Delhi University Politics

“Our College President had run away on a motorcycle at the first sign of trouble A La Mullah Omar, and the cops had no idea where he was. As we waited, a crowd of students gathered outside the Thana, shouting slogans against Police brutality and asking for donations from passing motorists. The president of the ABVP (the party, not the union itself) came in to the police station, demanding our release, and carrying a huge bag of bananas for us. The cops were in a foul mood by then, so they took the bananas, slapped him around in full view of us, and then took him upstairs for “special treatment”. We could soon hear the sounds of the special treatment coming down and that terrified us even more. The cops then decided that they would not arrest us, but would teach us a lesson in civic courtesy before letting us go. The civic lesson constituted our being made to lie down face down and rub our noses on the ground. All this, while we were whacked by lathis on the backside. While rubbing our noses on the cold floor, we also had to say, “Mai Public Property damage nahin karunga”.

….lol…so tell me, could the policewallahs be bribed with apples, oranges etc. too?….or did they have a special affinity for bananas?….

Soundmeister:

`` A lazy good-for-nothing who proudly proclaims that it was promises of spin-doctoring (horse-trading is a more apt term if you ask me) that got you into university AFTER connections failed to work, you THEN has the temerity to protest the Mandal reservations, which even if they were unfair at least were made in a spirit of affirmative action and social justice. People like you, who have seen nothing but the easy way, the short-cut, the queue-busting all their lives are the reason why our country can`t get itself out of its sh1t.``

Dude, you have no idea how much work it is to actually make connections work for you. In any case, I went there for a year, quit in disgust and actually had to give a competitve exam (without connections) to go somewhere better. Even scum is reedemable y`know.

``I hope you live in Boston forever and never come back. We are much better off without you.``

Er, who`s we?

``As for the para I quoted, it`s just as an example of your pathetic attempts at injecting humour into a deadly serious thing like the Goswami sacrifice.``

Dude, now you are being an idiot. The Goswami thing was not a sacrifice. It was a publicity stunt that went wrong. Other`s who did the same thing, yes those were sacrifices, and I inject no humor about them.

``People like you -- the hangers-on of our society, the drunken brats who drive Daddy`s BMW over innocent pavement dwellers, the moneysoaked raveparty freaks who go around shooting women who refuse to sleep with you, the cocaine sniffers at 5000 bucks a snort --- are happily missed. ``

Erm, again, you are so caught up in your outrage, that you are not seeing things right. If I had a BMW, or was capable of sniffing cocaine worth 5000 a pop, you think I`d be hanging around some stupid south campus college brown nosing people to get in? Nah!! I was at best a middle class kid, trying to make it in the world on the advantages I had at the time. The kind of people you talk about give a couple of Lakhs to get into Hindu college, that is, IF they study in India at all.

Lighten up my man!! and yes, I do take your post in the right spirit :)

Samina

Thanks. I`m afraid the piece is bit Delhi centri, which is why I was doubtful if it would be suitable for Chowk. Decided to go ahead and submit in any case.

Aamir / Narain / Prem:

Glad you guys enjoyed reading it.

Aamir, you have a point about student unions ultimately not being that important. Delhi is a bit different because of it`s visibility.

Prem, who are the people you know? I remember Avdesh Sharma from the ABVP was there. And Sushmita Deb, was a classmate in school, and she became president of Miranda College. I have no connections with Karnal BTW :)

Narain, u a Delhite? What school?

Harimau:

``I for one am glad that the policemen gave the author a sound thrashing.``

Me too. Put me on the straight and narrow for a couple of weeks.

Sadna:

You`re right on the money..the Mandal thing basically blended into the Mandar movement, even though the underlying steps had been taken. I thought the article would have been way too long though if I wrote about the Rath Yatra as well.

RSaxena:

Hotties. The nerdies do Zoology Honors. :)

Did I write Stuka for Mr. Vohra`s article? Sorry, must be a mistake.

regards

Dulla Bhatti:

Kiddan. I have emailed Samina a couple of times so she knows who I am. You were in Delhi in 1984? I was in 7th grade, and were given halfday after we found out she had been shot. I remember hoping that she dies, becoz we would get more holidays.

:)

Tussi wee kaddi email bhej do ...pvohra@yahoo.com

Rozaiba:

I agree, the topic is a bit India centric. That`s why I wanted to give some background. The Mandal Commission report recommended reservations for certain castes which were determined to be at a socio-economic disadvantage. The implementation of the recommendations led to agitation in Delhi and other parts of India.

