[Update: Thank you everyone, who went with the guy who deserved it more, irrespective of anything else. This is the time to feel proud of what you did.]
The bad thing about politics is that you don’t have to be genuinely good to win elections. You just have to play your political moves right. Being genuinely good helps only when the group of people who are going to vote for you (or against you, as the case may be) is so small that all of them know you personally. In such a case, logic takes over politics. When the group is so large that it is impossible for the voters to personally know the candidates contesting the election, politics works, rumors work, regionalism works, and to sum it up, all kind of shit works. This is one of the reasons, I never ever contested for any post in the institute. There always has been enough shit in life already,to take care of; who needs more? 🙂
I am writing this post today to ask you, who is reading it right now, a fairly simple question: How would you feel if you see baseless and false rumors going against someone who is genuinely good, and clearly more eligible for a job?
I will tell you how I feel. I feel like a helpless asshole because I do not know what steps to take to put down such baseless rumors! Can none of you reason out the source of such rumors? Can’t you open up your eyes and see that the very reason someone needs a rumor against an opposing contestant is that he knows he doesn’t have that genuineness to help him, that he knows he is not half as good as the other guy?
Yes, I am referring to insti politics. Elections are scheduled for tomorrow. There are so many posts that my poor memory fails to recollect the exact number. But there is one particular post that I am extremely concerned about. I am concerned because that single post has to do so much with how Shaastra, the technical festival of IIT Madras, of which most of the students are so proud of, is going to take shape in the Golden Jubilee year of the institute. On one hand I see a guy who is perfect for the job but who sucks at playing politics. On the other hand, I see a guy whose most important forte is not his set of credentials (neither his ideas about how to facelift Shaastra), but his ability to play politics.
Is this what Shaastra needs? A better politician? If you ask me, I would say, no. And if you have ever been a part of Shaastra, you should agree with me. There is nothing more I have to write about here in this post. Actually, this probably is the first time I am writing on insti-elections (and of course this is going to be the last time). Never before, did I feel the need to campaign for anyone. This one time, I want to. I want to, because I feel sad at the very thought of seeing Shaastra slip away from able hands; from the hand of someone who has seen Shaastra inside out and has the intelligence to change things. I want to, so that if genuineness does prevail over politics (we will get to know about that tomorrow), when I pass out, I can feel proud that I did what I could in the good act. If you, dear reader, believe in what I say, you know it already what to do tomorrow, when you go to vote. And if you can do anything more to make sure, fairness prevails over anything else, do that. Do that, so that like me, tomorrow you can feel proud of what you did, irrespective of what the outcome is.
Happy Elections, everyone.
[Update 2: On second thoughts, I shouldn’t have concluded about a contestant being a good politician based on some anti-campaigning rumors. Spreading rumors is a bad thing to do. But then, that could have been the work of some of his supporters. So, I apologize, if my opinion on him, hurt him.]
[Update 3: It’s time we stop discussing this post. There is work to do. I am closing off comments.]
55 replies on “Happy Elections (indeed)”
Dude… All that you have said is only one side of the coin.
You talk about things being fair. I ask you –
1] Is it morally and ethically correct for a standing secretary to campaign for an aspirant of the post that he holds?
2] Your man may suck at politics but his friends, comrades and an ardent standing sec certainly do not. So dont you think it evens out. One man’s political skills versus another especially if you are so intent on the fact the other guy is a politician par excellence.
3] And as for rumours – there is no smoke without fire!
Yes…
the other guy is playing politics…
but wat u r doin using ur blog is totally fine.. its honest isnt it?
wats more, the other candidate wud be screwed by the dean had any of his frnds written such a blog… but u guys have a way around that… the prestigious ‘c’ grp…
i know u have seen one working… have u seen the other?
Credentials(most recent n relevant ones)
1. Spons coord for shaastra
2. Hostel gen sec
3.Saarang pro show
2nd contestant:
1. Shaastra core
2. Saarang core
3. Hobby club ‘head’- a post tailored for him to increase his credentials
The way i see it:
1. 2nd aspirant is jus too greedy… how much does he want… get aside.. give othrs a chance
2. He is in 4th yr.. the so called ‘politican’ is in 3rd… no way he can match him
P.S.: i know this cmnt wont last more than 5mins on the blog… why shud it… u own it… jus th way u own shaastra…
I agree with anon. If this blog was written by one of the 3rd year’s friends there would have been a huge uproar regarding him influencing elections via print media (internet here) after the campaigning timings are over. He may well have been disqualified for disobeying insti rules [rules that are not quite visible for the politically challenged guy]
Vatsap…. I am still waiting for the answers to my 3 questions… lest you have not deleted it.
n u’ll like to know y am i commenting as anon…
cos my chances to become a coord in shaastra are screwed if i write my name here
thats the kind of intimadtion going on… n u call it fair
You are a typical racist Indian who loves generalizing things.
