone. After performing a piece for an absolutely captivated audience, a woman approached him, handed him her card, and said that he would receive a call the next day about doing a live performance at The Grub Fest 2016, New Delhi. After that, Sumit worked with a number of managers and performed at multiple venues three to five times a month. While this proved to be difficult given how demanding his academics were, he refused to throw in the towel and call it quits because he recognised how critical these performances were to his future as a musician. Whenever the going became tough, he remembered something Carl Paulman, the Director of the Boston Music Conservatory, said: “Well, my friends, someday, at 8 PM, someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed and a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again depends partly on how you do your craft.” It always seemed to bring him right back on track.

After his first year at University, he applied and got accepted into the Berklee College of Music — Jazz Vocal Program as well as the Musical Theatre Program at NYU, but at that point, his career was kicking off in India and he subsequently decided to stay at Ashoka. “I think it was the right thing to do,” he said. Despite having a steady stream of gigs, he felt like he had hit a roadblock in terms of progressing as a musician. He would be graduating the following year and the pressure of evolving his ambition was beginning to get to him. It was at this point in time that someone sent him an email asking him to apply to Asia’s Got Talent. He ended up missing the deadline. Sumit was disappointed but was fully prepared to find alternate roads to a new page in his musical journey. A few days later, however, they ended up extending the deadline for submitting a sample of the prospective participant’s talent. He remembers thinking it was a sign of sorts. He sent in a clip of him performing Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” which he sang at Jukebox 1.0. After a couple of weeks, he received a call to come in for an interview. When he finally made it onto the show, he recalls it as being absolutely crazy. At this point, he knew that there was no looking back.

His experience on the show taught him a lot and gave him a number of memories to cherish. Before going into the auditions, he remembers just wishing that he could interact with David Foster on a more personal level. After Foster played the keyboard for him during his audition, he continued to be a source of guidance and support during the rest of Sumit’s journey on the show. Along with Sumit’s assigned vocal coach, he helped him with his pitch and other technical aspects of his performances. Together, they played a very important role in shaping his voice.

Sumit with other contestants at Asia’s Got Talent

Sumit also remembers how overwhelming the twelve-hour shoots were for everyone on the show. The company he had, however, seemed to make up for the long hours. “Everyone was so talented, it was hard for me to believe that I actually made it to the semis,” he said. Sumit also met other regionally popular Asian singers. Despite being the only Indian there, he managed to click with everyone almost immediately. Together with the other participants, he created a musical corner in the studio where everyone would gather around and just jam together. Even after the shoot, they would sit outside their hotel and talk about their diverse cultures, traditions, and the kinds of music they all liked to hear and perform.

Sumit recounts (with some hesitation) how everyone used to call him ‘lover boy’ on the show. “I think that kind of became my appeal on TV. I wanted to be this young singer who had a distinctive voice. So I don’t know if I liked that portrayal, but I was happy that people were able to feel that pain in my voice,” he said.

Right after Asia’s Got Talent, Sumit got calls to appear in more television shows. “I have signed for two of them, though I’m not sure if I will be participating in them — I’m still wondering if I want to be a TV personality. That comes with a lot of pressure,” he said. “But I’m also working on an entirely new set. I have not done a concert in months. Once I am prepared with the whole thing, I will start performing again, starting at Ashoka — hopefully in April or May.”

After the show, Sumit also began working on an album he intends to release by the end of the year. “It is influenced by jazz and hip-hop and lies somewhere in the middle. The correct genre would be soul/blues/neo soul.” All the songs in the album draw from his own experiences, and he hopes that people will be able to establish a connection with each piece. He has already released samples of his songs “Under The Moonlight” and “I Got This Feeling”. He has also performed a few of the songs in his upcoming album during his live performances.

