Realpolitik on Campus

So how far are you willing to go to ensure you get the choicest wing and the wingies of your choice? How far are you willing to go to make sure you have the necessary numbers to stake claim for the new wing, or the back wing, or the front wing, or whatever? How far are you willing to ensure a wing in which there are people from your discipline only and no one else (whatever happened to inter-disciplinary interaction that BITS is famous for?)

Well, it is these questions and a few more that I've found (and am still finding) answers to over the past two days in BITS, that is ever since the hostel allotments have been announced. Wings have been made, they have been broken - sometimes by the members themselves and sometimes, by others. There have been numerous ego clashes as well - God knows why such an issue as who to include and who to exclude and which of the numerous groups offered to choose, holds such a burden of responsibility!

Having said that, maybe it is one of the instances of realpolitik that we must face in the real world. Realpolitik as in practical politics - politics that is based not on any ideology or moral but on the basic human tendency to fulfill one's need and nothing else. This has been my first real big encounter with realpolitik - the first in which I was involved in the mix (as were 800 other students alongside me.) And I did not like it one bit.

Give me a good book to read...give me good music to listen...give me an idea to develop...to write upon...give me a hard code to crack...give me anything except for this...

I do not like negotiations - they are a waste of time. I do not wish to spend my time in boardrooms or anywhere else, trying to iron out agreements and consensus. I wish to be able to say 'Sod off' to everyone and do my own thing. Maybe, that's the biggest benefit I got from the past few days - a wing devoid of people trying to play realpolitik - a wing thinking practically and rationally (Credit to others who didn't mess about, and went quietly about grouping and choosing - I think Andy's wing, the C6 group, and Dushyant's wing are among them)

And for all those non-BITSIAN readers who could make neither head or tail of this post, I think it's better if you do not try to figure out what's written. It would be nigh impossible.