Just because someone is from Bihar he has to be corrupted; just because someone is from Punjab he has to have a loud mouth and just because a student in IIT-M is from Andhra the only way he can make a name for himself is via politics.
Grow Up !
P.S — Seems you are not aware of the political prowess of Marathis.
no idea whats going right now in insti, but will tell u guys this is something which must be taken by utmost care, we will be celebrating 50th anniversary this time and dean has really great ideas behind that
coming to the point how much one wants from insti, becoming core, coods, is nothing if on one side there is insti sec, coming to the point of politics its always been a part of IIT, Shaastra has always gone in safe hands, and the proof of that is its growing popularity year after year, so who so ever wants to play what all politics he will never win election for CoAS.
Dont worry vatsap tomorrow the deserving one will only win… let people play whatever politics they want to, and keep posting such kind of blogs as this makes a common IItan aware of whats happening in insti, and he or she should be aware of who is playing what politics
All the best to all those who are contesting
and a common advise to all :- PLEASE VOTE WITH YOUR BRAIN AND THINK TWICE BEFORE WHAT YOU ARE DOING
as i said, SHAASTRA always goes in safe hands and now its again in very safe hands, margin of 900 votes 🙂 its a nice feeling now that insti junta are aware of who is deserving and who is playing politics.
GREAT WORK MY NEW CoAS
CONGRATS
i dunno if remaining anon even helps cos my identity is pretty much known now…but i have developed a liking for it..
1. confirm with the new coas, they aint rumors…
2. this blog was actually put up on the eve of electns… u r either stupid or a politician to do that, knowing the no. of readers u have.
3. yes.. indeed the coas won on his own… but if he claims that somethin hapnd under his nose n he doesnt know, well… for all i know, somethin will hapn under his nose in shaastra n he will claim innocence.. he is as much guilty for those ‘rumors’ as the actual culprit…
4. if this is ok with u, i promise the day is not far wen we will be contesting electns with hockey sticks n chains…that will be cleaner
i can go on n on… but well.. ur blog, ur territorry
1. Yes, it’s correct as long as a standing secretory realizes its his responsibility to let the best guy take over his job.
2. The other contestant was worst at politics. I should say that now. So slaaai
3. The weak try to leverage rumors for their benefits. That’s all I have to say. Fuck fire. Fuck smoke.
Your comment will last forever.
The way I see it.
1. The non-greedy contestant should have given respect to the other guy and displayed some sense.
2. 3rd year vs. 4th year? Why should anyone care about which year you are in? The one who is better off, should be allowed to lead. He will lead anyway now. 🙂
If blah would have happend, blooh would have happened.
There are too many iffs in life all the time friend. Let’s not talk about hypothetical cases. The ground reality was that one guy was more suited for the job. And I am glad that mattered finally.
You are selfish. You care more about your coordship than about the best guy becoming a coord.
All I have to tell you is this: if you are the best guy for you job, you will still become the coord/core. Shaastra needs best guys.
And they who know they are capable are bold enough to be open.
I never even mentioned ‘Andhra’ anywhere. I never even meant that.
I said the other guy was playing stupid political moves because I found out he was generally spreading rumors to anti-campaign.
Do no misinterpret me and generalize.
I know I am not a racist.
Junta did what you expected them to do! Three cheers to Shaastra! 🙂
Yep man, you were totally right. I am so happy.
1. That’s a good news.
2. I was stupid. I apologize.
3. If you can, trust me on how things are going to be in Shaastra. Please do.
4. You are getting emotional. Think about everything at some other point of time. You will accept that what happened, happened for the good of Shaastra.
My blog, your comments. Redefine the territory friend.
yes… u were stupid… to flex ur powr like that.. n so is the whole ‘c’ grp who hav flexd thr muscles in some way or the other… well… lemme not get into anymore mudslinging n let u live with ur myopic vision….
the new coas, all due respect, won the electn without any help from ur blog or the threats… all u guys managed to do was steal from him the joy of victory… he was actually making apologising to ppl, for the moves made by the ‘c’ grp after his victory, while the other victors were jus saying ‘thank u’ on the fone..
