Not without a reason...
I think I need to write a lot in order to get out of the jinx that I put myself in.
It's been quite sometime since there has been any kind of intellectual pleasure that I could derive out of the various ways in which I worked for the past few days. There are many things that could have been done but could not do. I could attend only the introductory two lectures on Paninian Grammar by Prof. Ramacharyulu (forgive me if I have got the name wrong) - I could not concentrate on my work for the past few days. Feel as though am going into an Intellectual Drain. I stopped reading, stopped thinking as I normally do.
I bid farewell to my favorite professor till now and the one I wish to build a long term relationship - Dr Madhu Mutyam, who was really kind to me in various ways. He left IIIT H for Pennsylvania State University as a Post Doctoral fellow. He was busy today, I wanted to meet him, but it feels sad, that I could not spend some good time with him.Probably a good parting gift from my side would have been some kind of token of remembrance. But then, what is it that put me off from doing so?
I was repeatedly thinking for the past week to meet him and get my second presentation to both the Profs. But haven't done anything on that direction.
What put me off fom doing all these? Of course something that is highly unpredictable - The Voter Behaviour. An interesting thing that determines the fate of many a politician every time in Democracy. Sometimes it is true that the politician may be a true leader but then how many times is it so and how many times is it that the politician can influence the voters all the way down? And make the most effective use of the mob mentality of the Voter. Mobs in what is said to be a highly informed section of the society in a campus where the information sources are the best used - an interesting area of study and of course intellectually challenging. But one thing that still lurks in my mind is how is it that one learns the art of turning people towards you? This is something that is running all through the time for I stood for an election for the fourth time till now. I was successful for the I time when I stood for the post of LabCom in my batch when there was more or less a mob voting for me (for reasons not in terms of my ability as far as I can gather - I may be wrong too) and lost twice since - an election for the LabCom again in the next year when the requirements differed and there was to an extent a good decision by the students. No Mobs this time, interestingly though. Lost an election contesting for Campus Life Council Secy., the first ever elections in the campus.
But that was still a good experience. There was a mob voting for me, thanks to the good contacts that I had. Of course, I feel that I had the credentials to justify the mob feeling so. But then lost because of another mob mentality that was there.
This time, again it is how well one manages the mob that wins. Excellent! What we can learn out of it? - What is intellectually demanding and interesting may not be what is needed in practice - Oh, how different is the world from the one it sounds to be based on what we expect to be within the limits of commonly accepted code of ethics. These are various things that one can sure learn and the more you think the more the pen flows and so does the keyboard type :)
Why do you think this is happening? Not without a reason... Alexander Pope remarked long back : "In men, we various ruling passions find." - map this statement to each of the persons that you know and you would know that it is true - what the world shows us is the various ruling passions which lead the person to do n number of things. Understanding the ruling passions and how they transform a person is really interesting and is intellectually very disturbing too :(
It's been quite sometime since there has been any kind of intellectual pleasure that I could derive out of the various ways in which I worked for the past few days. There are many things that could have been done but could not do. I could attend only the introductory two lectures on Paninian Grammar by Prof. Ramacharyulu (forgive me if I have got the name wrong) - I could not concentrate on my work for the past few days. Feel as though am going into an Intellectual Drain. I stopped reading, stopped thinking as I normally do.
I bid farewell to my favorite professor till now and the one I wish to build a long term relationship - Dr Madhu Mutyam, who was really kind to me in various ways. He left IIIT H for Pennsylvania State University as a Post Doctoral fellow. He was busy today, I wanted to meet him, but it feels sad, that I could not spend some good time with him.Probably a good parting gift from my side would have been some kind of token of remembrance. But then, what is it that put me off from doing so?
I was repeatedly thinking for the past week to meet him and get my second presentation to both the Profs. But haven't done anything on that direction.
What put me off fom doing all these? Of course something that is highly unpredictable - The Voter Behaviour. An interesting thing that determines the fate of many a politician every time in Democracy. Sometimes it is true that the politician may be a true leader but then how many times is it so and how many times is it that the politician can influence the voters all the way down? And make the most effective use of the mob mentality of the Voter. Mobs in what is said to be a highly informed section of the society in a campus where the information sources are the best used - an interesting area of study and of course intellectually challenging. But one thing that still lurks in my mind is how is it that one learns the art of turning people towards you? This is something that is running all through the time for I stood for an election for the fourth time till now. I was successful for the I time when I stood for the post of LabCom in my batch when there was more or less a mob voting for me (for reasons not in terms of my ability as far as I can gather - I may be wrong too) and lost twice since - an election for the LabCom again in the next year when the requirements differed and there was to an extent a good decision by the students. No Mobs this time, interestingly though. Lost an election contesting for Campus Life Council Secy., the first ever elections in the campus.
But that was still a good experience. There was a mob voting for me, thanks to the good contacts that I had. Of course, I feel that I had the credentials to justify the mob feeling so. But then lost because of another mob mentality that was there.
This time, again it is how well one manages the mob that wins. Excellent! What we can learn out of it? - What is intellectually demanding and interesting may not be what is needed in practice - Oh, how different is the world from the one it sounds to be based on what we expect to be within the limits of commonly accepted code of ethics. These are various things that one can sure learn and the more you think the more the pen flows and so does the keyboard type :)
Why do you think this is happening? Not without a reason... Alexander Pope remarked long back : "In men, we various ruling passions find." - map this statement to each of the persons that you know and you would know that it is true - what the world shows us is the various ruling passions which lead the person to do n number of things. Understanding the ruling passions and how they transform a person is really interesting and is intellectually very disturbing too :(
posted by agastyabhrata | 2:15 PM
2 Comments:
Mob...?
i dont think so... after last years general elections at our place, i felt that there was a considerable chunk of people who voted after giving a thought to what they were doing. (guess u got their votes then:) )
Even this time... it is but obvious for people to give their friends the first preferance, but the majority cannot be the friends of all the nominees, so there is a chunk of the voter population u need to campaign and drive home ur good points to... who hopefully wouldnt abstain (read "lazily forget") from voting (which i suspect is going to happen this time)
anyways...good luck in ur elections this time around. May the best man win
Yes, mob mentality in IIIT H.
I guess I've got votes then because of some kind of effect that was generated then, and a good number of UG 1 students being asked to vote for me from various corners which seems to have boosted my votes. I am really not sure how many have understood or questioned the agenda that I came up with.
I would have loved that kind of voters who have questions, who understand what is going on, or are interested to get to know what it is. Not that there aren't any of that sort, but then, the number is a paltry few.
You talk about issues, concentrate on issues and let there be a debate. This is essential for a Democracy - if you wanted a Democracy. Otherwise, it would be mobocracy.There is a mob leader who asks his mob to do something and the rest do that.
You vote for me or someone else, that is NOT the point. Your knowing that he can work is surely a point to consider. And that he is responsible are those things that you would depend on your feeling about him. But it is equally necessary to consider whether he is talking sense when he presents his agenda. Now let's say all the parties have similar agendas, it is then that I expect people to raise the issues of the experience factors - without all these done - I find people voting. There is a difference between "feeling" ruling your "reason" and the other way around.
When "reason" rules "feeling" that is when I feel would be the end of mobocracy.
So that is what I expect in any elections. I feel that it is the responsibility of the candidate standing to ensure that he presents his point of view to the rest of the people. I just hope that I will be able to convey that to people.
Thanks for wishing luck.
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