Sumit plays the piano and the ukulele, but he is a vocalist at heart. The instruments he plays aid him in writing his music. The lyrics and the melodies to his songs hit him at random moments in time — sometimes while he’s strolling down campus or even when he’s in the shower. When he gets back to his room, he attempts to “stretch it out.” He then creates a chord progression that works with what he has up until that point. While he doesn’t write a lot of songs, the ones that he does work on by himself are an embodiment of what he feels in his heart and soul. Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse are his biggest inspirations in terms of songwriting.

For all the aspiring musicians out there, Sumit’s biggest advice is that one has to learn to network. “Networking is key. David Foster taught me that. You can look great and sing exceptionally, but you need to create a network if you want to survive.” He went on to say, “Ask for help if you need it. Musicians are very approachable people and if you need help, [you can] ask me, or anyone in the business. Who you network with will determine how big you are going to get.”

Sumit hopes to eventually become a full-fledged recording artist. He wants to go on tours and share his talent with the rest of the world. “I know it’s a lot, but I’m really working towards it,” he said. Having already created waves in the world of music, Sumit will, without a doubt, become very successful in his craft. Leopold Stokowski once said, “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” To witness Sumit’s art is a gift. With his absolute dedication towards his musical career, it is not hard to foresee the world enthusiastically cheering and chanting Sumit’s name as he takes center stage.

Impressions of a First Semester

The second Pro-Vice-Chancellor writes on his introduction to Ashoka University.

My first days at Ashoka are in August 2017. The heat envelops me like a wall whenever I’m outdoors.

I walk past the Dhaba every evening to get to the faculty residences. The tables are buzzing with conversation.

I’m woken up at 2 am one night by the bright lights outside my bedroom window and the muted sounds of cheering. It turns out that there’s a match being played at the football field just adjoining the faculty residence building.

Rushing home from work at 9:45 pm one evening to grab a quick dinner and then rushing out again to participate in a quiz competition at 10:30 pm. My team comes second.

So my first take: the real action at Ashoka takes place in the late hours of the night.

It’s Friday evening, week 2 of my life in Ashoka. I’m told a prominent but provocative politician has been invited to meet the students on campus on Saturday morning. Who’s meeting him? What arrangements have been made, I ask. The students know, I’m told.

Already, some students and activists are staging protests. In the meantime, the politician has tweeted about his visit to Ashoka, so there’s no hope of keeping it nice and low key. I recall being narrated an incident in previous years that left politicians annoyed, the students feeling mutinous, and the administration seriously worried about the potential fallout.

So now I feel the true weight of the responsibility that’s unwittingly been thrust upon me — there’s no senior faculty or admin on campus apart from me, and my experience in reining in opinionated young people is limited to small groups. I work out a strategy with the student committee whom I’ve got to know a little; they communicate to the students that the politician is a guest, an invitee, and we need to show respect even as we disagree. During the actual interaction, students are open and vocal about their differences in opinion, but the incident passes without any bloodshed, and I heave a sigh of relief.

Take number two: I am really impressed that the students have enough maturity to express dissent, yet give due respect to someone with an opposing point of view.

I also need to deal with everyday challenges.
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Everyday challenge: Example 1

An email from a student marked to 20 people ranging from admin to the founders:

Admin,

The hot water on my floor has not been working properly for the last month. Please take up this issue seriously as I have been put to serious discomfort. I am supposed to be focusing on my course and not on the most basic amenity. I have been complaining about this to various people but NO ONE LISTENS!

Please fix it.

A student

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I attend an off-site where each of the departments chalk out their agenda for the year. I’m blown away by the research some of the faculty is currently working on, and their plans for taking it all to the next level.

I see students hanging out with faculty after office hours, discussing, debating, challenging, and listening. It looks like a healthy relationship.

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Everyday challenge: Example 2

A student shows great initiative in writing to, and seeking internship with a thinktank. The CEO of the thinktank forwards his email to us….

Dear XYZ,

I’m deeply interested in the area that your organization is working in and I’m looking for an internship with you.

