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Rohit Singh
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[Wed, 06 Oct 2004]
What Happens If...
..you have no middle name (e.g. me)? Usually it's not a problem, right? Wrong! A friend's email address is "first.x.last@oracle.com" . Proabably, in his initial HR forms he just crossed off the Middle Initial box and some genius in HR thought this guy had "X" as his middle name, kinda like Malcolm X. After all, all Indians are supposed to have a middle name, aren't they ?
You are in even more deep shit if you have only one name. This is the predicament of another of my friends. Whenever he's on the phone and they ask for his last name, he has to say "no last name". It takes about 15 min of convincing the call center guy that it *is* possible for somebody not to have a last name. At other times he has said "none" and gotten letters addressed to "Joe None".
IITK Hungama Update...
Background here Thanks to SK for sending this link. It's a post on a blog of an IITK student. The first email I received was partly wrong- the Gymkhana President didn't resign. Only the DOSA did and even that seems to have been more on his own than being asked for by the Director. Will wait for the more updates. I still think getting the DOSA's resignation was not a good idea. This was essentially an IITK vs. another college matter and had to do with extraordinary circumstances. No need to muddy waters by bringing in day-to-day college life issues.
As with any story, there are some interesting sidenotes that should get clarified as time goes on: the role of student representative- especially the President and the Sports secy; the fault of the actual eveteaser; the tendency of IITK administration to go to unfair extents to preserve IITK's holier-than-thou persona; the ability (or lack thereof) of IITK kids to stick together; and the mixing of personal rivalries in this whole thing.
This much I know for sure: nobody should be allowed to come into IITK, whack IITK people and then get away without being beaten up. DPs be damned- they fizzle out in 6 months anyway.
Again, if you've stuff to add to this, please feel free to email me.
Interesting Sequence of Events at IIT Kanpur
Apparently, during an inter-collegiate sports meet (Udghosh) some other college
guys beat up three IITK guys with hockey sticks or so- the IITK guys had
hooted a bit too lustily in the previous girls (of course!) basketball
match. Such whackings *must* be replied to. Needless to say, the IITK kids
wanted to dispense some payback, and showed up at Hall 3 where the
visiting morons were holed up. The DOSA (Dean of Student Affairs) showed
up to quieten down things and asked the kids to return to their rooms. As is typical for the older IITK
profs, the DOSA probably threatened the assembled IITK kids with dire,
career-impairing consequences along with the customary "such dropping
standards!" mutterings.
In 80% of such incidents, this is when the kids run back to their rooms. Disciplinary proceedings are initiated against one and all- both the perpetrators and the victims. Great (but quiet!) discontent ensues. 6 months later, general sanity prevails and most of the unfair discplinary action is quietly dropped. This wasn't to happen this time.
With the help of security, the visiting morons were moved to Visitors Hostel before they were to be unceremoniously thrown out. This is when quite a few IITK kids showed up at VH gate, baying for blood. And not just the visitors' blood- also the DOSA's. There was an all-night dharna of sorts, which I am not sure who organized or, even, who thought of! These kids are certainly more gutsy than we were. But then again, even my brother's batch was more gutsy than mine, so apparently my batch's meekness was just a one-off thing.
In 20% of such incidents, this is when the Director shows up and, with some masterly use of saam-daam-dand-bhed, manages to frighten/cajole people into going back to their rooms. If he's really good- and SGD is!- the kids will go back feeling that the good and noble king (aka Director) will fix stuff and "take action". Apart from the disciplinary action, other promised remedial "action" is rarely taken. This incident was one-of-a-kind. Nothing the Diro said worked.
The kids used this opportunity to vent off their frustations over the DOSA's recent actions. The usual: sutta fine (imagine that! no ciggs!); limited motorcycle permits (what am I supposed to ride, bicycles and the tempo?!); room internet-access restrictions between midnight-8am (what is a young hot-blooded male supposed to do during then- sleep?!). There was nothing weird about these restrictions- most of them are not too big a deal. I support the sutta one- I suffered through too much second-hand smoke at IITK. And rickety old bicycles were a big part of the charm of IITK's campus. But such are college kids- if you say no to them you are being mean and unfair and illogical and what-not. Been there, done that (i.e. the bitching)
Anyways, the dharna-oing crowd didn't listen to the Director, nor the DOSA, nor the Gymkhana President, nor anybody else. The end result was that the visitors were unceremoniously thrown out. But more interestingly, the DOSA had to resign.
The first mail I got said that some Student Gymkhana officials (incl. President) resigned. It seems they didn't. The resignation of the President (and the Sports Secy) would've been good and proper- especially considering that the DOSA had to resign. The resignation of the DOSA was too much- SGD shouldn't have allowed it.
If anybody wants to update/correct me on what really happened (and the post-action action), please do email me!