Fake Lies | The Hoshakan Intellectual

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

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

Ever since its inception, Hoshak University has been a fertile breeding ground for intellectual poseurs. Intellectual faffing has come to be a way of life among the students. While the tendency to faff is by no means restricted to Hoshak — one could argue that it is how the world works — this posturing assumes interesting dimensions in this small space.

Intellectual faffing is defined as a condition wherein individuals feel the irrepressible need to piggyback on established views to seem and sound smart. The Administration has found that such behavior is primarily inspired by a crippling fear of being unable to live up to the standards of the University. As a result, students resort to faffing in order to create and maintain their self-worth on campus.

Illustration by Ketaki Mathur, Batch of 2020

An Administration staff member spoke to us about her views on the situation. “I think Hoshak’s marketing team has overachieved. In the eyes of the students, this is not a place where intellectuals are created — which is what it intends to be — but a place where towering intellectuals are chosen to come and argue. These poor kids probably think we’re keeping score or something; that we’ll throw them out if they can’t prove their intellectual superiority at least thrice a day.”

Faffing is deeply entrenched in the average Hoshakan’s communication on a daily basis. Different batches, moreover, have different reasons to get into pointless debates.

The first-years’ need for acceptance drives them to do various things like committing to harmful relationships, drinking incessantly, founding political parties, and, of course, faffing. The second-years believe they’re above this need for acceptance, but their source of faffing seems to be sourced in the hope of receiving adulation from the first-years. The third-years resort to it to justify their presence at Hoshak for three long years and the fourth-years find themselves so adept at this skill, that they find faffing to be their best bet at getting jobs.

Despite the circumstances that have given birth to this trend of faffing, it is almost never vulgar bravado. This is what distinguishes Hoshakan faff from outside-world faff.

Research conducted by the Psychology department has shown that Hoshakans deploy a series of subliminal messages that create an implicit intellectual hierarchy among students. One’s position in the pecking order is crucial when it comes to debating and arguing, since it determines the qualitative worth of an individual’s stance, thereby strengthening their case, regardless of the actual character of their argument. In other words, one’s social worth acts as latent faff currency, to be used to one’s advantage when arguing.

A classic technique employed by students involves carrying several bulky books and roaming about in public spaces like the mess or the common rooms. It creates an air of erudition around these individuals. However, to avoid being asked questions about the book, which are seldom opened, students plug in their earphones and walk briskly. The number of students deploying this tactic increases exponentially during lunch hours in the mess, and at late nights during finals week.

During arguments, contrarian views are usually avoided, since that would require actually defending them. Opinions that fall largely within the University’s accepted moral and cultural grain are repeated in very many ways. A math major’s research indicated a correlation between the simplicity of the concept explained and the accompanying jargon. She claims the two are directly proportional.

A similar range of catchwords and key phrases (interesting; problematic; amaze; dude, totally; ‘yaaas queen’ — depending on the amount of alcohol consumed) are employed during conversation to drive home a point. Moreover, well-dressed individuals tended to get heard more often, but not more than individuals with a baritone and longish hair. The most lethal combination is a well-dressed individual with a baritone and longish hair. We found the latter are also most likely to get elected to office.

Most interestingly, we noticed that quite a few students have managed to perfect what has colloquially come to be called ‘The Gaze’. Reportedly, several students perform it on a daily basis. After spending much time hiding inconspicuously behind bushes, we finally spotted a ‘gazer’.

A Hoshakan was sitting outside the mess in front of the lawns, his ‘intense’ face glowing in the rays of the evening sun. His eyes were deep and reflective, yet kind and sincere. He sat motionlessly; only the slight heaving of his chest betrayed signs of his attachment to the material world. We watched, astounded.

‘The Gaze’ is a brilliant means to project oneself as a ‘low-key’ intellectual and to arouse a fellow student’s admiration. Students who are able to deploy ‘The Gaze’ successfully find themselves at a huge advantage during arguments, since their thoughts are thought to run wide and deep, like an ocean.

Far from being stigmatized, the Hoshakan community has come to implicitly accept faffing as the accepted means of communication.

A third year undergraduate put it simply. “Nassim Nicholas Taleb said that the difference between magnificence and arrogance is in what one does when nobody’s looking. Well, I don’t think the distinction is required. I mean, how does it matter what you do when no one is looking? We don’t need more Wozniaks, we need more Jobs.”

Jobs, the University has finally recognized, is what this is all about. Instead of thinking of faff as an impediment to knowledge, the University is focused on turning it into the average Hoshakan’s primary weapon to outsmart others. The course structure for the introductory Critical Thinking Seminar is to be tweaked; it now stresses the importance of faffing as integral to the process of critically engaging in argument. The Arbitrary Disruption Union (ADU) is a club created exclusively to equip the students with basic knowledge of ‘faffology’, a term coined by the dean in his inaugural address. There are rumors of introducing a course teaching the history of bluffing through the ages.

“The way things are going,” says a fourth-year undergraduate, “we will soon outdo everyone. Colleges, jobs, attractive partners — they’re all a few good faffs away.”

This phenomenon leaves few things to certainty since all else is bunkum. Yet, the Free Press is optimistic about the Hoshakan’s success. The only mistake Hoshakans can make is to feel ‘inauthentic’ in their chosen path, since the path to true knowledge is far too long and winding. Faff is, frankly, easier.

Artists at Banjaara: In Conversation with Raghav Meattle

Kartik Sundar, Class of 2020

Not many people had heard of Raghav Meattle prior to Banjaara, but the crowd that rushed to take pictures with him right after his performance is bound to change that. The singer-songwriter is from Delhi, currently residing in Bombay for his music career. After his appearance on The Stage, where he made it to the semi-finals, Meattle quit his corporate job to pursue music full time. Raghav arrived at Ashoka University for a set at Banjaara, where he performed several of his original songs as well as some classic covers.

What impressed me the most about his set was the presence him and his bandmates had on stage. Playing with such rapture and confidence, he drew in more and more people by the minute. Opening his set with a cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”, he immediately grabbed the crowd’s attention. Some of his original songs, like “Better Than It All” and “Bar Talk”, got the crowd grooving along to his energy. It might have been close to thirty degrees outside but that didn’t dampen the mood. The entire concert was a purely happy experience, with people singing along and waving their hands throughout. On the crowd’s insistence, he closed his set with a cover of one his favourite artist’s most famous song, “Budapest” by George Ezra. Laid back yet soulful, the green-eyed heartthrob did not disappoint an eager audience. His cheerful brand of music was perfect for a warm Sunday afternoon.

Raghav Meattle performing at Banjaara last Sunday | Photograph by Shrishti Agarwal, Class of 2020

Raghav is as calm and chill off the stage as he is on it. Before his performance on Sunday, I sat down with him for a short discussion about his experience as a musician so far.

Kartik: Your rise to fame came from The Stage; what was it like being on the show? Did you improve as a musician?

Raghav: I was actually working a job before I was on The Stage, so [it] was definitely great enough a platform for me to quit my job. In terms of the kind of music I write and the stuff like that, it [was] completely different because it [was] a cover kind of show. But it gave me the kind of confidence to be able to push my music out; there was no way otherwise I’d have been able to quit my job and do this full time. It was a great experience because we spent two months with like fifty singers. That was amazing, to get to meet singers from all over the country. Plus, I’d been out of touch with music for about three years. I hadn’t played a single live gig. So, The Stage really helped because, suddenly, I was thrown into it.

Kartik: In college, was your inclination towards music different or has it been the same throughout?

Raghav: I used to play for a progressive rock band so, yeah, very, very different. That’s also because now, I’m playing the guitar and composing myself, whereas earlier it was a joint effort where five of us used to sit down and play. That way it’s changed a lot, but playing live is a similar thrill.