The Rath Yatra was a movement started by ``great`` LK Advani to drum up support for Ram Mandir aka BJP.

Molko:

I`m glad the years you spent studying Rapidex English Speaking Course paid off. BTW, I passed.

Parag:

Nah…make that stuka…

Welcome to chowk…and pls. continue writing…

…hope you have not forgotten the ‘h’ lesson …it is important this side of the radcliffe stab!…

(…what do i think of this effort?…since you have been kind earlier…my normal threshold is three careless typos…if the author does not care why should i…BUT…nah, khair is a better word…khair, likhtay rahiyay…)

…you know what they say about hotel industry folks?…most have split personalities…all pleasant, courteous and smiling for the customer (s/he is always right) and then…khair…here is that word again…keep the food costs down…killing is to be made in beverages…surely you know that…

…oh…from one of your interacts from last year…or was it zafar`s?…kaka da hotel is very much there…the food is…shall I say the less said the better?…laikin wrenger’s pizza ka jawab nahin…if you haven’t you should…


saminashah #22:

[…Did I write Stuka for Mr. Vohra`s article? Sorry, must be a mistake…]

---wipe that pie off your face;)

veeresh #16:

…phew…your effort to increase fellow dilli-wala’s maiden hit-count is so very transparent;)

rgds,lve,rgds (in order)

t

Stuka: I read the article when it just appeared and knew right away that it must be you. Unfortunately, I could not respond more quickly. Hey, we both have one more thing in common - active participants in university level student politics, though my list of crazy involvement in my misspent youth is quite long. Now I am trying to perhaps make up for that period. Unlike your case, we had tacit approval of our activities from Hazrat Zia Ul Haq. From beating up leftists in their dormitory rooms, to firing in the air during leftist rallies to break it up to shouting for Jihad all over including Jupiter and Mars and their moons to stopping Ahmad Faraz from entering the university to not letting Physics department honoring Dr. Abdul Salam for being Ahmedi. Now that was university. I had been to Government College Rawalpindi before that and that is another list. I was a Jamaatia, drinking Murree Brewary`s beer occasionally with other Islamists in Islamabad with never forgetting to say bismillah before taking the first big gulp. Those were the days of a born gemini.

Stuka sounds better than Parag.

my two cents,

though it was a bit hard to read, the article was interesting and dealt with things new to Chowk.

hope you write more.

Temporal,

re: ``[…Did I write Stuka for Mr. Vohra`s article? Sorry, must be a mistake…]

---wipe that pie off your face;)``

Hey, a woman can only try to save a man`s honor...

and if it must be pie, make it Stewart`s banana or coconut cream from Chicago. The pie was so good there, I haven`t even bothered eating it elsewhere...

Ref RSaxena #: 7

[{{Get me admission into the BA (Hons) English program, which is predominantly girl dominated}}

nice..hotties or nerdy girls?]

You have to ask?

Man, I am losing my faith in you.

Definitely not nerdy. Nerdy girls study engineering.

That is why most all the hotties on Chowk are Pakistanis.

Stuka #21
Do write about the Rath Yatra as well. In the South Mandal-like reservations had been in place for decades and mandir was not a major issue for a long time.
btw, do you happen to have a sister named Archana, perhaps?

Parag,

Great to read about DU - what memories the whole DU admission process brings up ! I ended up doing Math Hons in Miranda after applying far too late to get anything else inspite of my decent board results - all because I was so sure I was getting into NID, Ahemdabad I didn`t even bother to apply anywhere in DU. Everything is politics ... I think now that it was my enthusiatic gushing about Atlas Shrugged to the arty leftest libral teachers in my 3 day interview that sunk my chances for NID - that of some ``pull`` or ``ghoose`` walla bacha got in instead of me.

At Miranda since it is a girls college the girls (even in English Hons !!) did vote and the elections were a zoo ! Are all North Campus colleges considered good ??? Even Khalsa (that sunk our college festival The Tempest) or Kirodi Mall College didn`t take you - good god how badly did you do in your 12th exams?!! I still remember when when SRCC`s college festival was sponsered by Zakki underwear and they had a huge banner of a Brief draped over the back of the stage for the rock concert !!!

Anyway - thanks for a fun read from a fellow boston area DU-ite