KGP DP -Repeat Telecast

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  http://www.durgaonline.com/2011/baghbazar 


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By now the Durga Puja Mood must have stolen its way into the hearts of IIT KGPians.

This year DP came rather late but this is the best time for it...late October. The Campus must have bid goodbye to its sumptuous monsoon rains and kash must be in full bloom by the Tata Steel Stadium:


                                                                

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/kashflower/interesting/

And the Campus must be enveloped by the scent of saptaparni flowers.

And final years must be hunting hard for Recos.

Much was different when I joined IIT KGP way back in 1965. The Campus Durga Puja was almost non-existent. For the simple reason that there was no semester system then and we were in the half-yearly-annual-exams mode. And IIT KGP was shut down for a month and more from Mahalaya Amavasya to Bhai Phota after Diwali. Not only IIT KGP, but the whole Govt of W. Bengal was shut down. And every Bengali who could run away did run away...they are all Wanderlusts.

You may wonder how an IIT can close down for a whole month excluding summer vacations and the 22 odd National plus Local Holidays from Saraswati Puja, Viswakarma Puja and even Jagaddhatri Puja (if it was convenient).

The answer is simple...we had no Inter-Semester break of one month in December. And the Summer Vacation was just 2 months...unlike almost 3 months later on (for students).

AND we were working 6 days a week unlike 4.5 days now (no classes whole of Saturday and Wednesday afternoons).

That squares the number of working days more than enough.

So, IIT KGP had a tiny pandal at the same venue as now but we had to wade through a mini-shrub jungle and kash to reach its dhoop.

Those days we didn't earn our precious Earned Leaves automatically by staying back at IIT during vacations...we had to WORK and the work had to be assigned by the HoD and signed.

So, I decided to stay for that one month of (DP + Diwali) with the permission of HNB who granted it. That was the biggest mistake I made in my life....the whole Campus including students, teachers, and supporting staff fled and it it was a nightmare desert to spend thirty grueling days and nights in that desolate place. On top of it, the Research Labs and Library were closed. As well as the Main Building.

Reason: There were no collapsible gates then and thefts were rampant and so we had to lock even our own sitting rooms and deposit the keys in the Phy Office.

I went mad...I was living alone in Qrs C-23 and cooking for myself a frugal meal, which would only take an hour at best for lunch and dinner. Eating...hmmm...took 10 minutes each. I never had breakfast. And was a light sleeper. So, I could only keep myself busy for ten hours...and didn't know what to do with the rest 14 hours. Reading was out of the question...it was scary.

So, every morning I used to take my pushbike and cycle down to Gole Bazaar leisurely for a cup of tea....also at noon...also in the evenings. I swore thereafter that I would never stay back in the Campus during DP but run home...EL or no EL.

Things changed after a decade by when the Semester System dawned in full swing; and then the Rajiv Gandhi 5-Day week. And the new Pay Commissions which curtailed holidays to 10 and casual leaves to 12.

DP by then was just a 5-day affair. And most students stayed back. So did most Teachers. And the Supporting Staff. Wanderlust was shifted to the whole month of December with the newly introduced LTC.

With the result that IIT KGP DP boomed and gradually became so famous  that it acquired its own Permanent Structure. And food stalls and book stalls and ladies and girls fully decked up. And free khichri prosad. And balloons. 

And then it was the Calcuttan relatives and friends visiting IIT KGP for its DP...Reverse Flow.

But, in between was a side-story:

Around 1977 there was a revolt. Till then IIT DP was only one at one venue. And it was dominated by old folks like senior professors who were thought by youngsters to be too conservative...they didn't permit any modification in the image, or side-shows. And they were the dominant minority. For, a whole new younger generation of supporting staff (technical + administrative) came up by then. It was due to an expansion of the IIT itself...and Parkinson's Law was at work. In the beginning, when IIT came into being, the number of supporting staff was almost the same as the faculty. But, soon that number rose to 2 or even 3 times the faculty.

And there was a new Pay Commission which meant that salaries doubled and there was a windfall of arrears. And children grew to youth who had new ideas. So, a new IIT KGP DP came up near the H1-Type Mango Grove and it was called:

"Bharat Sangha"

It soon outshone the staid old Tech DP...it came up with Pancha Durga (5) Images instead of just one. It had not only stalls but circuses, merry-go-rounds, giant wheels, slides, balloon shoots, skill games, and even a mini-zoo. And it became so popular that folks from far-off places came down to spend their time in fun and frolic apart from viewing the novel Images. 

And it lasted a whole decade till two things led to its lapse into conformity: Youth grew up to become fathers and money became scarce; and the advent of computers meant that labs became 'virtual', typists extinct, and freeze in recruitment.

But that was not all. IIT KGP grew old enough by the 1990s that many people retired and settled in houses they built in and around the Campus...a sprawling satellite township came up beyond the IIT Boundary Walls. And the Economy shifted; and pension was good; and retirees' grandchildren grew up and found employment outside KGP; and they all wanted to return home during their DP holidays...

So, a lovely new 'Retired IIT KGP DP' came up calling itself:

"Vivekananda Sangha" 

That was when I quit KGP in 2005...

This is the short and simple story of IIT DP and its sociology...


Happy DP! 

...Posted by Ishani

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