Kartik: What’s your creative process like?

Raghav: I’m a writer more than a musician, I feel. I’ve just been writing since I was seventeen years old, and I’ve been doing it for the last nine years. I’ve made it a point to write something every day. Some of it is rubbish — most of it is rubbish but it just gets you in that flow. That is something I’ve done consistently; so I feel, now, it’s become a lot easier since I have tons of things already written, and I just keep combining stuff. So, it depends, sometimes a melody comes to me before the lyrics do, but most of the time it’s a lyric-driven process..

Kartik: Is it an individual process or a group effort?

Raghav: I do it alone. I like the process of having that feeling, then I jam with other people. The melody gets sorted with my guitar itself, then the bass and drummer add their elements to it. It becomes a product from a stripped-down version to a band.

Kartik: I’ve heard your covers of artists like Passenger and George Ezra. Are those the artists you are inspired by?

Raghav: I listen to a lot of singer-songwriters. I listen to everything but the most amount of attention would be to singer-songwriters. Damien Rice, George Ezra…Mayer is like the biggest influence. Yeah, lots of Brit Indie bands as well.

Kartik: Do you see yourself continuing down this same style, or would you want to experiment beyond it?

Raghav: I’m actually doing a lot of other stuff also. The singer-songwriter space is something I dearly love because I feel like it comes from a very pure place, and it’s very creative-driven. I don’t care about whether it’s financially amazing or not. That is something I want to keep doing five years from now. Apart from that, I’m working with a producer right now in Delhi and we’re doing electronic music, so that’s completely experimental. All of that keeps happening on the side but this (singer-songwriter style) is something very personal that I want to keep doing. I spend lot of time on that, but it’ll take five years, ten years to breakout.

Kartik: I saw the video to one of your songs, “Better Than It All”, which seemed really personal. What was the process behind that song and video?

Raghav: I moved to Bombay, and it was my first week in Bombay after quitting my job. It was a lot about uncertainty and the point of it was if you never try, you never know. The video happened because this friend of mine, who does all my videos now, and it was a really great process, I was playing a gig and I told him to come down for it, and I knew there wouldn’t be too many people because we hadn’t promoted it. So, the whole idea was we show five, six different groups of people to look like it’s packed, but then we pan it to my POV (point of view) and it’s empty. So, yeah, it was good fun.

Kartik: Across all the gigs you played, which place would you say you enjoyed playing at the most?

Raghav: I played The Little Flea, it was amazing. There were like five hundred people sitting down before we even started playing. It was really nice. It had a vibe. There were like two-three thousand people. I feel like my music responds more to an older audience — it’s softer acoustic, while the younger lot likes louder styles. When I was in college we used to play a lot, we played in IIT Delhi which was great. The college battle of the bands we had were also great fun.

Kartik: In terms of other Indian artists, Parekh & Singh, for instance, who are playing today, are there any you’re inspired by or fans of?

Raghav: I’ve been a fan of Parekh & Singh since 2013. Back then it was just Nischay Parekh. I go for like two gigs a week, and I love watching live bands. Some of my favourites are Peter Cat Recording Co. and I love Prateek Kuhad. I also love the Ska Vengers, Delhi Sultanate, and I just love listening to and finding Indie music.

Kartik: What plans do you have for the future in terms of pushing new music, tours, and so on?

Raghav: I’m currently doing a new album, so that’ll take about two months. I’m trying to do as many things as I can ’cause I’m still new, only been doing it for a year. I want to collaborate with a lot of people with different ideas, and I think that’s what’s on my plate for the next one year.

Raghav’s music is only growing more and more by the day. He’s scheduled to perform at The Bar Cat in Delhi on the 3rd of March. Look out for his album’s release as well as any gig he is performing at, you’re guaranteed to have a good time.

The Solipsism Behind Our Sense of Entitlement

Nishant Kauntia, Class of 2018

The Banjaara team this year took various measures to keep us in check during the fest. Students of Ashoka were requested to sign a pledge of responsibility before the event. Posters were put up especially for Ashokans requesting us to comply with the university staff. These precautions were deemed necessary for the students of Ashoka, and nobody was surprised that they were taken.

One of the posters put up for Banjaara 2018

Yet, let us take off our Ashoka hoodies for a minute, and imagine visiting Ashoka for the fest as an outsider. Would you not find it absurd that there are posters in the university requesting the university’s own students to be kind to the staff? What impression of the students would you leave with? More importantly for us, what kinds of students does this university have?

You would think that we would be dying in shame that these posters were required at all. The absolute opposite was the reality. A sizable population of the Ashokan undergraduates still took issue with showing their ID cards to the guards during Banjaara. Somehow, those posters pissed us off rather than nudging us to bear the inconvenience for a couple days. The newly-made critical thinkers of Ashoka seem to read ‘cooperation’ as ‘submission’. Unfortunately, behind our noble spirit to question authority lies a much less noble sentiment of entitlement.

Entitlement is a word we’re all tired of hearing, though; so allow me to introduce a new word for the Ashokan discourse — solipsism.

In philosophy, solipsism is the view that the self is the only thing that can be known to exist. Indeed, this is an extension of the Cartesian view that has been engraved on Ashoka’s dining hall, “I think, therefore I am.” Everything and everybody around me might not be not as real as I am. In other words, as far as I know, I am more real than everything that exists.

There is an element of solipsism in every act of entitlement that we’re all tired of getting scolded for. Indeed, I myself am guilty of many of them. Take, for example, that we throw plastic and paper waste in the food bin; or puke all over campus after getting drunk; or don’t wash the dishes after using them in the pantry; or leave a talk in the middle because we don’t find it worth our time; or get irritated at the mess staff if we have to wait for food (more on this in future).

These are all acts that require us to not consider the larger community we live in, and be concerned only with our own solipsistic endeavors. It is the proclamation that I can be whoever I want to be, and the repercussions of my behavior will be taken care of by less real, less important parts of the Ashokan community. In light of this, it is understandable that the Banjaara team had to remind us again and again that the guards and the residence life teams are ‘only doing their jobs’. This reminder is a direct response to solipsism, an attempt to make us realize that other people matter and have perspectives that must be taken into account in our own behavior.

Gamers will testify that the kind of solipsistic behavior displayed by us at times is not far from how we’d behave in an artificial simulation. Everything else is programmed to work for me, and any barrier to my enjoyment is a shortcoming of the game developer (the administration, in this case). This leads us to another interesting observation — the Ashoka experience is viewed not as a community that learns together but a commodity that has been bought for my benefit. If the commodity falls short in any way, the administration that sold it to me must be blamed for not delivering the promised product.

The problem, of course, is that people who walk around with delusions about their own supreme existence inevitably become nightmares to deal with. Strike a conversation with the guards in the common rooms or ICS staff, and they will tell you in great detail the exact ways in which we make their jobs excruciatingly tough. As a community, we are failing to recognize that other people’s experiences when dealing with us are as important as our experiences while dealing with them.

Should we not expect better from ourselves, and each other? Are we really fine with the fact that there was a genuine need for the posters the Banjaara team put up? I, for one, am not. I hope that these posters serve as a wake-up call and nudge us to think carefully about who or what we’re rebelling against, and why. Let us envision a Banjaara 2019 in which the need for these posters is not felt. All that we need to do in order to get there is, you know, to acknowledge that we’re not the only living, thinking, feeling people around.

I will end, then, with a quote from Shivam Sahu’s speech in the first debate of the election season this year –

“Ashoka me jo education job create karne ke liye hai, uske liye nahi aaye hain, insaan banne ke liye aaye hain.”

(We’re not at Ashoka for the education that will give us jobs, but the education that will teach us how to be human.)