Elections are over and I don’t think that anyone can point out at any of the winners and claim that his opponent was clearly better. To me, all the candidates who had better credentials, better manifesto and better way of campaigning, and I am not talking about the behind-the-scene bits, won hands down. And I guess, this is a healthy sign shown by electorate and would be a good trend to follow. In the wake of the results, which have been anything but controversial due to the clear-cut nature of the mandate, I think it is the apt time to put an end to all the disputes and mud-slinging.
Totally agree to all that you said.
I will tell you why the core group flexed it powers (in their different ways). It could see better than others why someone was better suited for the job. As I earlier pointed to in my post, when all the voters do not know the contestants individually it is perception that matters. So those, who do know the contestants personally and believe in his merits, in some way have this responsibility of doing their bit.
Think of the scenario, when none of us had done anything to support him and he lost. I would never have felt good about that. Hope you get my point. All the time it was the bigger picture of Shaastra in mind.
I did not remove my blog because I though it was unfair for me to promote someone. That was never the reason. I removed it only so that it did not have a negative effect on him.
At the end of the day, more than the moves, what really matters is who wins. I am happy (and so should be others) that the better guy won.
ur vision is myopic… u havent worked with the other guy n hence r not in a position to say who’s btr… wats more.. u removed the blog cos it effected ur candidate, not becos its against the rules… grt job man.. n i had diffrnt opinion bout u..
n yes, congrats once again for denying ur candidate the pure joy of victory, due to the ‘c’ grp’s malpractices, even without which he wud have won…
I completely agree with anon. A victory but a very bitter one.
Ok let me agree that my vision is myopic. Does this mean that only they who have ‘worked’ with all the contestants and have a broad vision, have the right to conclude who is best for a job?
All I can say you is that, I tried my best to know about both the guys, and then made a personal conclusion about who was better. It might vary with your personal conclusion. But mind you, friendship was never a factor in that conclusion of mine. It was based mostly on credentials and experience. I also do not buy the argument that one should take into account which year who is in.
He would have won even without any malpractice. I don’t know. I didn’t know. I wanted to personally do something to make sure he indeed won.
As far as malpractice is concerned, I don’t about others, but I have never indulged in them before, nor do I believe I did anything wrong during these elections. To whoever I spoke to, I said only this: Look at both their credentials and manifestoes and decide who is the better off. Do not go by political moves or personal incentives. And then, I told them what I had arrived at when I did the comparisons. You have the freedom of calling it manipulation or malpractice. To me, it was my responsibility to let others know what I thought was right. And I never had any personal motive attached.
I did, and still do, that the now elected Co-ass is capable of doing a better job. Calling my vision myopic, doesn’t snatch away my right to share my opinion with others.
As far as the blog post was concerned, I removed it because I was told that it might be against rules, which in turn meant that someone else could have gotten screwed up in the process. I still don’t know how against the rules it was, but I played safe. That’s all there is about it.
I thought the whole point of an election is to leave it to the people to decide as to who is the better candidate.If you claim superiority by talking about the people’s ability(or inability) to make a correct decision because of them not knowing both the candidates and hence the core group flexing its muscles , all you are doing is trying to justify to yourself that all you guys are right.Stop deceiving urself.And if its about the other candidate usiing malpractice,how do you know it? Any first hand information of him claiming factually incorrect positions of responsibility like head of CFI or threatening people with their coordships and a few first yearites with their next years hostel elections or about him being the first amongst the two to start using regionalism to his advantage or did he make people sit by offering them coreships. And now about manisfesto……if a better manifesto would mean, having points in their, however feasible or not, specific to 1st yearites 2nd yearites , M.Techs, MScs, Phds, MBAs, Girls and also the students below cgpa 7, well definitely a better amnifesto for the elction but nothing more.So you’re reasons to try imposing ur decision on the public, am sorry to have imposed ur decision on the public are neither morally correct nor factually.
lets start with caesar’s election..
