Riding on the back of time

More than two fortnights since my last post. I know that this is now becoming more routine than incident and that every second post has almost the same starting line, but then again, I also know that it is not due to lack of motivation or inspiration. It has more to do with the time, as it usually has. Somehow, and probably for one of those rare occasions, time has given me a beating and a proper beating at that.

Backwaters is on in full flow and there has hardly been any day or any night when I, and the sTrEAM Backwaters, of course, have not been thinking of the event, its sponsorship, logistics. Issues are as myriad as they come. There is this need to get the maximum out of the sources of funds and at the same time, decide where you want to draw the line between going out for more funds and managing the operations with whatever you have. There is the task of talking to various college committees for funds, which is a bit of a pain despite the helpful initiatives by the people. It seems as if everyone is laughing at us behind our backs and we have become a pitiable stock with every gossip centered on the next level to which the Backwaters committee has fallen to get funds.

The elections to Placement committee, in fact, was one of those times that the members of the Backwaters committee got a good verbal thrashing. Everyone, who had the opportunity, made the most out of it and came out with explicit opinions as to the nature of affairs. Nilanjan said that he had come forward to get Backwaters out of the mess when asked about what he has done for the batch, and there was Mayank who seemed to know all the means that the committe has been adopting in getting the brand IIMK higher (including us supposedly asking for pathetically small amounts from local shopkeepers...did I hear anyone say 250 bucks from Mezbaan...comeon, we haven't fallen that much).

All this is frustrating, especially when I know that there is more than meets the eye in this case...and that it is not possible to tell all without destroying a few reputations, straining a few relationships...and I have had my fill of those...not any more, at least not for as long as I can avoid.

The other concerns are many, too. There is the need to keep the team together. Despite the excellent way in which the team has come together so far, and the way we keep smiling through the odds against us, there can be moments-a-dozen where the things might just be a little too much to handle. I must say that I am dreading the arrival of those moments but as of now, things are as well as they could have been.

Designing and maintaining the online games for Backwaters has given me more sleepless nights than any thing else that I have got myself into at any point in time. With a sleep debt (Pavan might not agree to this) of more than ten days, I had to miss six hours of classes one fine Monday. With a difficult deadline and an even more difficult sourcing of questions, we had to beat all standard practices by launching the games with the most minimal of testing, often causing blunders and technical problems that were, to put in a word, embarassing.

At the same time, there have been so many people who have volunteered and helped that it is hard to repay them for all that they have done in words. It has been because of them that we were able to meet the deadline and do a decent, if not a great job. More than the amount or level of work they might have done, what really touched me was their willingness to put in time and effort at something that they were not really duty bound to do. We, as part of the Backwaters Committee, however, were supposed to do all that and more, and I believe that even though we may succeed in carrying off Backwaters with some style finally, we would have failed...failed not in making Backwaters happen...but failed in meeting our own expectations.

Besides Backwaters, there have been a host of other things happening on campus. Yash, Raul and gang did a great job with Arthanomics, the finance seminar at IIMK. With the list of speakers reading like the Who's Who of the Indian finance industry, I am sure that the Fin enthusiasts would have had a great time. I really regret having to miss most of the sessions of the Arthanomics weekend (though I did try to attend as many as I could) due to the Backwaters work, especially the online events work which was going live on Monday.

Another event that came and went without much ado was the re-elections for the Student Council and for the Placement Committee. The last time I wrote about elections, it created such a big hue and cry that I had to actually take the post down. This time, I am sure that not many would even bother to read what I think of the elections, and thankfully so...not because I want to create a scandal or wanted to do that the first time, for that matter...for I still think that the situation has not changed much from what it was a few months ago.

It is actually sad to see that even in a supposedly intelligent society like an IIM, popularity and appeal get more prominence compared to real work, talent, and suitability for job. I know that many might not agree to me and that this is what makes democracy what it is, but I would still say that the reason people lose or win elections, even in a society representing the intelligentsia, is absolutely meaningless and has got nothing to do with what they are capable of doing or what they may have done in the past.

More than that, the King Makers continued to rule, though the nature of their rule and influence has undergone a major change. They no longer exert an overt influence but there is a more covert appeal that goes out, a canvassing that is more felt than heard...but that is how a democracy operates, I guess...no rights or wrongs, just going where the herd goes. The only thing that pinches a little is the future of the big talks that we keep throwing and accepting about the pathetic state of Indian democracy and the rampant corruption. If this is how we are going to deal with it ourselves, I am not really clear about what we might do on the road ahead for the society and country at large.