Nishant Kauntia is the Editor-in-Chief of The Edict.

Beyond the screen: A Baithak with Ravish Kumar

Himali Thakur, Class of 2019

“Jo so rahe hoonge woh bhi aajyenge yeh soch kar ki kahiin band karaane wale toh nahi aagaye?”

Last week the Office of Student Life and the Department of Performing Arts inaugurated a series of non-stage performance and/or conversation sessions at Ashoka University, Baithak. The inaugural Baithak on 17th February was with Ravish Kumar, the well-known anchor and senior executive att NDTV India. Kumar hosts the daily news show Prime Time, where he currently runs a “Naukri series” — a series that investigates the lack of quality jobs for youth in India.

Kumar began by introducing himself with his usual sense of humour: “mujhse kaha gaya tha ki apna biodata bhej dein. Ab yeh sab nahi hota merese.” As the students laughed, Kumar said that he believed that he had much more left to do before he could sit down and write about what he had done. For nearly twenty years, Kumar has stayed with NDTV, on which he said, “Kabhi-kabhi lagta hai talaab ka paani banke rahe gaya. Lekin kabhi lagta hai ki aisa talaab baney rahein jahaan khoob log paani peene aaein toh woh bhi theek hai.” With this introduction, Kumar launched an afternoon of Hindi poetry and political discussion — the two often overlapping.

The conversation with the students went on for a good one-and-a-half hours, interspersed with Kumar reciting poetry by famous Hindi poets like Avinash Misra, Shrikant Verma, and Kedarnath Singh. Kumar discussed several questions raised by audience members, including questions of independent journalism, the role of academics on “ground reality”, the walls of privelege, and so on. By the virtue of the setting, the major theme during the discussion was the role of universities in politics. Kumar thinks that universities have a huge responsibilty in the political scenario these days. One could say that he values universities for how they teach us to read the news. Kumar dislikes the political discourse in the media, going as far as saying that the hostile debate on television and in print media is a threat to democracy. If there were better and more universities and schools in the country, the lazy and dangerous political discourse in our media would not be allowed to continue. “Akhbaar khareedne se, usko padhne se, akhbaar padhna nahin aajaata.” Our universities teach us nothing if they don’t teach us how to be alert about the news around us. Education equips us with the vigilance that is needed to sustain democracy in today’s age.

At the Baithak | Photograph by Arish Azmat, Ashoka University Media Team

It is not that Kumar does not recognise that Ashoka University is a privileged space even amongst privileged spaces. “Hum, aap, sab priveleged,” he said in response to a question. Not everyone can have access to quality education in the near future. This is a fact that Kumar repeatedly bemoaned over the course of his talk. “Begusarai mein ek college hai jahan saath hazaar ladkiyaan padhti hain or naun teacher?” That, however, does not mean that we cannot share our knowledge with others. Kumar urged everyone present to be vocal about what they see and hear. Even if we are criticised for being academics who are divorced from ‘reality’ (a concept that Kumar challenged as being constructed), we bring another perspective. It is our responsibility to speak up, and what matters is that we fulfil that duty. If someone wants to listen to what we share and take something positive from it, it is their choice.

Kumar recited a poem, from Shrikant Verma’s book collection Magadha, that neatly encapsulates his point:

Koi cheenkhta tak nahi, iss dar se, ki Magadha ki shaanti bhang na hojaye.

Magadha ko banaye rakhna hai

Toh Magadha mein shaanti rehani hi chahiye.

After the talk, The Edict got the chance for an interview Ravish Kumar, which you can find below:

Himali: Aap ko lagta hai ki aapke show ke demographics mein “new” generation ke viewers hain? Aur aise viewers kya politically active hain?

Ravish: Mujhe lagta hai ki iske viewers hain. Kaiin log samajhte hain ki kissi ka bhi attention 3 minute se jyada nahi hota hai. Aap kuch 20 minute se jyada bolte hain toh koi usse nahi sunta hai. Main isse nahi agree karta hoon. 3 minute mein aap ek kitaab toh nahi padh sakte hain? Aap ka kaam hai viewership buildup karna. Aap kaise banaate hain, woh aap ki responsibility hai. Kuch logon ke liye jab tak pradhanmantri ka decision, ya koi controversy na dikhe, tab tak akhbaar “akhbaar” nahi hai. Aise jo log aas-paas hote hain, woh humein down kardete hain. Woh kehte hain ki, “Aap ko toh Padmaavat ki controversy pe [show] karna chahiye tha”. Padmaavat par maine ek bhi show nahi kiya. Ek report kiya tha jab Gurgaon mein bachoon ki bus pe violence hua tha. Kyun ki yeh sab agenda throw kiye jaate hain.

Toh, viewer milta hai. Jaise aap child abuse pe [focus] karein. Mere paas ek doctor Bangalore se aain thin iss story ke saath. Unhein maine kahaa ki, “Yeh aap pe depend karta hai ki aap mujhe kaise educate karte hain [iss topic] par over a period of time. Toh aap sochiye ki kaise images honge, kya kahaaniyaan hongi. Aur aapse baat karke mein bataa sakta hoon ki aapka baat karne ka tarika theek nahi hain”. Toh ghabra gaiin woh. “Kuch force hona chahiye! Apne subject mein commitment hona chahiye.”

Darshak ko aap hamesha nahi blame kar sakte. Agar aap child abuse [jaise topic] par ache se present kareinge, toh log dekheinge. Yeh mera vishvaas iss 20 saal mein aaya hai; baaki log shaayad nahi kareinge. Shaayad mujhe bhi lagta tha ki “NGO type story hai”, kyunki usse ek dead tarike se bataaya jaata tha. Ab mujhe lagta hai mujhe bataana chahiye. Agar meine ab itna experience liya hai, itni following hasil ki hai, toh meine kiss liye ki hai? Toh mein bolta hoon ki agar aap mere fan ho, toh dekho ye subject, padho ye, jaano. Toh, darshak mil jaate hain, aisa nahi hai. Aur woh aur intense debate ki demand karte hain, ki humein aur information chahiye.

Baithak mein social media par bhi questions aaye the. Jin logon ke paas social media par access hai, woh iss space mein aakar debates toh karte hain, [kya] uska koi on-ground effect hota hai?

Patches mein, acchi khabarein hai. Jab humlog Facebook or blogging shuru kar rahe the, toh mujhe yeh accha lagta tha ki bahoot saari ladkiyaan jamke likhthi thin. Woh apne aap ko express kar rahin thi. Yeh Hindi public space mein nayaa tha — sexuality se leker beauty — har cheez ko lekar woh likh rahin thi. Woh display karna badi baat thi kyunki unke network mein unke family ke log aur sabkoi [the], lekin woh politically express kar rahin thi apne aap ko.

Lekin, jaise hi troll army ka time aayaa, woh dhire-dhire receed kar gaiin hai. Toh ab bahoot se log inbox mein likhti hain, saamne nahin likhti hai. Aisa kyun hai ki woh ye baat comments mein nahi kahe sakti? Jabki usne aisa kuch agitate karne waali baat nahi kari. Kuch log bataate hain ki iske baad troll army unko chase karte hain. Unko threaten karte hain toh unko lagta hai ki, “kaun itna bawaal le?” Hamein inn khataron ka khayaal rakhna chahiye. Jaroor kissi-kissi topic ke liye, social media krantikaari kaam karta hai.

