The Fifth Estate

Humans of Insti: The Campus Cafe

The one vantage point for all the voracious hoggers is the Campus Cafe. This always abuzz food joint has an aura to it. Not to forget the increase in popularity it received after its recent shift to the new, more spacious location. For a lot of us, Campus Cafe is still a remarkable place to have a break in between the tedious lecture hours (sometimes, during).

The one thing that makes this humble place close to our heart is, we realized, the people and the staff.

Nihilanth 2016: A Personal Account

“Some might ask why I have gone into so much detail when describing something as drab as a quiz competition. The IITM QC story mirrors every classic sports story arc – from underdogs four years ago to dominant winners for the next two years to grizzly competitors seeing off new challengers. But that is not the point of this post. The real point is to record all the different experiences that I have been fortunate to undergo as a part of this contingent…”

A Chronicle of an Imprisonment Foretold

“Mine is not a case you would call “extreme” by today’s standards. There is no body mutilation, no death, no placards and angry crowds. It is perhaps worth looking at precisely because it is a very, very common form of harassment, one that so many of us have learned to ignore. We like to think of perpetrators as evil oddities with eye-patches and scars (and lacking the stellar education that a place like IITM offers), and forget that the problem is widespread, that the perpetrators may be those closest to us, and that we ourselves are guilty of abetment. Well, STOP. And read.”

Institute Security: A T5E Investigation (Part 2)

At the outset, both the Dean of Students and the Chief Security Officer (CSO) seemed unaware of the numbers we had put forward to them as detailed in the survey, and expressed concern at the magnitude of victims in this particular case. The Dean promised that the institute as a whole was more diligent towards ensuring proper background checks in the case of each guard who is hired. Our survey however, tells a different tale.

PG Accommodation Crisis: Turning a Blind Eye on a Real Problem

“More than the decision, what I was able to observe in the scholars was the anger towards the authoritarian way of decision making by the administration, as always. Many of the scholars were emotionally moved and there was a cry for having a protest. After repeated meetings with the administration by the RAS and scholars, it was decided that there will not be an immediate implementation of the policy, even though it still stays as a policy.”

How Things Work: Stem Cell Donorship

“Firstly, I would like to encourage all the students of IIT to step forward and register themselves as donors. It would be wonderful if DATRI is given the opportunity to address the students during all major events held by IIT. Stem cell donation today resembles the scenario in which blood donation found itself 50 years ago. In contemporary times, blood donation camps are commonplace. This was made possible due to campaigns and drives held by the people. Hence, we believe that students must spread the message of stem cell donation by conducting campaigns and drives, particularly during student-run events.”