Mr.Sania made the insti a national map..
divided the entire junta into regions like gults,mallus,tams,gujarathis,marathis and so on..
and yeah..he did not even leave “konkani”….
and then caught every guy of this gumble…
one who is “sensible” and “influential” and then started putsing it the strat..
the result was..he got a huge margin inspite of 3 candidates opposing..
no doubts that he was deserving…but this was his path..
and when the candidate seeked support from his friends who happen to be gult, junta cribbed gult politics..
2 days before the election, Mr.”Goon”guly and his comrades organised a bong dinner..still…not a single gult called it “bong politics”…
goonguly made deals, traded bong votes did all kinda shit…
Mr.Gult did none..
he just asked support of his friends..
he had no core team backing him up…goonguly had…
so Mr.Vatsap…Shut the FUCK up…
Let me begin with asking you this questoin: how long did people of Bihar took to realize that Laloo wasn’t quite the guy Bihar needed?
Finally, they are the people who decide things. That happens in every election. It happened in this election. Now, say you know certain things about someone, won’t you like to see him come to power? As long as you know, you don’t have any personal motive behind your support, should you fear anything, least of all baseless allegations? I the insti election case, I didn’t. I considered it morally correct to share my opinion with those who didn’t have an opinion. At the end of the day, junta did what they considered right.
I, personally did not flex any muscle for sure. Whoever I spoke to, I spoke about the guys merit and nothing else. Find me one guy who can say I said anything about stupid things like promising coordships/coreships or things like threatening.
How did I know about the other candidates malpractice? I don’t know what you referred to as malpractice, but I didn’t feel good about a certain false rumor doing round in a certain hostel about some stupid coordship deal.
I guess I need to shut up because allegations will keep pouring. I will let time, and Shaastra 2008, convince you that it was in the interest of the event that he became to sec.
As you say sir. Thanks for expressing your opinions.
trust me da………you cannot argue out of this by still claiming moral high grounds.Just agree its ur hunger for power and cut the “bigger picture for shaastra” shit out.
After all the shit thts you guys have done claiming superior morality the boys stud up and managed to garner 1k votes.kudos to him and his friends………
Mr. Vatsap.. who r u to offer a coreship… u cant.. all u can do is put blogs on the colour of ur undies everyday, n bout how pained u r inlife…u cant even look beyond shaastra for all i know.. m talkin bout the guys who can n did… u want shaastra to be in able hands? n u think the ‘c’ grp knows who’s btr then y even hold electns.. let jus the ‘c’ grp nominate the next ‘c’ -ass.. can u gurantee that the most honorable out going coas n his close aides didnt do it? if u cant, then do this…
shut the FUCK up
30 comments… and still growing strong…
best way to increase publicity: talk about insti elections and put self shag on how righteous you are.. and we all believe in “any publicity is good publicity”
Way to go Vatsap?
hmmm… I think my next post will be on the 10 best ways to publicize yourself/your blog
My hunger for power? LOL! As you say!
Supporting the guy who i supported was my personal decision. I don’t care who else supported him. I seriously don’t. I also don’t care what means other supporters adopted.
This is all I have to say before I shut the fuck up.
if u support a guy then jus ‘support’ him… dont call the other guy a politician…ideally, u shudnt even mention the other guy… n pls pls dont shut the fuck up… clarify these thigs with the new coas n let us know too
1. when exactly did he become head of CFI n how much has he done?
2. did or did not the outgoing coas make calls n threaten ppl of coordship in godav
3.do u or do u not do anything except blogging bout how pained u r in life n the color of ur undies…
you have lost all the respect you had ……at least from my side…..I am seriously shocked to know that you put this up a day before election….
WTF
I dont know what people are so afraid of.He is just one person with a blog , if that s all it takes for the readers of this blog to choose whom they wish to support, then I feel they shouldn’t be voting altogether. Its a free country and everyone has a right to express his or her view.I for one have no clue why a blog should be banned in the first place.Its like people are afraid of what would happen if the truth actually came to be read.
I feel that a blog would be a wonderful way to get your message across to the electorate,iit can be read by everyone not just a select few . The truths or lies spoken can be debated over and overall the whole process would be much more transparent. Vatsa hasnt put a gun to your head and said vote for so and so,he has just aired his views on his website.He could have gone and delivered this message to all his friends/readers in private, but atleast he has the balls to voice his views out loud unlike private threat calls or malicious rumors.
Vatsa’s opponents go Anon … is a way apprehensible, but his supporters going Anon .. is not graspable. Double politics ?
Or is that … Vatsa himself !! Real shitt !