Mujhe lagta hai ki yeh sahi metrics nahi hain. Ki isse hum naa maan lein ki woh kuch alternative soch rahein hain, yaa aur bhi kuch cheezein associated hain [toh] unko lekar log critical ho gaye hain. Woh thoda relieve hona ka jariya zaroor hai — jaise pressure valve se release hota hai. Lekin usmein ye dekhna hai ki political parties or mainstream media aagaya hai. Inn donnone, margin ke jo log hain — jo idhar-udhar popular hain — unhein jo top ke log hain, woh inhiin ka hota hai. Toh, ant mein bahut kam space rahe jaata hai. Mein itna utsahit hokar nahi dekhta ki issko democratize kar diya. Lekin mujhe lagta hai ki ek space provide kar diya hai, jahan par hum aapka political preference jaan gaye hain, aur usko manipulate kar sakte hain.

Aapko lagta hai ki “hum ladkiyon ke liye hain”, aise rhetoric ko lekar politics mein log aage jayenge?

Politics aur sarkar jab bhi ladkiyon ki baat karti hain, woh feminism ki baat nahi karti. Woh ek tarah ke patriarchal setup mein slogan deti hain, “Beti padhao, beti bachao”. Kaun bachao? Tum kaun hote ho bachane wale? Tumne bachaya hai, jo tum bol rahe ki “Beti padhao, beti bachao”. Tum na padha rahe ho, na bacha rahe ho. Woh kabhi feminist nahi hote; woh uske image ko istemaal karte hain, ki hamaari sarkar mehilaon ka dhyaan rakh rahi hai. Isse lagta hai ki woh feminism se draw kar rahe hain. Lekin woh patriarchy ke system ko chedh-chadh nahi karte hain. Aap political party mein jaake khud woman hain, lekin represent patriarchy ko karti hain. Aap khud ko bhi represent nahi kar sakte. Pura setup aisa hai. Candidate chunne se lekar. Kahaan koi ground par koi MPs ya, MLA ya koi bahoot promising hain? Hain ginnene ke liye.

Yeh “amma”, “didi”, “behenji” naam [female politicians] ke followers dete hain. Ye party se aata hai. Toh media usko carry kar leta hai. Phir woh likha jaane lagta hai. Woh “chachi”, “nani” kehte rahein, lekin kya woh independent politics kar sakti hain? Aap koi party mukhyaalaya mein dekhiye, uss space ka adhyaayan karein. Isme auraton ko kya-kya space hai? Aur auraton ko ka kaisa space hai? Kya unke darwaaze ke baahar bheed hai?

Iss par India mein debate koi karega?

Hona chahiye. Chote-chote space mein hota hai. Broader space mein nahi hota. Dekhiye ki pechle teen-chaar saalon mein ladkiyon ke space pe kitna hamala hua. BHU mein ladkiyon ka protest kya tha? Ki hamein raat mein nikalne diya jaye. Toh usmein bhi bi-partisan debate hua. Ek dum se female vs. male debate nahi hua. Jo bhi auratein thiin, [woh] ya toh chup thiin apni political party ke liye, ya phir chota-mota likh diya ke “hinsa nahi honi chahiye”. Yeh divide hua jisse pata chalta hai, ki jo bhi samajh hai feminism ki, bahoot hi exclusive hai. Uska distribution logon tak nahi hua hai. Unse kahin jyada behetar gareeb mehilaen hain woh apne sangarsh se jyada space hasil kar paati hain. Ya dussere jo media mein female commentator. Woh sab bolte rahein hain, lekin koi bhi as a women force protest nahi kar paayein. Kyun ki unko apni political or religious loyalty ko apne aurat hone ki loyalty se jyada saamne laana pada. Aur ye kissi bhi issue ke context mein dikhta hai.

Ravish Kumar at the Baithak | Photograph by Arish Azmat, Ashoka University Media Team

Aap ne discussion mein kaha ki students to bolna chahiye. Lekin kahaan bole? Kaun sun raha hai?

Aap jahan hain, wahin boliye. Sahi bataate hain. Abhi mein gaadi main bethoonga toh usko raaste bhar samajhate chaloonga. Yeh hi bolna hai. Yeh aap ka kaam hai. Hum sab bahoot privileged hain. Yeh kitaab kaun padhe ga? Mein isko padhoonga na, toh mein iss par Facebook pe jaake likhoonga. Do aadmi bolenge ki “humne bhi khareed li; yeh dekhiye photo”. Mere bahoot sare dost hain jo bahoot saare kitaabein padhte hain. Lekin unhein kabhi kitaab ki charcha karte nahin dekha. Mein sochta hoon ki yeh toh bhayaanak consumer hai! Ekdum se Bikaner ke chips ke tarah gatke jaa raha hain kitaab ko lekar. Ye mujhe bahoot disturb karti hai baat. Aap koi kitaab padhte ho toh usse express karna chahiye, toh aapke aas-paas ke logon ko pataa chale. Redistribute karo apne knowledge ko.

Main kissi teacher se poochta hoon ki kya aap class mein bataate hain ki aapne yeh kitaab padhi hai? Warna humein lagta hai ki master bangaye aur ek cheez ratli, yeh hi cheez har saal aate hain bataane ke liye. Humare Master jab humein ghar lekar gaye, toh unhone bataye ki “main itna padhta hoon, notes leta hoon, abhi bhi padhte hain”. Accha? Humein toh lagta tha ki ek bar padhliya toh aagaye sab. Isse teacher ko dekhne ka nazaariya badal gaya.

Kuch log samajhte hain ki “chaat aadmi hai”. Aap mat sunana. Hum toh apnaa kaam kar rahe hain. Hum apnaa kaam kaise chhodh dein? Padhne se ek level ke baad aap kaheinge ki “hum toh stagnate kar gaye”. Toh aap communicate kijiye. Baat hi nahi kijiyega toh kaise chalega? Yeh hi hota hai jab log kahte hain ki “yeh society baagi hogayi hai”. Aapne uss society ko hamesha diya nahi toh aap par gussa nikaal rahein hain. Aur jab aap information se bharne lagte hain, toh bahoot saare log kehte hain ki “samajh aagaya hai ki aap kya kaha rahe hain”. Toh aap demand karo ki aap de kya raho ho? Abhi bhi iss desh mein bacche bina teacher ke paas ho rahein hai. Aap chahte ho ki unhein iss kitaab ka pataa chale. Toh sab batao: reference, source, sab batao. Isse aapka phayda hoga. Usska toh hoga hi hoga, aapka bhi hoga.

Classes mein dekhenge toh na toh koi diversity, naa hi acche teacher hain. Aur jo das-bees acche teacher hain, woh…bhatak rahe hain. Unko raasta nahi mil raha hai. Ek jagah tikte, toh shaayad kuch kar jaate. Yahaan se bhaagte rehte hain. Hum teacher ke saath khade hojayein, toh aise hi teacher ko kaise baahar karde ga? Ek baar karega, doosri baar sochey ga ki pataa nahi students mein kya reaction ho. Aapko agar matlab nahi rahega toh phir kya hoga. Kyun nahi bacche khojte hain ki teacher kahan gaye? Poochna chahiye. Aise hi poochlo: “woh teacher kahan hain? Acche the.” Isse class se thoda na nikaal deyenge! Aapko ek-ek inch jagaah hasil karni padhegi. Aap ek-ek sawal poochiye. Aise koi plate mein democracy nahi dega.

Artists at Banjaara: In conversation with Parekh & Singh

Kartik Sundar, Class of 2020

There’s something uniquely euphoric and dreamy about Parekh & Singh concerts that few artists can match. When they took the stage for this year’s Banjaara, they might have been missing their trademark suits, but they brought their entrancing vibe. Due to a lengthy and cumbersome soundcheck, the pair didn’t have time to don their signature coloured suits but decided to perform in pyjamas instead. Performing hits from their critically acclaimed album, Ocean, as well as a host of unreleased songs, Parekh & Singh delivered a mesmerising set.

