To those who have not been to engineering college campuses in India, it must be mentioned that in these schools it is considered a great thing to walk around in worn out sandals and torn t-shirts. The dirtier one�s dress the more intelligent the person is. There is some strange correlation between being and looking dirty with the perception that one is extremely intelligent.
We were always cribbing at college about lack of professionalism among the ECK (Engineering College Kota) students, us included. It was at one of the several dinner discussions we had among ourselves (Vinay, Vipul, Vivek, Vinamra and myself) that we decided to wear a tie to college on a particular day every week. The inspiration for such a rebel act was Dr. K D Gupta (KDG as he was known within the student fraternity), who used to wear a crisp nice suit to every class. The big question was who will bell the cat. All of us except Vipul decided to wear a tie on the next day. I cannot say for all but I was kind of skeptical about wearing one. A little afraid also! One must remember that we were in II year and too low in the hierarchy to challenge the seniors. Ragging, then, was a permanent phenomenon till II yr. To cut the long story short all four of us did wear ties to class, literally stunning the professors and the seniors. Vinay and vivek had to face some mocking by ignorant seniors. We tried to make it a regular feature but it died out within a matter of months. We were not able to motivate others to do the same. They found it too childish to do such a thing.
Years later when I met one of my Humanities professor I was delighted to hear that he used to quote this particular example to some of his present students. In retrospect, I guess it was a rebel act worth engaging in!
back