A Demur Of Sorts

IIT (BHU), Varanasi has seen many a rebellion in these past few decades, but recently the number and frequency of such heavy-handed protests have observed an exponential rise. So an analytic breakdown of the situation has become inevitable! Amongst all the ongoing remonstrance across the other faculties of BHU, including a strike of the medicos at Sir Sunderlal Hospital (SSH), which was partially responsible for costing the life of a trauma victim, IIT-BHU was soon to follow suit. Ergo, what is the caterwaul all about and how can this dilemma be remedied?

The ever-growing unrest with the recently appointed directorate and its overtly autocratic policies reached a fever pitch when the already incongruous attendance rule was whimsically modified without any prior notice, nearly causing some fourth-year students across various departments to lose their jobs. The blind-eye turned by the governance to malicious green-eyed inter-faculty barbarism and the unresponsiveness of the college authorities in addressing simple requests like that of preponing the placement season by a week, has further added fuel to the roaring flames! The absolute apathy portrayed by the institution towards the future careers of the bright young minds it nurtures is further proof that some drastic measures had to be taken to set things right. So how do you tackle such a crisis?

We were used to seeing the students from the science, arts, law, management and other faculties of BHU go to fierce proportions for achieving even the smallest of their demands, including stone pelting of buses and introducing road blockages... But the IITian crowd being a tat bit more civilized, decided to have a pen-down instead. We had our differences over the course of action being suggested as I, for one, felt that bunking our sessionals would do us more harm than good, especially keeping in mind the outright indifference showed by the administration towards student welfare.

But who is to argue with the crazed majority, irrespective of whether their minds are driven by logic or frustration? After all, not everyone holds a doctorate in anger management! Everybody just plunged into the agitation, without any felicitous leadership and minus the formal election of a few representatives to put forth the mass petition of the student fraternity. The intensity of the movement saw a gradual decline as people started chasing after their own agenda instead of sticking to the common original demands. It is saddening to see such a sorry state of affairs befall one of the otherwise top-notch colleges in the country.

I'm not against such a demur, and I actually love the fact that the students have a stentorian voice! However, I don't completely approve of the way the whole thing was carried out, where the minority was coerced into accepting the terms of the majority without being properly reasoned with or paying any heed to the opinion or rights of the individual! But with our degrees at stake and just another year before graduating, I've found it wise to put a regulator on my own bottle of wrath. Who knows what fate awaits us all and what pitfalls lurk in our way?

After an abrupt ending to our mid-semester exams and a cogent two day protest, most of our colleagues have left the college premises for enjoying Holi with friends and family. And although a board meeting is scheduled within the next seven days, there is one thing I know for sure... Even as most of the students remain undeterred in the face of the unconceding board, the management with all its resources and very few pressure points is hard to beat in this game of nerve, especially with its delay tactics and implementation of the divide-and-rule policy, at the slightest sign of disunity, in full force! As for me, I figure that spending some time in peace, away from the fiery cauldron in our college, should do me a tonne of good...

Recent Protests in IIT (BHU), Varanasi

The 'Fight Or Flight' Response

In modern times, conflicts are so generic that we have become accustomed to hearing, observing and reading about them almost on a daily basis. The world has seen it all, from international war and cataclysm right down to the plague of local thugs and browbeaters. Even on a personal level, I'm sure most of us too have faced our fair share of tussles, where we have had to make the difficult choice between 'fight' or 'flight'. So, what would you do if such a predicament crept up in your life tomorrow?

Personally, I don't remember the last time I had chosen the 'flight' response... It has always been in my nature to take everything head on, no matter how small or big the challenge, and irrespective of the mental or physical exertion required to overcome it. My instincts have perpetually driven me to rise to the occasion and never back down! And although today I can honestly confess, with a certain amount of pride I might add, that I've always lived to tell the tale, is the 'fight' response necessarily and invariably the wisest choice? If you unwaveringly knew that something would likely kill you or in the least, wound you to the extent that you wouldn't be able to live life the same way ever again, would you (or rather should you) still decide to fight it out? Would it still be worth it in a practical world far from idealism? That's a hard nut to crack... 

