With the year drawing to an end for the cadets of the 4 KAR ENGR COY NCC, the senior cadets who are all set to leave the cadre after 3 years, and the next batch of cadets ready to take on larger responsibilities, the National Cadet Corps’ Annual Night Training Camp was an event that aimed to bring everyone together for one last time, this academic year.

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta,and Echo
Picture Credits: Sgt. Sourabh Khatri

The NCC Night Camp, organized by the Company on the 19^th of March, 2016, had over forty cadets in attendance, along with the Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. SV Patwardhan, the Associate NCC Officer, Dr. Poornachandra Pundit and all the PI Staff who guided the cadets through the activities that army soldiers carry out when they have to set up camp in an uninhabited area, during a crisis situation. Divided into 5 sections, namely Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta,and Echo, the camp had the cadets learning aspects of night navigation, star and constellation identification, tent pitching, and trench digging, along with special details assigned for cooking supper and sentry duties.

The Director being served by Section Echo’s Cdt. Vishwas

The events, that well surpassed midnight, were well received by the enthusiastic and tireless participation of the cadets. This pleased everyone including the Director of MIT, Dr. GK Prabhu, who visited the camp to share a few moments with the entire cadre. Speaking to the group, the Director also narrated a few incidents from his time as an NCC cadet and lauded the cadets for their effort and commitment.

The camp also tested the cadre’s reaction and response to emergencies by conducting a fire drill, a mock invasion, and an escapade situation that was overseen by the JCO, Nb. Sub. Arockiya Dass. It was well-handled by the cadets, who now had real time experience on dealing with a crisis. After hours of strenuous labour induced by digging trenches, setting up camp, pitching tents, and cooking food, the cadre sat down for a fulfilling lunch followed by a cultural program. With the Commanding Officer, the ANO, and the PI Staff in attendance, the cultural program had everyone entertained with slapstick mimicry, and soulful renditions of music and dance. As the night’s activities came to an end, the cadets retired to their tents for a few hours of well-deserved rest. A peaceful silence engulfed the whole of the training area that had bustled with activities throughout the night.

Picture Credits: Sgt. Sourabh Khatri

In the morning, the cadre woke up to the sound of chirping birds. After sipping on some piping hot tea that the cadets prepared themselves, the campsite was taken down by the methods the soldiers follow when they break camp. With all the tents disassembled and all signs of activity extinguished, the cadre reported in front of the unit where a ‘badakhana’ breakfast awaited them, in order to officially mark the end of camp.

With what could be termed as a ‘laid back’ board and moderately experienced delegates, the WHO was a committee which debated long and hard on an interesting agenda – Handling the situation of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Strong allegations and accusations were thrown around, some of them being, ‘”Africans are sexually frustrated” or “Widespread Bestiality is the reason for AIDS” by the Spanish delegation. The delegates of UK, US, Egypt, and Congo did a good job nullifying those arguments.

The Chair, Mr. Yash Karunakaran, did not have to spend much time explaining rules to the delegates as most of them seemed to know what they were doing. The first day ended after a heated debate and Day 2 began with discussions on the religious and social practices such as usage of condoms, circumcision, and abortion . Compared to the previous day, this debate was dry and lifeless as all delegations wanted to be diplomatic. This greatly affected. and to an extent censured, their speeches rendering them useless and undebatable.

The crisis situation brought back an engaging discourse into the committee, as it had some interesting points to note. It was brought to the notice of the committee that a new drug was developed jointly by private companies of four countries which on human testing showed a ninety percent success rate against AIDS. The FDA approval of the drug would take up to five years but the countries of Algeria, Egypt, and Bahrain demanded its immediate supply, irrespective of its approval, due to the rapid spread of AIDS in those countries. Interesting updates that followed included companies approaching the countries personally and putting a high price on the pills, the delegates of the three countries pleading with the manufacturing countries to reduce the price of the drug, reports showing the manufacturing price of the drug was but one dollar which had the committee whipped up into a frenzy of high class debating, one everyone including the chair, was impressed with.