Of course you must remember that just as you will be evaluating me, I will be evaluating you…

Oops! Looks like some coaching is needed on how to approach someone for a favour.

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People complain about the problem of stray dogs in India. Some of our students have adopted dogs that live on the road just outside the campus. Everyday, they take turns to feed and play with them.

One of these students gets bitten by a dog they’ve adopted. Anxious parents call, worried at what their child has to suffer, and complain about the menace of stray dogs. The student gets an anti-rabies vaccine but continues to look after the dogs. This also serves to make them realize that they need to do more than just feed and pet them in order to ensure that the dogs have a healthy and happy life. The dogs are all taken for an anti-rabies vaccine. Any diseases are treated by the vet. Some problems remain of course, even as I write this, but now the dogs are fed, vaccinated, and petted.

Take number three: that these young people are sometimes reckless, but they are young people with heart.

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Everyday challenge: Example 3

I am on a much needed break somewhere deep in the Serengeti in Tanzania, when I get a panic-stricken phone call:

I have a job interview coming up in 2 hours. After your safari can you coach me?

Now Ashoka travels with me wherever I go.

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Amidst all these different student concerns, there’s no escaping the fact that 70% of what I do is on other, equally urgent, issues. Apart from the routine administration, admissions, communication and finance, I work over the best part of two weeks, together with colleagues, both junior and senior, in administration as well as faculty, on the strategic plan for the university over the next five years. Then there is the process of preparing a plan to increase the diversity of the student population: to bring in students who may be facing some challenges, and thinking through how best to support them. I work on putting together a new organizational model to increase collaboration, but also greater performance orientation, while increasing the transparency of assessments. We evaluate an algorithm to calculate the number of classrooms needed. I work with the architects and project team in the context of the look and feel of the new block and campus coming up.

I start working on career support to students and am a little alarmed, first, at the pickiness of the students, and second, contradictorily, at the same time, at the overarching sense of worry among the students, that they would not get placed.

The admissions process at Ashoka is painstaking and the students are hand-picked; on campus, they are encouraged to question received wisdom and follow their own path. Which is a wonderful thing, but it does mean that sometimes jobs that are perceived to lack zing don’t excite them. One of India’s large prestigious companies turns up for a pre-placement talk where only 6 students show up. We are red-faced with embarrassment at the fiasco.

I find that many of the best companies in India, once we communicate with them, are quite keen to interact with the students, given their quality and the reputation that Ashoka already has. The question is how do we translate that keenness to them actually coming down to campus, and when they come down, how do we ensure that students show up for these interactions, and the companies understand from the enthusiasm of the students that in fact, hiring from Ashoka is a great idea.

I then work closely with a few volunteer/chosen students from the ASPs and YIFs to plan recruiting by companies. During the process of our interactions, there is an ‘aha’ moment when they realize that we need to work together on placements, make sure we know which are the most preferred companies that the students want, and go actively after them, and since it’s not going to be easy to persuade the companies to come, make sure that when they do come, we put our best foot forward to convince them to hire from us.

One of the more favoured companies suddenly announces that they would come for a discussion with the students in the middle of the Christmas holidays. It’s a much earned break for the students, who’ve been working hard all semester long. The placement committee takes charge. They get people to delay their break and to show up for key pre placement talks, even though many had already booked tickets. Even students who were not keen on the company or had already got placed turn up to make sure the companies carried home a good impression of the campus.

Yet another take: It’s inspiring to see the selflessness of the PlaceCom students in trying to get jobs for their peers, going well above and beyond the call of mere duty.

When I look back at the last semester, I realize that I am floored by the students. They’re an argumentative, opinionated bunch, sometimes with no sense of perspective, I think, when I get a long chain of emails on some trivial issue. But their hearts are usually in the right place.

They certainly are the most interesting part of my day.

Mr. Sankar Krishnan is the second Pro-Vice Chancellor at Ashoka University. He assumed the position on 16 August 2017. Prior to joining Ashoka University, Mr. Krishnan was a partner at McKinsey India and then later a private consultant.

