Offer them pens, if not blood!

The preface to this proposed protest is pretty simple: Our batch of the Integrated program, which literally leaves even the institute administration dumbfounded at the rules applicable to us, was deemed lucky enough sometime last year to be included in the Institute teaching assistant program. While it has been our batch's collective view that we form the missing populace of the campus, who are conveniently forgotten in media briefings and campus rules, none of us had expected that the ordeal would turn out to be a disaster with every passing month.

So, with nobody clear on how we were to be allotted courses and more importantly, how would we be remunerated, the sum of Rs. 6000 pm turned into a prized fortune because of the effort involved in its dispatch. After red tape snailed the entire process and turned the department secretary into a sarkari chaprasi, running after people every day during the first week of the month, we though that the authorities would learn from the blunders of the last sem and make the process more linear this time around. The present situation: it is almost the end of Feb and no sign of the stipend for JAN!

"The paper was lost between the two departments"..."Today is blah blah jayanti, come tomorrow"..."The dean is in his office but hasn't signed the paper yet"...The department needs to carefully deliberate over your performance"....These are some of the excuses put forward. Since the most basic excuse has been that the paper hasn't been signed yet, I propose that the students of our batch gift a pen each to the Dean's office and the departmental office, and sheets of paper to the acad section to make up for missing paperwork. Moreover, let's all do it together, in a peaceful and organised manner.

I have heard numerous horror stories of how painful it is to get work done in this institute, be it the estate office or some other menial department. At least we can hope that the authorities would take notice, if not get things done in a more linear manner. Otherwise, some of us would be expecting the 6k even after we enter our respective workplaces! I will probably keep it as a trophy, just to remember what a gala time I had in the campus.