Campus Diem

Amidst the noise about how this year mattered to bankers, politicians, environmentalists, neo-Nazis, and godmen, one important voice was left out in the cold. It isn’t like we young people are used to too much attention; but to listlessly ignore the tumult in our lives isn’t quite done.Education may be the best phase of everybody’s lives – but one considers it memorable only when it has passed. In the midst of dreary college years, it is quite, quite horrific. Don’t you want to know, then, how this year broke new ground in our lives? Pulling all stops and no résumésTo…

As if my mother's smiling approval each morning of the various little children who bagged single digit CET ranks this year, and reading aloud of their newspaper interviews (in which each of them invariably extol the virtues of boring things such as ‘perseverance and hard work') weren't enough, the household phone has been ringing off the hook. Little cousins I didn't know existed have been dialing in with a frequency and gusto that puts fans of NRI American Idol contestants to unspeakable shame. The competitive exam season post the twelfth standard/II PU exams may be the most seemingly pointless/endless, excruciating,…

You would have loved to grow up in the pleasant, perfect, considerably privileged locality of I Block, Jayanagar. The streets were clean, sidewalks smooth, roads neatly planned and regularly tarred: Not a single game of badminton on the streets was ever interrupted by an infrastructural glitch. The children who lived here attended "good schools", spoke purr-fect English and by age 8 could carry off a full fledged shouting-match over games of I-Spy in The Queen's very language. After all, we'd grow up to be independent people, leading awesome lives. Not the least like those children, who came to be recognized…

As a matter of principle, we don't like over-achievers around here. But some, we let pass. Rakesh Sharma is currently interning at St. John's Medical College. He will head to Oxford to pursue a D.Phil in Clinical Neurology as one of this year's Rhodes Scholars. Like that were not enough, he manages his own show on WorldSpace Satellite Radio. He also writes a popular blog about the pains of juggling medical education alongside culture clashes. Having excelled in theater, music, writing, and academics and, yet, miraculously managing to retain a sense of humor, he talks to me about pulling off…

In all the times one is under deep emotional and spiritual duress, one feels irrevocably attached to certain people. As if misery were some sort of brotherhood held together by common predicaments. This brotherhood allows you the unlikeliest and most surprising company. And so it is, today, in a moment of spellbinding epiphany, I realize that holding my hand in this universal, timeless, not-so-secret society is... Leon Trotsky.On a bright sunny day in 1940, the late revolutionary hobbled up to the window of his room in an alien land, looked at the skies (that were blue), the grass(which was green)…

Sushila Rao is a fifth year student at The National Law School, Bangalore. She is one of the five Rhodes Scholars from India for the year 2009. En route to the prestigious scholarship, she has excelled in vocal music, street theater and in writing academic articles. When I sent in a request for an interview, a week after the scholarships were announced, she was busy battling assignments and exams. She tells me about the scholarship and, of course, about how even the country's best can't escape the rigors of academic grind. Tell us about yourself. Why did you choose to…

It's that month of the year that bores you out of your wits (just like the last one, and the last, not to mention the one before that). So here we are, holding your hand, offering calming cups of tea and warm reassurances as you tear your hair out, out of nothing to do. Oh and I nearly forgot. We also have a fine little list of things to help kick that fiend Time six feet under. Without further ado:1) Register for the Bangalore round of The Centre for Civil Society's youth centric seminar titled I, Society and Public Policy.…

Yes, we've been away. No No, quite literally. When we heard that NIT Trichy's annual cultural fest Festember was starting on the 18th of September, we jumped at the idea. The veterans who have traveled far and wide to cul-fests assured us it would be good fun. Besides it would be a nice break after all the hard work (cough!). So the run-up to the trip went without incident (Discounting the initial shock we encountered when The Parents agreed without as much as a whimper-incredible!). I glazed over the internal tests, hopped my way through assignments and was generally hopping…

Early Morning abstractness captured at NITT Day two was fun. Except, we couldn't take part in half the events because we were a wee bit late. Yes, Yes, we understand you've come all the way from Bangalore, but you see we turned away 20 teams already. Tough luck! Goodbye. Oh come on! What fests run on time anyway, we fumed. Read Part 1 Part 3 of Siri's NITT experienceThere was a bit of the customary song-dance happening near the foodcourt. You know, one of those dos with annoyingly squeaky emcees, with plastic accents and such. Every college fest has to…

We chatted up some nice folk from NITT who seemed to love every minute of being there. But, but, but, what about staying away from home, cruel weather, homesickness etc, We pried. To this I heard the singly most common sentiment that's been expressed by nearly every NITian I've known. They admit that the one thing they'll take home with them, even after graduating, is the friendships garnered. I heard, not for the first time, somebody speak about how they could never connect with people from outside college the same way again. The rapport and camaraderie established are based on…