Are we truly IITians?

We IITians are proud to proclaim to the world that we are the best, that we are the cream of the country. But are we really so?Not so, in my opinion. Just being the technological masters is not a sure shot way to proclaim that one is the best. We pride ourselves to be getting the best education in the country, but then are we behaving in a manner befitting that? A big NO. Why? Well read more to find out.

In my UG days, it is a rare phenomenon that there is water supply 24x7 in the college hostel. In fact, in those days there used to be something called water strikes. These strikes were called by the students in the hostel to protest against the lack of water supply during day or night. It often happens that the water supply in the hostel would be disrupted for days together. But in IIT, I have not experienced a single day where there was no water supply. But it is precisely for this reason that water is considered so cheap here and wasted like anything. I can give you so many instances:

1) We have a tap in our wing's bathroom. which needs to be pushed a little harder than an ordinary tap, to close it completely. But why should anyone care about it? The guys here just use the tap and then leave the bathroom without closing it completely. Result? Water keeps flowing all day and goes wasted. Everyday, and I mean every single day, I would end up closing that tap atleast 5 times.

2) In the mornings, when guys are busy brushing their teeth, they simply keep the tap open, as if cleaniness of their teeth depends directly on the amount of water wasted. Same goes for shaving. These guys just keep the tap open and then go on shaving, once in a while putting the blade under the tap to clean it. The better option would be to just open the tap when needed or even better, collect water in a mug and then clean the blade by dipping it in the mug.These guys, who don't realise the value of water, must be taken to places where people walk 10-20 kms to just get a pail of water. But no, that is not right.Why? Because we are IITians and we can do whatever we want and no one cares a shit.

The same things apply in case of electricity also. It seems as if IITians have their hands programmmed such that the moment he/she enters the bathroom, it goes straight towards the switch to put on the tubelight, even if the bathroom might be located in the centre of the sun. During the afternoons there is so much light that one actually needs some instument to reduce the light. Even then one can find all the tube lights on.But then who cares. Why? Because we are IITians and we can do whatever we want and no one cares a shit.

One needs to visit our hostel mess to see the amount of food that gets wasted everyday. Though food wastage during breakfast is not so high, it grows exponentially for lunch and dinner. Though I am not 100% innocent here, I have always tried my best to make sure that I take only that much amount which I would require. And I can say with good confidence that I have been 95% successful in this, though, anything less than 100% is nothing to be happy of. In this regard I must make a special mention of my friend Ajitav, who is very particular that he doesn't waste food. If one sees his plate after he has finished his lunch or dinner, it would be hard to believe that he had food from that plate because it would be so clean and nothing would be left on the plate to indicate that food had been served in this plate. In fact I have great respect for him in this regard and has been trying to follow him.

But then there are some guys who gets great pleasure in wasting food, every single time. It's like as if their life mission is to waste food. Even the pictures of poor malnourished children of other countries,waiting in line with empty plates, plastered all over the mess, fails to make any impact on them. But then why should we care. We paid for the food like anyone else so what we do with the food is our business.Why? Because we are IITians and we can do whatever we want and no one cares a shit.

We have a very beautiful clean campus in IIT.
(We have lots of "Use Me" waste baskets at regular distance, which is a rarity in India. Absence of such waste baskets are one of the main reasons why streets across our country are being littered like anything. This is not to say that wherever there are "Use Me" boxes, the place is like heaven. Atleast it doesn't provide the public with an excuse to litter the streets).

According to me, it is every IITians' responsibility to make sure that it remains the same beautiful campus as it ever was. But then this doesn't even figure in the priority list of some students. So what do they do? They keep spitting on the road ( seeing the frequncy at which some people spit, I really wonder whether a human can produce so much saliva), they urinate on the side roads(Try taking a night stroll in the campus and you can see atleast one such case), throw away used plastic bottles anywhere other than into a "Use Me" basket. Some of my friends are also guilty of one or more of the things mentioned above. Their main excuse is that irrespective of whether they do these things or not the animals that roam around the campus keeps doing all these things and litter the campus, so what's the big deal if they too do it. Frankly speaking, I don't think I will be able to convince these people who wants to compare their activities with that of the street animals. I was under the impression that the one of the main difference between animals and humans were our ability to think. Well these guys really don't think so.Why? Because we are IITians and we can do whatever we want and no one cares a shit.