Ashokan Entrepreneurs | The Bastion

Gahena Gambani, Class of 2020

Bastion Media LLP (The Bastion) is a registered news and media website which provides a weekly analysis in the fields of education, sports, and the environment. Started by our very own Sourya Reddy, Swagam Dasgupta and Chirag Chinnappa, The Bastion was born out of a deep-seated frustration with the condition of the Indian media today and a conversation about it over a ‘cup of chai.’ While what was once a conversation over chai is today looking at potential collaborations and sponsors, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed — the fact that this was something started by a group of friends. The Edict met with Sourya and Swagam to learn about a venture that primarily works out of dorm rooms.

There’s no lack of student-run media outlets on campus. What prompted you to start The Bastion?

Sourya: We actually had a pilot project called The Ripple Effect (TRE), which we started 2 years back. We found some problems with it and wanted to improve, so we stopped TRE 5 months in, and came up with The Bastion in August 2017. Not all of the TRE team was on board with the vision behind The Bastion, so most of the people in it dropped out. The Bastion is a media project that goes beyond Ashoka. The few student-run media outlets on campus mostly cater to the Ashokan audience.

Swagam: An important reason why we believe we’re more than just this campus is because the main problem we’re trying to tackle is that of uninformed opinion, a problem that plagues the entire country, and not limited to a college campus; especially in a place like Ashoka, where there’s a lot more informed opinion. We wouldn’t really have been addressing the main problem if we restricted ourselves to this campus or any other campus for that matter.

Why start with being a registered company? Why not start something on a smaller scale?

Sourya: I’d say the main reason we went official is because we saw that we had an idea, and we knew that we had it in us to implement it. But we felt that we won’t be taken seriously, and more importantly, we won’t take ourselves seriously, if we didn’t formalize it. TRE was our small-scale idea; it helped us realize that we wanted to do more within the field of media and reporting, and The Bastion was born out of that understanding.

Swagam: TRE helped us understand what we’re getting into, and why. It also identified why we want to take this seriously; those 5 months were very important.

It couldn’t have been easy to strike the balance between academics, extracurricular activities and The Bastion. How do you guys work around this?

Swagam: I think Chirag would best answer this question with him being football captain as well, but focusing on everything is extremely hard. You have to make a conscious decision to not study for an exam or to not submit your paper on time. Some professors like Professor Gilles are understanding because we’ve spoken to him, and the university is “that sort of place” [where you will find support], but it’s extremely hard. However, I think the team has now solidified to a point where if someone has work that’s pending, someone else will pitch in and help them out.

Sourya: At the end of the day, my advice to these guys, since I’m a year older than them, has been: “It’s how you manage your time. It’s not like suddenly you find yourself with 10,000 things to do, that just happens when people procrastinate like idiots” (glares at Swagam). I can give more time to the Bastion because my academics in the 4th year aren’t as demanding, but for Swagam and Chirag, it has to be 60% academics and 40% Bastion. It’s important to remember that as long as you prioritize, it’s not a problem, because you consciously put that pressure on yourself to meet your deadlines.

The Bastion team. Tanvi Mehta, Ayush Kathuria and Samanvith Inkollu, also part of the team, are not seen in this picture.

The Bastion has a significant number of contributors from Ashoka, right from writers to researchers. What would you say is Ashoka’s place in the journey of The Bastion?

Sourya: Ashoka’s contribution to the Bastion is big. While most of our readership is from outside Ashoka, Ashoka is an extremely talented place and it’s a great pool just in terms of people, ideas, and networks; all of it. How do we see ourselves giving back to this place? The running joke was that one day I’ll come back during placement season to take interviews for The Bastion. Hopefully we can give back in a way that makes Ashoka seem like more than an “academic place”, a place of real change-makers, because that’s what this place wants to do right? To make a positive change in society? The hope is that we do that by ourselves to start with, and give a direction for future Ashokans to follow, because going out and doing something by yourself is scary, and if there is a first or a second person to do it, it just becomes a whole-lot easier.