In the end, the committee deemed the drug safe and that it came with no side effects. WHO went against protocol to accept and endorse this drug for safe usage all over the world. A moderate working paper sponsored by Algeria, Egypt, and Kenya was prepared and the draft resolution passed unanimously.With some interesting topics debated on and the delegations putting forth radical points, this committee was one to watch and learn from.

The UNODC committee started out with the chair, Mr. Harishankar Padmanabhan missing out on no opportunity to openly call some of the countries ‘useless’.

The first day was mostly uneventful as the Executive Board desperately tried to keep the delegates active. With more than half the committee being first or second timers, and the chair more than happy to repeat the Rules of Procedure more than once, most of the session was spent in clarifying queries put forward by the noticeably excited delegates. “All depends on your research,” said the vice-chair Mr.Vansh Narula, who arrived a half hour late,before the motion to set the agenda was passed. Illicit drug trafficking in the Latin-American region was the motion passed by the delegations and the GSL was underway.

The GSL began with the biggest Latin-American country; Brazil. The session went on to have a moderated caucus with discussions involving small-scale smugglers and mafia kingpins, and it also went on to encapsulate lack of governmental and bureaucratic strengths, bribery, bans on drugs, illegal immigrants. among other related topics. The Executive Board, on an informal note, advised the committee to discuss and form a consensus on the problem statement, before debating on the ways to combat it. The Executive board made sure no one spoke past the assigned time limit by making good use of the hammer. In a humorous turn of events, the chair (never on his chair) chose to roam around the room annoying the delegates to no end.

PC: Photography Club

Just as the delegate of Germany wrapped up his speech defining, dating, and tracing the problem back to its roots, the committee was adjourned and the motion passed by the committee was to have a moderated caucus to deliberate solutions that block the drug routes and significantly curb the transport of the drugs to the rest of the world.

“No cross talk!” was the sentence of day 2 as the chair had to repeat it several times in order to refrain from chaos and keep the proceedings from digressing. In a positive development from the previous day, the delegation had done their research and put across many significant points. The only problem was, all the delegations seemingly had done the same general research on the issue, with the phrases, “most profitable illegal form of business,” “all latino countries should get together and…” going around more than once. The Executive Board, in another one of its ‘behind the scene advices’, that became quite the trend in the young committee, said that there were too much facts, figures, and statistics going around while everyone had the same opinion and approach to the problem. “We need a debate. We need more fun. We need you to be at each other’s throats, not literally though,” said the chair clearly bored of the barrage of monotonous speeches.

The delegates were clearly imbibed with the spirit of the MUN during the second half of the session with more and more motions proposed, so much so that the Executive Board got confused on multiple occasions.With the debate on blocking the drug trafficking routes resuming, the committee threw light upon some interesting points such as cartel domination, underpaid officials, and in-debt countries in the said regions.The proceedings showed signs of taking an interesting turn when the crisis was announced, and each update brought in a new twist in the debate.The crisis situation was Reuters report that had cartons of drugs being taken through different countries. The updates added new variables into the mix with FBI reports accusing Brazilian officials of corruption and the French deciding to bomb the supposed drug warehouses.

If the sessions of day 3 could be encapsulated in a single word, then it would be absolute chaos. In an ironic ‘be careful what you wish for’ recurrence, the Executive Board which was tired of the blatant attempts at debate and monotonous speeches the previous day had its hands full with aggressively debating delegates in the continuation of the crisis situation. With serious allegations thrown around and a few not-so-subtle sarcasm here and there, the delegations of Brazil and Germany specifically, were all but physically assaulting each other.

PC: Yash Singhania

In a development that would probably be otherwise fun to watch, this however had no significance at all with the updates to the crisis and the Executive Board had to let the delegates come to a consensus by an unmoderated session. The crisis due to a misinterpretation by the delegate of Mexico, who was otherwise a remarkable delegate to witness, failed as he couldn’t differentiate between voting ‘Yes and No with rights,’ Back to the GSL, after quite an interesting turn of events, the session continued with a few more moderated and unmoderated sessions and the draft resolution was proposed at the end of it.