Parekh & Singh at Banjaara ’18 | Photograph by Anant Shah, Class of 2020

The dream pop duo from Kolkata have been one of India’s biggest indie acts for a while now. Both members come from musical backgrounds; Jivraj Singh plays the drums and handles the electronic aspects, while Nischay Parekh takes hold of the vocals, guitar, and synths. They share an intense passion for music, viewing it as an art form that mixes science with feelings and emotion.

Having loved their music for quite some time, I could go on about each song they played, but two in particular were especially moving. Early into the set, Parekh played the initial chords to “Ghost”, and the entire crowd cheered in recognition; but what followed was a rendition different from the studio version. By stretching the song’s run time and adding a plethora of other effects, they made an already eerie track downright hypnotising. It was strangely satisfying to hear Parekh sing “I’m partially a ghost” at the end of that song. Their final performance of an unnamed and unreleased track was the highlight of the set. Involving the entire crowd through a simple “dum da da dum dum dum” chant, the pair created the perfect closing track. It was truly special when the audience began to chant in unison. Parekh & Singh succeeded in bringing Ashokans and attendees from other colleges together to enjoy quality music and have a great time.

Fresh off another gig in Delhi, the duo made the journey to Sonepat to play here in Ashoka University. They were gracious enough to give us a quick interview during their arduous soundcheck process, wherein we discussed their style, creative process, as well as their plans for the future.

Kartik: The two of you are arguably the biggest Indie act in the country right now. How has that rise to stardom been for you?

Nischay: It’s quite gratifying. The interesting thing was that there was a large phase of time where these songs were already out there…maybe they weren’t reaching as many people as they could have — before the videos came out and we redid our look. It’s what any musician or artist dreams of: of their work being celebrated and shared. It kind of feels like the music doesn’t belong to us anymore; it feels like it belongs more to the people who come for the shows and listen to the songs on YouTube or buy them. It’s quite a great feeling.

Kartik: I heard Ocean a while back and, when you guys came to Humming Tree, I rushed to get tickets. Since you’ve played at many venues like Humming Tree, which ones in particular were your favourites?

Nischay: We played a great concert at the Royal Opera House in Bombay a few months ago. So, that was another great one. We did a nice show yesterday at the Aurobindo Center of Arts and Communication. I think, with every show, we’re trying to do things that aren’t in a nightclub. So, something like this (Ashoka)…is a different sort of an experience for us as well as the audience, hopefully. We’ve just been having a good time playing at interesting and new venues.

Nischay Parekh (left) and Jivraj Singh (right) in a shot from the video for “I love you Baby, I love you Doll” | Source: YouTube

Kartik: One of the most interesting things that I find about you guys is your aesthetic — from the suits to the Wes Anderson-esque videos. I’ve heard that Wes Anderson got to see the video (“I love you Baby, I love you Doll”). What’s that been like?

Nischay: It was just a momentary, brief thing. Someone who works on his crew [and] lives in India probably just shared it with him. And, through the glory and power of the internet, he probably just saw it and I guess he was into it? Obviously, it’s a tricky one because I think he was also interested in the locations we found in Kolkata and Bengal, which might have been new to him. Yeah, it was amazing because he’s definitely one of our favourite filmmakers, and we genuinely love watching his films.

Kartik: Were the suits a conscious decision you made or did it just come up spontaneously?

Jivraj: Hmm, pretty conscious. I mean, there was a process involved to arrive at the colours we used for the suits. But wearing a suit was a concept we were into for a long time because it’s uniform: it feels like you’re doing something serious. But then the colours are kind of alluding to the fact that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Kartik: Your sound right now is unique. What were the inspirations behind it; were any Indian?

Nischay: Arriving at our sound: both me and Jivraj didn’t grow up playing or listening to the more obvious or easily accessible forms of music like metal or just straight up rock. From a very early age we were influenced [by] or exposed to a lot of nuanced pop music and a lot of cheesy stuff as well. From the very beginning, we thought about music through songs; we knew that’s what makes a song, or that’s what a song should sound like. When two musicians approach a song as a song, and not trying to be a rock band or a metal band or even a pop band, just being more scientific about the whole process leads to a different representation of the sound on stage.

Kartik: When you started composing, how did each of you influence the other’s style?

Jivraj: For me, it’s been understanding how to support a vocalist. That’s an important thing for a musician to do if you’re not a vocalist yourself. It’s a very specific mindset to do what it takes to make sure the vocalist is comfortable on stage. [Vocals] are the most tender instrument, and there’s a lot of amplification on stage. That’s something that Nischay has taught me a lot about, just how to play for the song. Like he said, it’s about the song and that’s not something that necessarily comes easy to everyone.

Nischay: I’ve only played with two drummers, and Jivraj the most extensively with. So, you know, just understanding the essential concepts of pulse and rhythm, even harmony and harmonic rhythm, just basic musical craft.

Kartik: So, it’s something that’s more of a scientific process?

Nischay: Yeah, it’s scientific but, at the same time, it’s quite intuitive as well.

Jivraj: The science has a direct correlation with emotion. It’s not just an intellectual thing; it is about the feelings. It’s just a way of describing the feelings, and crafting the things we do on stage and in the music to make the audience feel a certain way. So, those are the kind of things we’re interested in that we talk about all the time.

Kartik: Ocean was a fantastic album, and it got you guys a lot of success, both critically and popularly. At The Humming Tree you were playing a lot of songs that haven’t been released. Do you have an album coming out soon, or any tours?

Nischay: Yup. Follow-up album is ready and should be out later this year, following which we will probably do more shows and concerts and share our music with as many people as we can.

Kartik: Your fan base isn’t restricted to India too much, so are you looking to tour outside?

Jivraj: We toured the UK last year, and we want to tour more extensively in support of the second album and explore India more. For instance, coming here was not something that was on our radar even last year. But now the fact that there is interest in Parekh & Singh in Sonepat is a pretty great thing!

Kartik: In your own catalogue, what is the favourite song you’ve made and enjoyed playing?

Nischay: That’s a good question; it’s tough to choose.

Jivraj: I go through phases. Sometimes, a song which you weren’t digging a couple of shows ago becomes really appealing to play.

Nischay: Currently, it’s a song called “Surgeon”, which is going to be on our next album. Another one called “Comet Juice” is also a favourite.

Kartik: Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to interview you, and have a great performance!

Parekh and Singh at Banjaara | Photograph by Kopal Sinha, Class of 2019

Parekh & Singh are scheduled to release their second major album later this year. If the songs we heard on stage are anything to go by, it’s bound to be spectacular. Keep an eye out for their gigs wherever you might be; tickets don’t come easy for this talented duo!

Why I deferred IIM Ahmedabad for the Young India Fellowship?

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

One year ago, I was being interviewed by Prof. Chaubey in the final round of my Young India Fellowship application. I was due to fly to New York two weeks later to start working, instead here I was giving interviews for the Young India Fellowship, the Teach for India fellowship and later the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Prof. Chaubey took up an aphorism I had used in one of my essays and we went back and forth over the origins, the philosophical meaning and the Chinese culture that was embedded in it. The quote read,

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” — Lao Tzu

Painting titled ***‘The Hypocrisy of The Indian Education System’*** *has been done by the author*

My reading of the maxim was that the protagonist, afraid of ending up where he was heading, needed to choose an alternate path to explore himself and probably find a better destination. When I had to take a call on what would be the next step in my career, an important call that too, this idea took hold over my thoughts.

Let me tell you a little about myself: I graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 2015 and started working with Deutsche Bank, for their Investment Banking division the same year. After working for a couple of years, realization dawned that I didn’t want to perpetually continue in this field. I wanted to explore other possible areas of interest. This field offered me the position of a small cog in a big wheel, where my contribution was almost insignificant. Even if it were significant, I was only helping larger institutions get their debt financing plans in line. I craved for something more tangible as an outcome of my work.