Swagam: We have also had quite a few mentors, because each person we interacted with had something to contribute. Dr Shanta Sinha is one such mentor.

Sourya: She is a child rights activist and Padma Shri awardee. She has a network of schools called the MV Foundation, and helped us a lot in understanding the field of education and the ins-and-outs of researching. The media studies department has also been fantastic; I think they just loved the idea that there’s somebody on campus who’s trying something in the media field, and they’ve been extremely supportive. Professor Vaiju, Sid Dubey, Josy Joseph, even though he’s visiting faculty, Prof. Hariharan, ex-studio manager Varun, current Studio manager Ranjit; the entire media studies department has helped a lot.

Swagam: And it’s not just limited to the professors, because I remember when Mr Jairam Ramesh came to the campus and we went to speak to him, we forgot to ask him for his Email ID because I was starstruck. Someone from the administration recognized that we were from The Bastion and gave us his (Mr Ramesh’s) personal ID — everybody is willing to help you here.

Sourya: A conversation with the Center for Entrepreneurship (CfE) has been one of the most fruitful conversations we’ve had. Now that we look at it, the support we’ve received has been massive; Everyone has always said, “This is wrong, This is right — but keep trying” — they’re always pushing for you to succeed.

Logo of The Bastion. Source: thebastion.co.in

Since you mentioned your interaction with the CfE, have you considered the Entrepreneur in Residence program? Do you think that is something that aligns with your vision?

Sourya: I have applied for the program, but there is an option of staying off campus. I want to be in Delhi for 2 reasons: almost our entire core-team will be on campus; in Delhi I can go around, talk and network. The EiR will be a great 5 months for us because it’ll be the first time anybody on this team will get to work on this project full-time. The last really good few months for us were the 2 months in the summer before our website was launched. My friends Athreya and Aakanksha from the Undergraduate Batch of 2018 were staying in my house for a month and a half, and that was very productive — we got 10 stories done, created some organisational structure, and got legalities done; all in a month-and-a-half. Having 5 more months of just doing that will help, especially given that we want to apply for full-time funding sometime next year. These 5 months will be our platform to push the project in the right direction.

What do you think are the biggest takeaways from your journey so far?

Sourya: The biggest thing would be understanding the importance of patience — because we now have more belief in this project when we look back and realize how far we’ve come from a ‘cup of chai.’ Today, it’s a registered company with regular readers, without any kind of marketing. We have a good network, a good starting base and good relations with a possible investor: all from a ‘cup of chai’!

Swagam: The number of places where we’ve failed is huge, and I believe it’s important to surround yourselves with people who will support you, in terms of your team, and otherwise, because the number of people who weren’t part of The Bastion but still supported it was very heartening.

Sourya: And not just supporting it in the sense of “Yes, you can do it”, but supporting you in the sense of pointing out your mistakes and telling you where you need to improve.

Swagam: You have to be prepared to venture into areas you have no clue about, but you have to get into it, and you have nobody to teach you.

Sourya: Failure doesn’t mean the big things like “ Man, this entire project is falling apart”. It can even be small things like the font isn’t good or the website isn’t fast enough. So we still fail every day, but once you fail, the patience to pick-up and keep going is what matters the most.

Swagam: Remember to have a fun working environment, just to reduce the stress.

How would you describe your team members?

Sourya: Swagam is the go-to-guy. If he says that he will do something, he will actually do it. If I see the big picture, he sees 20 big pictures, and it’s always nice to see what that view can be. Chirag is extremely diligent; at one point Chirag was the only one editing five 1000-word articles every week, making sure the facts and grammar are right, the arguments make sense, and ensuring that The Bastion agrees with the standpoint of the writer. Managing The Bastion along with football and academics isn’t easy, and he has a great work ethic.

