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Security OR Screwity?

After the publication of Madhouse, I got a call from a 4^th year undergraduate student named Antariksh Bothale, who was writing a piece on “need for security” in the Raintree-IIT’s magazine. Antariksh was appalled at what we did then 30 years ago. Did we really go vroom-vrooming on our mobikes all over the campus? Did we really have those midnight swims in the prohibited Vihar lake? Did we really rear horses in our hostel grounds and take them to the lectures with us? And who allowed an elephant into the campus? Antariksh is an angry young man who bemoans the tight-and senselessly so as we shall soon see-security system prevailing in IITB today.

Agreed that some of us did live dangerously, wilder and wackier than seen elsewhere. And inspired by a colourless, internetless, chatroomless world, we had to seek our chills and thrills on unwalled terraces, crocodile infested lakes, steep hills and noisy muffler less mobikes. But the specifics of what Antariksh goes on to write about today’s state of affairs are shocking to say the least. Restricted movements, particularly at nights, no trekking, no late night outside campus jaunts, no CYCLING fast. Yes, one cannot cycle (the pedaled motorless version) fast. Mobikes are banned. And to think that we had mobike races with a Dean of Student Affairs (DOSA) and Security Officer Singh in our times! But what took the cake was this snippet…

For example, the latest circular to students points out that, “Roaming/sitting in the dark or isolated places with opposite sex during unearthly hours is a serious offence”

To top this, there was a news report in today’s Hindustan Times which says:

Students caught holding hands on the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) campus have had to cough up Rs 500 as fines for the past few months. The institute's security officers allegedly fine students even for riding their bicycles too fast and for hanging out late on the campus.  

"There have been instances when we have been fined or our ID cards taken away for something as trivial as hanging out late in the night on campus. All this was never an issue before," said a student, who did not want to be named.

Upset with the strict policing, students have written to Prakash Gopalan, dean of student affairs, and plan to discuss the issue in their student council meet next week. Gopalan, however, played down the issue. “If students want to sensationalise such a trivial issue, I don't think the administration will be dragged into it,” he said.

The institute, which has 8,000 people residing on its 550-acre residential campus in Powai, has tightened security after the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. A retired army officer heads the institute's security since last March.

A Rs. 500 fine for holding hands??? In this day and age? In an institute whose world famous cultural festival Mood Indigo has contests like “Kismat Konnection (find your soulmate)” and “Jodi No. 1” and the like? Surely, not all would agree with this kind of a restrictive approach. Is it the case then, that a whimsical security honcho issues these moralizing diktats and others who can meddle don’t want to? Heck! Had these rules existed In our time, there are some guys who have paid an arm and a leg for holding hands. And this rule would have been defeated hands down. Be that as it may, this issue is worthy of a debate. Not merely from the ridiculousness of the rules per se, but also from the possible debilitating impact this could have on a person’s general all-round development. What could be worse than imposing a set of rules that exist in a single person’s mindset? Rules that are not congruent with today’s existing standards of morality? Rules that will surely inspire rebellion?

Antariksh’s closing comments are noteworthy: 

Let’s come to face it: students here are adults. As a residential,educational institution, it is IITB’s responsibility to ensure their well-being. However, it does not mean that unnecessary restrictions be put on them. Parents might want but can’t expect the authorities to keep a watchful eye on their kid every living moment, and frankly, the authorities can’t and shouldn’t give in to such demands. We would be glad to have some breathing space — we are old enough to be allowed to play with fire. IITB has flourished in a period where students were freer. When we chuckle over passages of the book by Bakul Desai, but now we also step back and think about how many of those things Bakul could have done in the present day campus. We are not as mature as we would want ourselves to be, but we are certainly capable of making informed choices, and we strive for a campus where we are allowed to make those choices.

Some trivia from the Madhouse book.

Some trivia from Madhouse-True stories of the inmates of Hostel4 IITB

• Total words in the book: 93,515 in (335+20) pages. 420,292 characters without spaces.

• Total raw material before selection: Approx 200,000 words.

• Number of stories: 187

• Number of photos: 32 plus 1 illustration

• Credited contributors: 42

• Supporting contributors: An additional 50 approx.

• Shortest story: 22 words by Ashanka Sen on page 42.

• Longest story: 2,666 words by Bakul Desai on pages 303 to 311.

• Most commonly used word: “the” with 4775 occurrences constitutes 5.22% of the book.

• Major surprise discovery: Just 11 words constitute 25% of the word count. (The, and, to, a, was, of, in, I, he, that, his)

• Continuing surprise: It takes 283 words to cover 50% of the total word count.

• Not so surprising: the word “virtue” occurs only once. (page x)

• H4 inmate known to maximum number of hostelites: Blacky, the dog.

• Most popular genre of stories: Individual idiosyncrasies followed by EPs.

• Harsha Bhogle’s favourite story: The elephant story on page 58.

• Geet Sethi’s favourite story: Prickly Times on page 42

• Bachi Karkaria’s favourite stories: Too many to recount here.

• Most unexpected compliment: “You MUST write a wicked book for me” from Shobhaa De

• Amazing coincidence noticed after book publication: Book starts with a story of a bus entering IIT and closes with a story of a bus exiting IIT.

• Duration of ISD calls with Urmilla Deshpande: 300+ hours.

• Announcement made about book deal and soliciting stories: 2-Apr-10

• Last date of receiving stories: 31-May-10

• Number of emails in those 60 days: 401 in Madhouse and 487 private emails.

• Present count of emails in Madhouse: 1890.

• Confirmed fact: No one forgets the name of their roommate or their room number.

• Confirmed fact-2: Very few forget the name of their guide.

• Confirmed fact-3: More forget the name of their steady girlfriend than their favourite mess worker. (as claimed by a few)

• Confirmed fact-4: Most remember all “gaalis”.

• Average rating of all stories by a few self-styled experts (weighted with word count): 7.91