The 2017–18 cohort of Young India Fellows

I began my research on the Young India Fellowship early on, in July 2016, which was much before I sat for my CAT examination for Management School. To be honest, I did not work hard towards the CAT and it was merely the hangover of my GMAT preparations that helped me crack the exam.

The thought of IIM Ahmedabad as the potential peak of my academic life did not appeal to me. I found it easier to list out the pros and cons of the decision that needed to be made now that I have made it through both the programs. Here is that list, to help future cohorts of confused prospective Young India Fellows:

The obvious career related or financial pros of IIM A are the ones I wouldn’t mention. The one significant one to me was that I would have a solid foundation for a career in India. I just didn’t want to make a choice that geographically constrained me, at least not yet.

The other cons of me choosing IIM Ahmedabad were,

● Conforming to the ‘IIT-IIM’ ecosystem. The trend of entering the IIT stream and then letting the stream take you to the same IIM seemed uncourageous.

● Repetition of social structure. (This is a fact for me because around one-third of IIM graduates are also IIT graduates and therefore there was limited new social intellect I would be exposed to.)

● Dream of education abroad unfulfilled. (My fellow mates from school had gone on to do their undergraduate degrees abroad and some of my IIT friends were doing their masters abroad. It’s not a matter of copying them, but I didn’t want to look back and say that I didn’t try to get the best education of the world and effectively ‘settled’ with my dream)

● Monotoned capitalism. (Most IIM graduates that I had known had monotonic views on a career and it was usually linked to a rat race for the best paying job. I don’t deny that that in itself was also a factor in my thinking, but the question that kept coming back to me was this: isn’t a career supposed to be more than just that? What’s the point of life at the end of it all?)

The pros of the Young India Fellowship and Ashoka, on the other hand, were almost diagrammatically opposite. The obvious pro was the well structured curriculum and the stellar faculty as well as access to resources. The only obvious con for me was an opportunity cost, which was rather financial and that of investing time into the program at an early stage in my career. But in the long-run, as economists say, an equilibrium will be reached.

The pros of me choosing the YIF program were:

● Non-conformity. (As a student of science, economics and finance, liberal arts was a new territory. It also led to me charting out a new path, where I was in charge of changing directions.)

● Novel social structure. (Ashoka and YIF for one, have such diversity in terms of professions, regionality, culture, age, educational background and more, that I still pinch myself)

● Dream still upheld. (The academic learning here is unparalleled to anything I’ve experienced before, both in pedagogy and content. It’s a great platform for me to extend this further to education abroad, even if it’s still an MBA.)

● Alternate career aspirations. (Folks here have aspirations that range from the social sector, politics, corporate, to design, drama and the arts. This rubs off on me to keep an open mind)

These laid the basis for me to make a decision. A key learning that I had during this decision-making process was that my well wishers were split in their opinions and it was a herculean task to mitigate their worries. Luckily the deferment option was available to me, which I took up and still have the option of joining IIM Ahmedabad in 2019. Although, I now have a job offer with McKinsey & Co. and this was something I would have wanted out of IIM A as well. I am going to now play my career life year by year and hopefully not disappoint myself!

Author of the piece Prateek Rastogi (on the right)

Prateek Rastogi is a part of the 2017–18 cohort of the Young India Fellow program.

Fake Lies | Of Fests & Fantasies

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

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

Illustration by Ketaki Mathur (For representational purposes only)

It is late February and lovelorn Hoshak University is eagerly awaiting the second edition of its beloved annual fest- Ranjaana. Conceptualised two years ago as a solution to the ‘stagnation crisis’ that has engulfed the campus, the fest is expected to help retain a sense of normalcy in the student body.

Two years since the inception of Hoshak University, the Administration noticed an increasing difficulty for the students to remain satiated with life on campus. The extravagant facilities, the vast range of food options and even the fluid residence access policy seemed inadequate, for students sought the ultimate freedom — the kind one finds only on the other side of the electric fences.

A staff member of the Administration put it succinctly, “Ever since its inception, Hoshak has been painfully aware of its seclusion from the real world. Everything stagnates, and predictably. Everything ‘is the same’ here — the buildings, the trees, the people, the conversations, even the form and content of outrage. You can definitely have too much of this place.”

This stagnation gave birth to several problems. Chief among them was the erratic attendance for lectures, reluctance to stay for the ‘fourth year’ (the Almost Settled Programme, ASP), haphazard graffiti on walls and perhaps most notoriously, the birth of two local distilleries (allegedly run by twins) situated right outside campus.

The administration even received an anonymous note from an English Major who was evidently fond of Yeats. It simply said, “Students are falling apart; the Administration cannot hold.”

After long deliberation, a solution was devised, one which would effectively burst the bubble without actually having the students leave campus.

Put simply, Ranjaana is one big metaphor. The fest secretary explained the driving idea behind the fest. “It’s obvious; Hoshakans are adventurers by heart. They want to be free. And what better way to realise that freedom when you’re stuck in a tiny campus than to organise an entire fest that conjures the illusion of travel?”

Genius.

On a twenty — five acre campus, Ranjaana’s Organising Group (OG) marks out ‘zones’ — various spots around the Frisbee field that students can travel to in order to experience different foods, games, and people — giving the campus a whole new feel where students can ‘discover passion and explore purpose’ — as the Hoshakan motto spells out.

The implications of this are far-reaching. On the first count, the Administration believes Ranjaana can help minimise the problem of the ‘weekend dissidents’. These are the people who leave campus on the weekends, causing those who stay behind to feel exceptionally trapped. The OG, if successful in creating a strong and lasting metaphor, could persuade the weekend dissidents not to leave, since, after all, ‘travel is right here’.

Secondly, Ranjaana is expected to be a great outreach endeavour. “The indicator,” says an OG member, “of the success of the fest will be the number of applicants from other universities who apply for admission here, convinced that the ‘real world’ is not in the grimy streets outside, but right here, in Hoshak.”

The ‘outsiders’, in fact, will only fuel the illusion, since Hoshakans will not only see new faces on campus, they will do so as they travel. The possibilities of chance encounters, a concept almost alien despite the size of the campus, will be rekindled.

The coming weekend is expected to be one of fun, frolic, and adventure. Hoshakans will realise that lives of people of the outside world and their Instagram feeds (unlike the average Hoshakan’s), are not necessarily consistent. This is expected to create a sense of ‘authenticity’ among the students, as opposed to the ‘fake-ness’ of the outside world and its people.

In sum: the Hoshakan spirit will soar.

Every fest deserves a good run-up to the event. Anticipation and excitement is largely a product of good marketing. The organisers of this fest know this all too well. This season, they managed to create an air of great mystery around it to garner curiosity. So much so that up until two weeks ago everyone was left wondering if the fest was even happening?

The OG, however, has promised us that it is. Several students have ‘begun packing their backpacks’ in eager anticipation of the fest. They look forward to taking a trip down memory lane and rediscovering the campus. Evidently, the metaphor is a success.

An excited first-year undergraduate excitedly told us about her excitement about the fest. “Like, everyone said it was great last year. Apparently, it was like a private party. Very few outsiders. But, like, they say this year will be different. I don’t mind much, I guess. I could get used to having a bunch of people on campus. I’ll know what it’ll be like when the new batch comes in. God, I can’t even imagine…”

The undersecretary of the fest revealed her hopes for the successful execution of the fest.

“As of now, Ranjaana is our one hope to maintain peace of mind on campus. Such adventure — crazed behaviour, if not channelled properly, can be disastrous. It’s alright if Hoshakans think outside the box and whatever, but they must eventually learn to be content with the box they’re living in.”

The Free Press hopes Ranjaana proves to be the force that settles the matter once and for all.