Swagam: I like to call him (Sourya) the diligent one in collating all the ideas, seeing what aligns with a particular goal, and how to get to that level. That sort of direction is extremely important, and I think Sourya and Chirag are a great combination, because where Sourya dreams, Chirag comes and lays the foundation. Chirag often says “I will not move forward from this until I have everything in place”, and this is a really good combo to witness.

Sourya: That way all three of us are big picture thinkers, with Chirag looking at the finer details of the picture, Swagam looking at the outer details, and me somewhere in the middle.

And lastly, how did you come up with the name ‘The Bastion’? What was the inspiration?

Sourya: We were talking about changing the name because The Ripple Effect felt too much like an NGO. We wanted a name that stood for something, and when Tanya Rohatgi from the Undergraduate Batch of 2018 came up with Bastion, we refused it immediately, but when we thought about it again, we liked it.

Swagam: More importantly, the domain name was available!

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Sourya Reddy (Founding Undergraduate Batch), Swagam Dasgupta and Chirag Chinnappa (Undergraduate Batch of 2018) are co-founders of Bastion Media LLP.

Ashokan Entrepreneurs is an initiative to put under the spotlight budding entrepreneurs among the existing students and alumni of Ashoka University.

Ashokan Entrepreneurs | Karigari

Aashay Verma, Class of 2019

Gurasheesh Singh, founder of Karigari and member of the founding Undergraduate Batch of Ashoka University, is proficient at a lot more than one would think. An ardent sportsman, he has represented his home state, Jammu and Kashmir, at National Level Cricket and Shooting Tournaments. At Ashoka, he got the complete experience, and arguably much more than most of us can ever get out of this university: He was a member of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution, he was in Ashoka’s first Sports Committee, where he was instrumental in converting an athletics field into a multi-purpose sports field, and getting a shooting range installed. He also served as a Resident Assistant. Entering university intending to major in Political Science, he fell in love with history after attending Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee’s classes and ended up earning a degree in History and International Relations. His interests don’t stop there though: he is a fan of the sciences. When I went over to his place in Sonipat, he showed me how had built his desktop himself. The cooling system was built using a car radiator, a desert cooler pump, and a bathroom exhaust fan. Despite having achieved so much and being so good at so many things, when someone asks, “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Gurasheesh?”, the answer is something else altogether: entrepreneurship. I sat down with Gurasheesh to get to know more about his venture Karigari and more about his life as an entrepreneur. Some excerpts from the interview:

When did you start thinking about life after Ashoka?
My final year- it involved a lot of contemplation. I was considering joining the army, writing the civil services examinations among many other things, but I finally settled on entrepreneurship.

I must place on record my thanks to the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ashoka for their Entrepreneur in Residence program (EiR), which gave me some wiggle room and a taste of the entrepreneurial life. I don’t think I would’ve gone down this path without their guidance and efforts. Even though the idea of Karigari came to me a few months before graduating in May 2017, EiR, which started in August and lasted till December, helped me crystallize Karigari into what it is today.

Tell us a little more about Karigari.
We are looking at handicraft industries and trying to add more value to the proposition that sits before the customer and the artisan alike. Usually, in enterprises, sales are of utmost importance, and hence the enterprise tries to extract the most out of the workforce — making it an almost exploitative affair. We are trying to be different in terms of workforce relations, because they really aren’t a workforce or our labourers, they’re artists. I personally admire these artists and art-forms a lot. I don’t think enterprises admire them as much as they should, specially when they form the basis of the enterprises’ existence. We are aiming to contemporize their products to the market demands. Handicrafts are innately “old” in their design: they have a historic appeal to them, but they aren’t relevant to the modern times in terms of functionality. While they are very aesthetically appealing, people don’t perceive these “artefacts” as functional items, which significantly reduces their market appeal. We are trying to change this. At the same time, we have a chapter in the pipeline which works with recycling. We want to produce decor, gifting items, and ambient lighting using recycled raw materials.