IIT Roadies? 🙄 😯 ❗
@WTF
1. i gather u r not an iitian… wat he did was not allowed in the 1st place… Yes, it is banned..
2. as i said, its either a dirty move or he is plain stupid to do that onthe eve of electns.. he confessed he’s stupid… well.. then he is stupid… stupid stupid stupid… though personally i doubt that, given the timing of the publishing, thr was no time left for counter views.. n if u consider direct qstns, specially my last cmnt, he’s shied away thr…
@TMS
yes… his blog n cmntrs like me really have made iitm a laughing stock…but he doesnt care… he cares more bout shaastra than anything else…
Well I guess the anon chap will cry foul play if he is not given any coordship, irrespective of the fact that whether he deserves it or not.
@amused: sorry for calling u WTF.. misread that as ur name.. really sorry
@jhopad: y only single out anon’s selfish interests… y not answer the issues raised by him n the rest…bout the calls, the rumors, the rules vatsa broke etc etc etc… or if u want, i can list down the qstns again, but i know they’ll go unanswered so yes… point a finger at me too… i dont mind
Of course sir. Who else will think of writing anything for me? That of course has to be me.
I think let me just go ahead and aplogize for calling the other guy a politician. In fact, it might not have been him who would have started the rumors. It could have been some of his friends who wanted him to win. So yeah, my apologies. I am sorry I concluded him to be a politician.
1. Did he? I don’t even know if there is a post called head of CFI. Anyway, why are you asking this to me? Did I ever ask anyone to go for him because he was some head of some CFI? Don’t mix things up. Read my post again.
2.Just coz I am a good friend of ex co-as, do not assume I was some part of some gang who worked to see the victory of their boys. Actually no point saying this to you. Why should you believe me? But anyway, in my space, ask me things which I have done or which I am aware of than asking me answer things that you think others have done.
3. Totally true. That’s the only thing I do. I am good for nothing.
Wow that’s so cool. I lost respect from an anonymous guy! Poor me.
Have the courtesy to write you name. A couple of them who are writing as anons, and I still don’t delete their comments is because they have their own reason. But what about you Mr. passout?
I somehow get this weird feeling that you overestimate my readership. I knew there was something against campaigning in electronic form etc. This is precisely this post doesn’t take names.
I mean read my post again man. All I say is, don’t believe in rumors. Go for the genuine guy. I really didn’t see what rules it broke. And the very reason I removed it was that, junta would unnecessarily start debating about arbit things like does it break the rule or not which would be too sad.
I don’t even get your points now. I guess you really don’t know me (earlier I thought you did) or you are trying to make some opinion on me based on one blog post of mine.
Dude, move on. I know what I did was right. Period. Don’t vent frustrations over others in my blog. That’s a request. But if you still do, I would let the comments be.
Y should Jhopad answer you? This is not some insti site. This is my blogsite for God’s sake!
Amrit 😆 it’s right time to change your napkin
dude… yes u did not take names… but tell me honestly, u even doubt that any1 who read it had even a shred of a doubt bout who u r referring to?
plus, u apologise for calling him a politician now.. isnt it a tad too late?
I wonder how the ‘politician’ felt reading ur blog… dont u?
n ohhh… i pray he didnt read it before the elecns…
n if he did, i hope he reads ur apologies now too..
from my side, i close the topic here..
but since u accused him on a blogpost, i rqst u to apologise to him on the same n not in cmnts, same goes for the timing of the post
macha .. change your diaper da
…u lost ur brains……but u finished third in elocution……congrats da!!!
Elocution is only about speaking and lil acting. Trust me. Ask CC why I went. Had there been enough junta, I wouldn’t even have gone. This is my hostel just like yours. In my fifth year, I don’t have have to put fight for elocutions or debate for my personal gains or resume points. I participate for my hostel.
I am not sure, what you meant by losing brains? If you could explain lil better I can prolly answer you.
LOL! Too lazy for that mama.
Will do that. No issues.
LOL! Gift me some new ones. 🙂
@amused
as answer to “I for one have no clue why a blog should be banned in the first place” I would like to say that any kind of electronic/print media should not be used for campaigning (or even to influence the free people). Even sending an sms is illegal. The reason being both the candidates should be on equal grounds. Not everyone has access to internet to post a blog, not everyone can afford a cellphone, not everyone can afford to print and distribute. Allowing this kind of practice gives an advantage to the well-to-do.