Rohan Parikh is a humble creation of society and its many conventions. He has followed norms ardently and to the best of his abilities- so much so that sometimes the banality of the world feels all too real. He can’t help but laugh; He wants others to get in on the joke.

Banjaara 2.0: All You Need to Know

Himali Thakur, Class of 2019

This weekend, Ashoka hosts Banjaara 2.0, the second instalment of our college fest. The fest kicks off at 9 AM this Saturday (24th February). Formal, informal, and social impact events will run on both days. In preparation of fest, The Edict did an interview with the team to find out more.

Tell us more about this year’s theme.

‘Down Memory Lane’ stemmed from conversations we had on what Banjaara 2.0 meant to us. We wanted it to be a festival that included the Ashokan community and beyond, an opportunity to burst our bubble and interact with other colleges. We also wanted it to be a fun weekend where we kept our stressful and overwhelming lives on hold to just chill at the art zone, or jump on a trampoline. So ‘Memory Lane’ provided fertile ground for this promise. How better to run from your deadlines than actually going out to play?

What should we expect at Banjaara 2.0?

The clubs and societies will ensure this weekend is a fun-filled and thought-provoking one. You can take a trip ‘Down Memory Lane’ with NEEV, our community engagement society, who will display their students’ science experiments; or you can take a quiz on children’s literature with Shabd, the book club. Siyahi will recreate last year’s Banjaara art zone with a giant join-the-dots, and The Yellow Pages will channel people’s creativity through some fun word games. There’s karaoke and freestyle rap organised by Ashoka Radio for the singers, and Abhinaya’s Silent Disco will keep everyone on their feet.

Interspersed with this carnival will be the Haat, where organisations like Nazariya will display traditional Indian board games. Mool will sell environmentally friendly jewellery. If people haven’t been to Delhi’s famous second-hand bookstore market, Daryaganj, don’t worry! At Banjaara, we’re bringing it to Ashoka — along with Bombay Underground’s zines! Enactus KMC will be selling edible cutlery, for we know book-shopping can make you hungry. On the way to the Canteen — where all external food stalls will be set up — there’ll be the Human Library, designed as a sea of stories. Here, we have reused plastic bottles collected from in and around campus for people to leave a message in a bottle and let it drift into the hands of a stranger, who will write you one in turn! This is just a glimpse of all the fun that lies in store!

Tell us more about the performers (Parekh & Singh, Raghav Meattle, and Delhi Sultanate).

Parekh and Singh — well, their real names are Nischay Parekh and Jivraj Singh. They’re a pop duo from Kolkata and, currently, their most famous song, “I love you baby, I love you doll”, has more than a million views on Youtube. It clocked 1,70,000 views in a week after it was released, so we’re quite excited to host them for Banjaara 2.0!

Raghav Meattle appeared on the TV talent show The Stage and made it to the semifinals. After that, he quit his corporate job and decided to pursue music through an ongoing multi-city tour that began in February 2017. As a promising upcoming artist from Mumbai, we are eager to see what he has in store for us!

Taru Dalmia is a New Delhi-based Indian reggae/dancehall artist, poet, academic historian, and social activist. Taru, known by his stage-name Delhi Sultanate, is the lead singer of The Ska Vengers. He is also the mastermind behind Bass Foundations Roots — BFR Sound System along with his partner Samara Chopra, aka Begum X. As a principle, they never perform on the main stage, so you’ll have to follow the music to find them!

Three events that are different from last year?

This time we have Nukkad Natak in Theatre, Unplugged in Music, and a photography event with a twist, Glimpses — it asks the participants to make a storyboard for the two days of Banjaara.

Three events (apart from Battle of the Bands, Dance competitions) that are continuing from last year?

Slam Poetry, Stage Play, and Entrepreneurship Event. However, the Entrepreneurship event this time is like Shark Tank where participants pitch their ideas to VCs and angel investors.

What changes have been made in response to the controversies around last year’s Banjaara? Is dropping the #dedhdin plan part of this response?

There’s no accommodation being provided on campus, as it was last year. Plus, the festival ends at 8PM on both days. So, we didn’t think think parties or #dedhdin made sense. This decision meant that a lot of our time as the organising committee has been about trying to redefine what Banjaara means for Ashokans. And from the response we’ve gotten from the student body at events like Jukebox (that impromptu throwback playlist, sing-song session in the mess) we believe that our collective idea of fun can transcend a party. It’s hard to organise a festival that constantly requires an apology and justification for what it was in the past. We have been and are working very hard to make this two-day festival meaningful and enjoyable for everyone, and hope people bring their friends along to relive the good ol’ days with us!

A banner was put up outside the Atrium on 22nd February, 2018, where students signed a pledge for a responsible Banjaara. || Photograph by The Edict Staff

What else is different about Banjaara this time around?

We have tried to be more sensitive about the administrative toll a festival of this size takes, as well as the environmental one. In terms of the former, we have been in close correspondence with the administration on every detail and plan, and we are grateful for their guidance and help. The environmental aspect has been strictly checked by our Social Impact team; we are trying to make this festival a responsible one in terms of its waste generation and decor usage by making small changes that go a long way. For instance, all our paper used for logistical purposes like the maps and schedules will be recycled. Moreover, our 4-bin waste segregation pilot has made collection of decor material far simpler, and we hope everyone is segregating responsibly for a more environmentally conscious Ashoka even beyond Banjaara.

What precautionary measures are being taken to ensure Banjaara is a safe environment?

There is a grievance helpline number, where members from the student body and administration will handle complaints, concerns, and other requirements. We are cognizant of the fact that instances of sexual harassment and bullying occur at large-scale events, so we have a separate team of volunteers who are working with the administration to ensure necessary precautionary measures.

The team against sexual harassment is actively working on sending a loud and clear message to all visitors and participants about Ashoka’s zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment; they are putting up posters about consent across campus, along with the helpline numbers that people can reach out to in case of an emergency. An aggrieved individual can choose to file a formal CASH complaint, or have immediate redressal with the help of the admin’s helpdesk committee. The volunteers will be working with the admin representatives at the helpdesk to ensure that each case is heard and dealt with fairly.

Anything else you’d like to tell the Ashokan community?

Ashokans, please remember:

No loose cigarettes will be permitted.
Remember to carry your ID cards: no scanned ID cards will be allowed. If you don’t have your ID card, you’ll need a permission slip from the warden to access areas like the residences, sports block etc. on campus.
All University policies on possession, consumption, and circulation of illegal substances stand. As does our no-tolerance policy on sexual harassment.

If you’d like to call your friends, they can register on our website where entry and registration charges are just Rs. 200, and they will be able to avail the free shuttle service from Jahangirpuri (there will be extra shuttles, don’t worry!). On the spot registration is Rs. 250. Remember to tell them that it will only be a one-time entry. This means that we will provide bands on entry for both days. However, they can enter the campus only once per day as the band will be torn at the time of exit. Also they must enter campus latest by 6:30 PM (18:30). On both days of Banjaara, students from outside Ashoka will be requested to leave by 9:00 PM (21:00).

The Road to Banjaara is almost at its end; what are some highlights that you’d like to remember from your own memory lane?

From Jukebox, the pilot Human Library with the RA’s, the Candy Store, Pictionary with WICS, Pokemon Origins screenings with the Anime club, a flash-mob by Abhinaya, to the success of our 4 bin waste segregation pilot — we’ve come a long way! There’s more coming up too: we will be launching a campus-wide sustainability campaign as well as a video series with Ruhi. We hope this build up to Banjaara has been engaging and fun for the Ashokan community, and we want to celebrate the spirit of Banjaara with everyone on the 24th and 25th of February! Remember, adventure awaits so #StartPacking.