Who is your customer?
Karigari has multiple customer segments. The luxury products are targeted to the first-world audiences abroad, and the Indian metropolises. We also have more affordable products aimed at the youth.

How do you take Karigari to the market?
We haven’t begun advertising because we aren’t selling yet. Karigari is only a few months old. Before starting this venture, we spent some time doing our research in this sector and affirming if we wanted to do this. Then we looked at the possibilities of what could be done. We only really started 4 months ago, in December 2017, and are now working on our line of products. We have started our pilot-tests in the markets in exhibitions and niche markets. Our website karigari.org is up and is slated to be completely functional by mid-May this year.

Do you work alone?
No, we are a team. Professor Gwen Kelly from the History department is a partner here along with a YIF alumna, Saumya Seth, who is also a partner. We also work with a Young India Fellowship ELM (Experiential Learning Module) team, and finally, we have our artists in Kashmir.

We have also sourced a lot of talent from Ashoka. Meher Sachdeva from the Undergraduate Class of 2018 is managing our social media marketing: we are putting together a team soon. When I was working on our website, there was some issue I couldn’t solve, so I contacted Yash Joshi from the ASP (Ashoka Scholars Program) to help me with it. (Pointing to a picture on the Karigari website) The smoke you see here is coming out of Shubhankar Mukherjee’s a.k.a. the “Smoke Machine 3000”’s lungs. This is the spirit of bootstrapping in entrepreneurship. (laughs)

Can you describe your typical day as an entrepreneur?
No. (laughs) It’s very difficult to describe a typical day. An ideal day, though, is where I waste little time: where I get work done, don’t compromise on my health and eat properly. The scheduling is completely haywire, though. There are days when I wake up at 5AM and then there are days when I wake up at 3PM. There is no typical day, and that’s a problem- a more structured daily schedule would certainly make life easier.

What is your greatest fear about being an entrepreneur?
My biggest fear is sustaining too high an opportunity cost for being an entrepreneur: going down this road versus appearing for competitive examinations. Being an entrepreneur also means engaging in a high-risk activity. Since the risk profile is high, it brings in the question of financial security, but I’m not too scared about that.

As an entrepreneur do you have any ventures that you look up to?
Absolutely- It might sound cliched, but whatever Mr. Musk is doing is quite phenomenal. I was a fan of his electric cars from the time when they weren’t the fastest to go to the 100 km/h mark, and now they are, so I’m quite happy about it. Also, while there are massive players towering internationally, I feel it is important to admire local ventures — there’s this gentleman who manufactures mattresses near the Bahalgarh intersection in Sonipat. He started manufacturing with his father in a couple of rooms near his farm, and now has a full-fledged factory with over 20–30 rooms, manufacturing and selling mattresses in Haryana, Delhi and Punjab, and has developed an impressive revenue stream.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Gurasheesh Singh, founder of Karigari and a very talented individual otherwise, is part of the Founding Undergraduate Batch of Ashoka University. You can find him on campus almost every day.

Ashokan Entrepreneurs is an initiative to put under the spotlight budding entrepreneurs among the existing students and alumni of Ashoka University.

Snowed peaks and hidden trails: The Kedarkantha Trek

Ketaki Mathur, Class of 2020

13th March, 2018

Having reached the village Sankri the day before, we woke up early to begin our trek to Kedarkantha, a Himalayan range peak located in district Uttarakashi, Uttarakhand. The shock of the ice-cold water on my face jolted me out of my sleep. I laced my shoes, got the trekking pole, wore my heavy rucksack, and I was good to go!

Five minutes later, I was out of breath. Hands on my waist, panting and sweating, I asked, “How much more?”

My friend gave me a strange look and said, “Dude, the trek hasn’t even begun yet. We’re going for breakfast. Then we’ll start”.