On the one hand you have the 'fight' response, backed by bravery, egoism and indignation, and on the other hand you have the 'flight' response, which mainly focuses on self-preservation. Science tells us that either choice refers to an automatic response that our mind generates, making our body adapt instantaneously, to counter internal or external stress, termed by some as 'fear'. It is an unpleasant emotion that can be triggered by events ranging from an impending accident to the perception of even the tiniest threat. But let's feel this astounding transformation taking place, for a second... The epinephrine released into our blood immediately increases our heart rate, helping us breathe faster and blood is directed away from our digestive organs to the muscles and limbs for extra energy... Our eyesight sharpens and situational awareness is greatly increased as if time had slowed down... Our thinking speeds up and perception of pain is enormously reduced!

For a short while, even an average joe can assume superpowers that are hard to fathom! Imagine all the miracles that could be brought to pass if we could voluntarily access and channel all that hidden potential... But this makes you wonder... If fear can do so much for you, why do people commend you on being fearless? What does it truly mean to be gutsy? I'd say it simply makes an allusion to the achievement of a high degree of self-mastery and mental control, where you respond with deliberate action to eliminate the imminent danger, rather than get all tensed up about it and act irrationally. So, may be there's some legitimacy to what the fictional Prof. X famously quoted after all: "True focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity"

And further, it's not about who is more vascular or has the neater abs... Huh! It's about who can triumph on a given date and time in the specific pickle that they are in. Once de-escalation flops, a single well-placed punch, kick, elbow or knee or a simple well-executed choke or any dirty move can be enough to tip the scales. No wonder you see professional MMA guys going back and forth trumping one another in consecutive rematches. On the streets however, when a lot more may be riding at stake than just a title belt and you may not get a second chance, it is really up to the individual to ensure the upper hand, by using wits and brawns and any other means necessary, to subdue the adversary at least long enough to step out of the quandary.  

I guess the bottom-line of what I'm trying to convey is that while all that adrenaline is flooding our blood stream, the split-second decision to either fight or dodge, although sometimes implicating a shear leap of faith, should only be taken after weighing the odds of winning against the chances of sustaining permanent damage in any respect. After all, it defies logic to throw away all of nature's gifts for something trivial or petty, but it does make an enormous amount of sense to firmly stand by your prudent beliefs and persevere to achieve your goals in life!

The Dynamics Of A Team

How can you define a 'team'? At the surface, it may simply refer to a group of people working together to achieve a common goal, too complex for an individual to attain on his own. But is this all there is to it? Moreover, every team is not the same in efficiency or effectiveness... So, what are the secrets to the dynamics of a successful team?

The above figure gives us a basic idea of the functioning of an efficacious team. In this schematic illustration, the various sub-groups with their leaders are connected by a communicative interface overseen by an overall team director, represented in red. So, the parameters affecting the performance of a team can be summed up and expressed as a combination of three factors, viz. the importance of the individual, communication and leadership.

Firstly, the success of a team is literally the aggregate of the success of the individuals constituting the team; its flair is a sum-total of the pooled-in talents of its members. So, if you needed to build a team, how would you make the right pick? An age-old quotation states that the majority of the people in this world are reasonable, who try to adapt themselves to this world, while a minor fraction is unreasonable, and who try to adapt the world to themselves. But guess what? All the progress that has ever occurred has been brought about by the latter! Therein lays the significance of the individual, who ought to have an independent and powerful voice, which must not be drowned out in the shadow of others' opinions, in order to make a measurable contribution to the collective effort of the team.

The second aspect of team-performance is communication, which refers to the exchange of vital information in a concise and informative manner. Just as a word of caution, this term should not be confused with conversation which, as opposed to communication, refers to idle chatter with no sizable output. Communication helps everyone to keep the bigger picture in mind, by facilitating the visualization of how the achievement of individual targets comes together to achieve the final goal. Decisions and modifications to the original plan can be made accordingly, other than maintaining a healthy and motivated work environment.

The last but perhaps the most important aspect of the dynamics of a team, is the role of its leader, who must be sufficiently autarchic, wieldy and influential in his own right to become a person to reckon with. He must take on responsibility and forge a bond of friendship and professionalism between all the team members to transform the fine threads connecting them into a mighty fabric. He must act as a guide when necessary and must not have a bulldozing attitude towards his team. He must have the vision to open the doors to infinite possibilities, thereby keeping his team encouraged at all times.

Ending this article with a personal take on this issue, I've always believed that a team should only be formed when the task at hand is too massive for the individual to comprehend or undertake as otherwise too many cooks may spoil the broth. But when a team does get formed, one should always try to be at its helm, by inculcating the qualities discussed above, and governing the concerning terms and conditions, hence not surrendering his fate to others, and getting the most out of the impending challenge, thereby paving the way to personal satisfaction and happiness!