To know more about Banjaara, you can visit the website, or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

A previous version of this article stated that entry to Banjaara is allowed till 7:00 pm. That has now been changed to 6:30 pm.

Student Government Now Has Funds

Akila Ranganathan & Rohini Sharma (Class of 2020)

With the first meeting of the new House of Representatives impending, it might be pertinent to review what the previous House deliberated on in its final meeting, which was conducted on the 13 February. The 3rd House of Representatives passed amendments to the Constitution which would allow future Houses to have a discretionary budget. This amendments amount to the creation of a Finance Ministry. The result of the amendments provides Rs. 75,000 is the initial bi-annual budget that would be provided to the House that was elected on the 15 February.

Up until now, the student government has acted as a sounding board for administrative policy. It functions as a link of communication between the student body and the Ashokan Administration — a critical task, but one which raises questions about the utilisation of the potential of fifteen democratically elected representatives. Popular sentiment maintains that the presence of the House is felt most during the elections; this threatens its presence in a scenario where Ashoka is looking to make its community bigger. Such concerns then inevitably give rise to discourse towards changing how the student government functions. It’s ‘powerlessness’ can be addressed through a structural reform.

According to members of the previous House, the creation of a finance ministry is a step towards empowering the Student Government. They say the discretionary budget shall enable them to proactively take on responsibilities and initiatives. Where ministries were previously limited to the few monetary activities that the administration funded at its discretion, a budget opens up the scope for a multitude of different projects they can work on ranging from more community-building, cultural and competitive events, financing a vet for animals in and outside campus, plantation drives, hosting domains and curating hackathons, conducting intra-sports tournaments — the list is pretty much endless. Finance ensures that ministries are more than just portfolios, allowing for the possibility of perceivable impact on students’ lives.

Various members of the House also strongly believe that the new Finance Ministry will empower the Student Government. One of its direct advantages include bringing money into the Government as it will challenge the apparent apathy towards student politics. Many freshmen have claimed that their initiation to campus politics and its election processes at was led by exposure to this prevalent sentiment. Beyond constant emails, many existing undergraduate students state that their interaction with the House is limited.

Campaigns and manifestos will now need to have legitimate and feasible ideas and projects. This system ensures that parties and independent candidates prioritise and ideate over their visions for Ashoka. This will lead to manifestos, party lines and ideologies becoming a lot more distinct unlike previous trends. Voters will actually have legitimate causes to vote for, minimising the place for personality politics. The Student Government, as a consequence, becomes more accountable to the Student Body to fulfill the ideas and projects for which they were voted into the House. Politics at Ashoka as a whole is likely to become a more serious and significant domain.

However, with finance, comes a host of very valid concerns concerning accountability of funds and procedural transparency. There is a need for a strong system of controls to ensure responsible and judicious spending. Members of the previous House: Edwin Joseph, Ritunjay Shekhar and President Kc Sachin with the assistance of students Akila Ranganathan and Varun Venkatesh, have carefully drafted the procedures and controls holding into account multiple stakeholders. Meetings have been held with past ministers of the house, members of the administration, and Pro-Vice Chancellor Sankar Krishnan. A brief description of the process is as follows:

1) The Finance Minister is appointed in conjunction with other ministers by the President.

2) A budget is created and presented to the house within 30 days of appointment of the cabinet, and upon its passage in the house, it is sent to the administration for formal approval.

3) Every expense is accounted for and made public.

4) Funds are provided to the house in two six-month intervals.

5) A bi-annual audit is conducted by a team appointed by the Leader of Opposition and the Office of the Pro-VC. In case of the audit report coming across any discrepancy, the Student Honour Board or Committee against Disciplinary Infractions is delegated with the responsibility of taking appropriate punitive measures, depending on the severity and volume.

A change in mandate of this magnitude is accompanied by a certain risk. It is likely to involve a steep learning curve for the first few Houses. However, instituting the Finance Ministry is a significant step in that direction of the Student government gaining new relevance, responsibility, and agency.

The first meeting of the new House, held on 21 February, will see the representatives pitch themselves for cabinet portfolios.

Calcutta I Love You, I Love You Not

By Rudrangshu Mukherjee

This essay is the first in a series commenced by the Edict titled ‘The Hometown Series’, which shall explore the feelings, descriptions, love, and maybe even hatred Ashokans have for their hometowns or their conceptions of home.

I am accepting, for the purposes of this essay, a simple definition of the term “hometown’” the place where one lives. In my case, this is the city of Calcutta where I was born, where I spent the better part of my life, the place where I will, in all possibility, continue to live till I die. In these many senses, Calcutta is “home’’ for me. But am I at home in Calcutta? The answer is an emphatic “no’’. The answer will be in the negative if the question were reformulated as “Am I most at home in Calcutta?’’ There are some other places where I have felt more at home than I have in Calcutta.

Readers will have noticed by now that I am writing about Calcutta and not Kolkata. There is a very good reason for this. Kolkata was the name of one of the three villages out of which Calcutta grew. The other two were Sutanuti and Govindapur. Kolkata was a village, Calcutta is a city. I am most emphatically a city dweller, not someone from a village. The English East India Company at some point in the late 17th century acquired the three villages mentioned above and from 1709 we have letters going to the headquarters of the Company in Leadenhall Street in London which have as their address: “Fort William in Calcutta.’’ This is the first clear mention that exists of what was to become by the second half of the 19th century the city of Calcutta, the second city of the British Empire.

Calcutta, unlike Delhi, has no medieval or ancient past. It was a city that the British built first to service their trade, then to serve as a bridgehead for their conquests in North India and then as their administrative headquarters before they made New Delhi their capital in 1911. In the late 18th and the 19th centuries, Calcutta had a well-demarcated area known as the White Town. The British laid out this area where they lived in a planned manner with tree-lined avenues, wide open spaced and elegant office and residential spaces. In the vicinity of the White Town grew what the British called the Black Town where the Indian lived. This part had narrow streets, often dingy and dirty. But the Black Town also had magnificent mansions in which lived rich Bengalis who had made their money by collaborating with the British. These buildings made Kipling call Calcutta the City of Palaces. The two parts of Calcutta, in spite of their distinctive characteristics, was linked by Calcutta’s principal thoroughfare (it is even today the city’s main road), a north-south artery which was in pre-British times a pilgrim track that linked two temples. The original name of this thoroughfare was The Old Pilgrim Road.

It is time perhaps to change registers from history to autobiography. I was born in Calcutta, went to school and college there and the better part of my working life was spent in Calcutta. In that sense I am a Calcuttan and I saw myself for a long time as a loyal Calcuttan.

That loyalty has worn thin.

I think I now have love-hate relationship with the city of my birth. When I was growing up in my Calcutta — my childhood, adolescence and youth— the city had a very vibrant cultural life: it was the golden age of Bengali theatre, Satyajit Ray was making his best films, there was a thriving and argumentative intellectual life fed by journals, magazines and discussions in the coffee house.

An illustration of the Indian Coffee House on College Street by Arushi Jain

This ambience was an integral part of my growing up initially through my father who personally knew most of the eminent cultural personalities of the city. Both Sombhu Mitra, the leading theatre personality, and Ray were family friends. This culture had a very significant European dimension to it. Most of the cultural figures even though they were rooted in Bengali and Indian culture were also at ease with many aspects of European culture, its literature, painting, and in the case of Ray its music too. It was undeniably an elite culture but it was gracious and understated.

This has all but disappeared from Calcutta which is now a strident and raucous city hurtling into a future already captured by land sharks, heartless politicians and their hired goons.

It is no longer my city. It is my home where I am not at home.

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chancellor of Ashoka University, grew up in Calcutta. He completed his schooling and undergraduate education in the city.