As we started walking from Sankri, up the mountains, I was enamoured by the beauty around us. Snow-frosted peaks, azure sky, soft wisps of clouds, and lush green meadows accentuated by the strong, sharp sunlight. Though initially a group of twelve trekkers, we were soon joined by two more, whose ability surpassed even our trek leader. Neither were they ever out of breath, nor did they seem lost in the winding paths of the mountains. I wondered whether this ability was a product of their life in the mountains or a miracle of their paws and tails. The two dogs accompanied us throughout, wagging their tails and offering encouraging licks to those left behind.

The campsite was in a small clearing between the mountains. We pitched the tents, ate lunch of steaming hot dal, sabzi and roti, and tried to get used to idea of toilet tents (SPOILER ALERT: we never really did). Soon after, I went around the campsite, exploring the nearby lake, the mountain forests, finding even a bit of snow, and, for some strange reason, a dog skull (which we later offered in a bonfire, but that’s another story altogether).

As I began to settle for the night, lulled by campfire songs and stories, I heard a commotion outside. I emerged from my tent and found out that two glinting eyes had been spotted in the light of a torch. It was all chaos thereafter with someone screaming, “bhaago!”, and everyone running helter-skelter. Opinion still remains divided as to whether it was a bear or a snow leopard. Many theories and observations have been offered, but no conclusive decision has been reached.

14th March, 2018

We began our trek early next morning and went up the verdant mountain. I regretted not going to the gym; it wasn’t easy to climb the constant incline of the mountains. The trees cleared, and all of sudden there was snow! The view was absolutely stunning. Snow peaks in the distance, a checkerboard of grey and white, and a huge sheet of smooth white snow on the towering mountain ahead of us. I gingerly put my foot in the snow, not knowing what to expect. My feet sank in a little but I was able to walk.

At the Kedarkantha base camp, we saw the Kedarkantha peak in the distance deceptively calm but commanding a sense of respect.

Our guide from Renok, the trekking organisation, took us for a walking-in- snow session in the evening. The higher hills, still covered by a thick layer of snow, served as training grounds. I put my foot in the snow expecting an experience similar to our day earlier, but my foot sank into the snow till my knee! We had our Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani moment, too, in the evening building a snowman, having a snowball fight, and getting aesthetic pictures for Instagram.

15th March 2018

Our alarms went off at 2 AM. The stars were still out. We had planned to reach the peak for sunrise, and trekked on pure, slick ice with just our flashlights to guide us. The higher we went, the chillier and more determined the icy wind became. After a long walk, punctuated only by conversations about The Lord of the Rings, I began to see our surreal surroundings in the soft morning light. Plants silhouetted black against the white background. But the peak on the distance was disappearing into a huge cloud of a grey windy mountain. A storm was coming. We began our final ascent hailing the names of all the gods we could think of and trying not to look at the daunting mountain ahead. The buffeting wind threatened to blow us off our feet. One misstep, and we could have fallen down the cliff.

When we finally made it, the feeling was extraordinary. Shouts of exhilaration reverberated at 3800 metres. The wind was strong, but our spirits were stronger. We prayed at the temple on the top of the peak and clicked a few pictures evidencing our achievement. I couldn’t feel my hands and toes but I could feel a sense of wonder and amazement.

As we began our descent, the clouds erupted into a heavy snow. The storm persisted and threatened to make our tents fall in. We all had to pitch in and take turns to clear the snow off our tents. Our base camp was unrecognisable, now covered by a layer of white. Then, all of sudden the sun came out and the weather cleared. The sun was golden, sitting just above the horizon of the mountain range. We enjoyed the fresh snow till it was dark and I realised with a heavy heart that it would be the last time we all would see the snow, warm our hands on a cup of the morning tea, see a sky full of stars, and tease and talk to one another. Then, I saw the toilet tents. Okay, maybe it was time to go home!

P.S. The dog went up the peak and was back without a hair out of place. A true trek leader.

Ashokan Fests

By Ketaki Mathur, Class of 2020