The Students’ Council at IIM Lucknow is one of the most prestigious establishments in the campus, aside from the high and mighty P***M. Well… this article deals with the Student’s Council… The other one may be some other time. :)
In case some of the readers were into a deep slumber for the last 2(or 5) semesters, I will explain about The Council a bit. The Council comprises several students who take upon their shoulders the responsibilities to maintain a united front (ha!) for the students. The Council comprises of 5 ministers, each dealing with a different aspect of the kingdom of IIML. We have a minister of sports, a minister of funds and accounts, a minister of food and beverages, a minister of cultures and festivities and a minister of academia. There is an addition of a new minister from this year onwards, minister of home affairs to ensure that all is “infrastructurally” fit and well. To ensure that these ministers indeed do what they are supposed to do, we have a king on the top of them all. Well there are no particular requirements for any of these posts except perhaps you need to be a lot popular with the entire batch and have a gift of gab. As it happens, these 6 (or 7 seven from next year onwards) “students” were given the authority to look after the rest of the X – 13 – 16 people of the batch (where X is the total batch strength, 13 are the Council members and 16 are the members of the other mighty institution which need no looking after).
The power associated with such an establishment is of such a diabolical capacity that the “students” endowed with the responsibility of maintaining Council feel that it is their sole responsibility to bear the brunt of the position and thereby want to take care of the rest of the batch by not involving them in the formulation of decisions which may impact them for the rest of their stay at (hel)L.
Imagine how problematic it would have been for the simple minded peasants like us had the Council been regularly involving us in their decision making. I distinctly remember several incidents in which the Council had to take some decisions which did not go down with the rest of the batch very well. But, as always, what right did we simple minded peasants have to question the collective wisdom of the institution called “The Council”. It might have been a different case had “The Council” been a student body made by the general mandate of the batch, or constituted of students from the batch, or worked towards the betterment of the students… But wait a second it is indeed supposed to be all of this. But what the hell… how does it matter? It’s not like we might have had some better ideas, for the problems, that the Council did not think up of… they must be real smart that’s why they are in the Council. Alright rest of the batch may have more practical experience than the Council but is it really that important? We should really trust the judgement of our beloved student elected body.
What’s more important is that none of the “simple minded peasants” ever be allowed to question the wisdom of “The Council” as to what they are doing about this important issue or that significant thing pending for such a long time. We all should understand that “The Council” is almost always busy with deciding random rules, or asking the batch for project reports or any other such “important” stuff. They are not free and they do not have time to address your random concerns. If you bug them too much then you are wasting your time because since all the 13 of them are always so busy, they will not have time to address your concerns. Now only if you were talking about bringing sponsorship or were a good friend with “The Council” could they spare some time to lend you an ear for the interesting proposal but even then do not expect too much. They are just not like everyone else. They are the elite class. After all it takes special skills to purposefully evade all the queries… right?
Anyhow, I would like to raise a special toast to all the commendable work that “The Council” has done over the last period, not to mention how “The Council” always kept us all entertained by such actions as would ensure an undying chain of mails and keep us all involved. The Council even took special care of the peasants who visited “saat samundar paar ki zameen” and ensured that they didn’t miss any of the fun that we were having here. Kudos to “The Council” for ensuring that the workings of the student’s affairs have been made even more opaque, if that was possible. Three cheers to the Council for instilling a sense of camaraderie among the batch… Students have forgotten their mutual differences in their quest to stand united against “The Council”. The Council must be applauded for their sustained effort towards developing independence in each and every student so that they do not have to bother “The Council” for their meagre problems and rather look for the solution themselves.
But even as I bring this note to a close, unbidden, the words of the Roman satirist, Juvenal, come to my mind:
In case some of the readers were into a deep slumber for the last 2(or 5) semesters, I will explain about The Council a bit. The Council comprises several students who take upon their shoulders the responsibilities to maintain a united front (ha!) for the students. The Council comprises of 5 ministers, each dealing with a different aspect of the kingdom of IIML. We have a minister of sports, a minister of funds and accounts, a minister of food and beverages, a minister of cultures and festivities and a minister of academia. There is an addition of a new minister from this year onwards, minister of home affairs to ensure that all is “infrastructurally” fit and well. To ensure that these ministers indeed do what they are supposed to do, we have a king on the top of them all. Well there are no particular requirements for any of these posts except perhaps you need to be a lot popular with the entire batch and have a gift of gab. As it happens, these 6 (or 7 seven from next year onwards) “students” were given the authority to look after the rest of the X – 13 – 16 people of the batch (where X is the total batch strength, 13 are the Council members and 16 are the members of the other mighty institution which need no looking after).
The power associated with such an establishment is of such a diabolical capacity that the “students” endowed with the responsibility of maintaining Council feel that it is their sole responsibility to bear the brunt of the position and thereby want to take care of the rest of the batch by not involving them in the formulation of decisions which may impact them for the rest of their stay at (hel)L.
Imagine how problematic it would have been for the simple minded peasants like us had the Council been regularly involving us in their decision making. I distinctly remember several incidents in which the Council had to take some decisions which did not go down with the rest of the batch very well. But, as always, what right did we simple minded peasants have to question the collective wisdom of the institution called “The Council”. It might have been a different case had “The Council” been a student body made by the general mandate of the batch, or constituted of students from the batch, or worked towards the betterment of the students… But wait a second it is indeed supposed to be all of this. But what the hell… how does it matter? It’s not like we might have had some better ideas, for the problems, that the Council did not think up of… they must be real smart that’s why they are in the Council. Alright rest of the batch may have more practical experience than the Council but is it really that important? We should really trust the judgement of our beloved student elected body.
What’s more important is that none of the “simple minded peasants” ever be allowed to question the wisdom of “The Council” as to what they are doing about this important issue or that significant thing pending for such a long time. We all should understand that “The Council” is almost always busy with deciding random rules, or asking the batch for project reports or any other such “important” stuff. They are not free and they do not have time to address your random concerns. If you bug them too much then you are wasting your time because since all the 13 of them are always so busy, they will not have time to address your concerns. Now only if you were talking about bringing sponsorship or were a good friend with “The Council” could they spare some time to lend you an ear for the interesting proposal but even then do not expect too much. They are just not like everyone else. They are the elite class. After all it takes special skills to purposefully evade all the queries… right?
Anyhow, I would like to raise a special toast to all the commendable work that “The Council” has done over the last period, not to mention how “The Council” always kept us all entertained by such actions as would ensure an undying chain of mails and keep us all involved. The Council even took special care of the peasants who visited “saat samundar paar ki zameen” and ensured that they didn’t miss any of the fun that we were having here. Kudos to “The Council” for ensuring that the workings of the student’s affairs have been made even more opaque, if that was possible. Three cheers to the Council for instilling a sense of camaraderie among the batch… Students have forgotten their mutual differences in their quest to stand united against “The Council”. The Council must be applauded for their sustained effort towards developing independence in each and every student so that they do not have to bother “The Council” for their meagre problems and rather look for the solution themselves.
But even as I bring this note to a close, unbidden, the words of the Roman satirist, Juvenal, come to my mind:
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
(Who will guard the guards themselves?)
(Who will guard the guards themselves?)
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