The student community of NIT Silchar

The student community of NIT Silchar

NIT Silchar is an institute of excellence in the north eastern part of India where we get students from all the different parts of India and some from abroad too. These students get admitted here after a rigorous elimination test called AIEEE. For the statistically interested people it is to be mentioned that out of about 1200000 candidates appearing for AIEEE only 18000 are selected. In terms of percentage this adds up to a success of 1.5%. Out of these lucky people who have been screened through AIEEE about 450 of them arrive at NIT Silchar. They initially turn up for the first time with their parents for the admission process and within fifteen days of arrival at NITS campus, a metamorphosis takes place to create a new breed of the ‘Youngisthan.’ This Youngisthan at NITS have some particular characteristics :
• Everyone tries to portray himself/herself as a cool dude/gal. This coolness factor is also directly proportional to the usage of English in verbal communication.
• Everyone tries to look different by wearing denims and T-shirts. It’s this craze to look different that makes everyone look similar.
• People start experimenting with their looks, long hair, cropped hair, coloured hair, spot beards, multiple earrings and so forth. Some are weirdoes who are in the borderline of sanity believing that ugly and grotesque is cool.
• Everyone tries to flaunt his/her mobile phone, laptop and gizmos as these stuffs are cool.
• Everyone tries to use slanguage as it is thought to be cool. The confidence level of a person is judged by his slang vocabulary. Though sometimes it becomes difficult to understand if the person is trying to say sh*t, sheet or sit.
Broadly the ‘Youngisthan’ can be divided into three categories:

Bharatiyas

The Bharatiyas constitute 40% of the student population in NITS. They are least influenced by the side effects of globalization. They still retain most of the traditional values and use hindi as their preferred medium of communication. For them English is a ‘phoren’ language imposed by the ‘Angrez.’ However, they are the ones who are most influenced by Bollywood and try to imitate Akshay Kumar, SRK or Abhishek Bachchan, or maybe Priety Zinta or Priyanka Chopra. They hardly care about what they are wearing. They may forget to shave, or comb their hair, and generally come to the class in chappals. At times they become brand ambassadors of ‘Save Water Campaign,’ which is reflected by the stink that emulates from their presence. They prefer to take rice or roti at breakfast, lunch and dinner. For them all noodles are Maggi and Pizza in a thick roti with a exorbitant price tag, and a blackberry is a mobile phone with a keyboard. Mobile is just a phone and not a status symbol for this creed. These are people who still think that they are in NITS to study hard and become and engineer, get a good job and support his/her parents. They study regularly and prepare notes that are later used by the Indians.

Indians

The Indians constitute about 50% of the student population in NITS. These are people who are well aware of the global trends but are rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. They have been moderately influenced by globalization. They prefer to use English as the preferred medium of communication with a liberal usage of hindi words. They are careful about appearances and try to look smart, even if they wear black trousers with brown belts and brown shoes, or gleaming white sandals with black denim. Both males and females of this creed wear a pair of jeans 24x7, 365 days a year. They watch Hollywood movies with English subtitles and still remain dedicated followers of Bollywood. When they save water they dry-clean themselves with perfumes and deodorants. They take rice, roti, pizza or noodles with equal ease. Some people of this creed think that taking a full meal is a crime. They engage in different activities, curricular and extracurricular, and they study only a week before the mid sem and the end sem. They carry books to the exam hall for last minute revisions.

The Accidentally Indians

These are people who have not recovered from the hangover of a visit to the US that they have never undertaken. There are severely affected by globalization. These students imagine that have a distant relation to Jim Morrison, Mel Gibson or Barack Obama. They are generally from affluent families and are diehard consumers. They splurge to consume the latest and the trendiest gizmos and luxury items. They see no difference between the orient and the west. They prefer to use English as a medium of communication and consider themselves lost foreigners even in their own homes. They speak hindi with a anglicised accent. They understand the difference between sushi and gourmet, though they take tortillas with chicken tikka and kosher with tomato sauce. They are extremely internet savvy and find no difference between the real and the virtual worlds. They listen to rock, metal or country, and then download the lyrics from the net. They attend classes only when the net is too slow. For them NITS is a place where unwarranted parental advice/ interference can be avoided. They perceive that NITS faculty is just another ‘human interface device.’

This categorisation of the students is again dependent on several factors. A student who is a Bharatiya in the first year may turn into an ‘Accidental Indian’ in the third year due to external influence. These external influences may be:
• Peer pressure really influences students. Sometimes the sense of competition in these peer groups drives completely sane and reasonable students into activities that are insanely irrational. It’s one moment of indiscretion or one little wrong step that changes life and, most of these drastic events are results of friendly bets or some little prank.
• A single movie can have a really deep impact on the life of students. After 3 Idiots, everyone tried to perceive himself as the fourth one, and after Ghazni many people tried the scarred hair cut.
• Perception about what is cool plays a major role in transforming these young people. Sometimes binging is thought to be cool and sometimes jogging in the morning is perceived cool.
• Perception about what the other gender thinks plays a major role. A student may change his/her entire lifestyle depending on the preferences of his/her girlfriend/boyfriend. In a student who has plugged in his papers, or who is frustrated in love, or who has been ditched, these changes are extremely visible.

In spite of this categorization and this eternal metamorphosis, the one thing that really exists among the ‘Youngisthan’ in NITS is the spirit of creativity. In an otherwise remote dusty town where good roads are considered an extravagance, it is this spirit of creativity that sustains the institution. Whether it is the organization of the annual festival, ‘Incand,’ or in the little pranks, what we really treasure at NITS is the conglomeration of ‘Beautiful Minds.’