We’ve learnt economics, we’ve learnt physics, we’ve learnt math, and we’ve even learnt quantum mechanics. At the end of these four years, we will leave this campus as proud graduates with degrees in our hands that speak of the four years that we diligently devoted into the process of being called ‘engineers’. Sounds pretty lofty! But the sad part is that in this entire learning process, there is little scope of developing any artistic thinking, something that invites us to think differently.
I clearly remember my first semester at IIT-GN. Brimming with energy and enthusiasm, on my way to living my dream! What I was most excited about was the realization of the fact that this was where I wanted to be! The place where everyone has an ardour to do something different. But sadly, as the semesters pass by, what I see is that amidst the same old rat race to get better grades, the need to evolve into something more than just a replica of the textbooks is getting lost.
We eventually do come up with innovative ideas, start thinking of all the possible ways to make our idea work, involve a few people in it, and after one or two sessions of hardcore brainstorming we fail to work on it any further. The idea dies along with the enthusiasm with which it was first started. Probably we IITians get bored too soon!
I remember being told about a number of clubs functioning here, out of which some really fascinated me.But today, hardly a few of these clubs are still functioning. Some of us wouldn’t even know that a photography club or a literary club ever existed. Probably the basic problem was that there were A LOT of clubs being formed!
It isn’t the number of activities we undertake that matters, in the end, it is whether those activities leave a mark or not! There has to be a proper filtering process for all those ideas that come up. It is not about restraining people from coming up with new ideas, what is more important is to develop a process where only those clubs come into being which have a proper agenda to work upon. Probably that’s when we’ll have something substantial to leave our successors with.
What is appreciable here is the fact that the pioneer batch of IIT-GN realised that there’s more to college life than just academics. The people who came forward to take charge of some or the other clubs have at least been successful in creating a desire in the students to lift their heads from their textbooks (or Facebook in some cases) and focus upon building a culture for IIT-GN’s future. We just need to keep working with the same vigour with which these clubs were initially formed. It is we, the first few batches, which can set up a culture for the forthcoming batches, something that makes us life our heads in pride every time we enter the college after receiving our B-Tech degrees.
There has to be a platform to showcase the talent that we possess. Let us not celebrate Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Diwali and other festivals by just ‘lighting a lamp’ and having some speakers to talk on various topics. Why not have our very own students perform something which is not so monotonous? Let that be a medium for the students to show that there’s more to brilliance than just a high IQ. The clubs can help them work on their ideas. Wouldn’t it make more sense if students among us do the job of giving us something to cherish and remember?
This isn’t about assigning blame or finding a “fall guy”. My concern pertains to a much bigger picture: what I will be when I leave this campus? Just an “engineer” who spent four precious years of her life mugging all the theorems or someone who not just received a degree in engineering, but also lived her passions!