Notably tired after debating for three long days, the delegates seemed to be in a hurry to bring it to an end and in a haphazard manner, a last-minute working paper riddled with syntax, grammatical, and a few unnaturally bizarre errors, was passed by the committee. With a misspell of Qatar as Quarter, and making the blunder of substituting the ‘Office’ in UNODC by ‘Organization,’ the paper surprisingly enough, was passed unanimously by the committee with no amendments whatsoever.

With an unorthodox Executive Board and a chaotic committee, the UNODC was probably the one committee that made the most noise with very less to show for it, save a failed crisis and a pathetic excuse for a draft resolution.

The NCC Cadre receiving the salute

The contingent commanders report

On what rests the hope of the Republic? One country, one language, one flag

Alexander Henry

Although untrue in its entirety, especially for a country as diverse as India, this is something worth thinking over, that even with more than a century of torturous history, the Constituent Assembly came through with what still is the largest governing document of any country in the world – The Constitution of India. In remembrance, it is on this day, every year, the date whence the Constitution of India convicted the bigoted Government of India Act of 1935, the country rejoices in India’s becoming a republic.

The Guard of Honor and Parade Inspection

Like any other national holiday, the 26th of January was not something a patriot could sit over and even with the sun still in its slumber, the eager Manipalite woke up to the sound of “Bharat mata ki, Jai” and “Vande Mataram.” With more than a penchant in a strict bucket list, the students of Manipal University had little rest inside them; because as soon as their early morning chores were over, they hurried to the NCC Unit to join the cadets at 0740 IST dressed in the ceremonial uniforms tailored for the day.

The National flag was hoisted by Maj. Dr. Anjaiah Devineni (Retd.) and the cadre sang the National anthem, hearts brimming with pride. The non-contingent students of MIT had their own small ceremony at the flag post in front of AB1. The Director of MIT, Dr. GK Prabhu hoisted the flag accompanied by the Jt. Director, Dr. BHV Pai and other members of the faculty and student body in attendance. All of them then headed onto the KMC Greens which was to witness yet another show of chauvinism.

The Chief Guest Saluting the National Flag

The School of Allied Health Sciences which had taken up the responsibility had done a phenomenal job in clothing the KMC Greens in the festive attire. With the whole area turned into a drill square, the likes of which sometimes seen in military training battalions, it was not long before an army van surfaced out of nowhere with slogans like “Ek-Do-Teen Chaar, Chaar-Kar ki Jai, Jaikar” and “Jai bolo, Bharat Mata ki, Jai” coming out taking the onlookers by surprise. It was only after a nostalgic “Mighty-Mighty, MIT” shout came out that everyone instantly recognized them to be our very own NCC platoon and the MIT Marching Contingent.

The Chief Guest, Dr. Ramdas Pai, Chancellor of Manipal University arrived at the square at 0900 IST, greeted by all and received the formal salute by the 21 contingents. Dr. B. Rajashekhar, Dean of SOAHS presented the welcome address followed by the hoisting of the national flag. All contingent commanders reported to the parade commander after which inspection of the guard by the chief guest escorted by the parade commander took place. Once the chief guest approached and returned salute, the most awaited event of the morning, the march-past by all the contingents took place.

The contingent of 4 KAR ENGR COY NCC, led by Cdt. A. Aravindan was the leading platoon and synchronous to the beat of the ceremonial drums, the cadre started the march-past. Following them were the KMC Contingent and then was our very own MIT Contingent led by Mr. Shubham Jaiswal. Every beat was met with the sound of boots clapping the ground and hands swinging in a melodic motion. The march approached the chief guest and the contingent commander at the pre-specified position commanded the cadre for ‘Daine Dekh’ a second after which all heads turned to the right saluting the guest of honour with precision. After the salute, the contingent, commanded for ‘Saamne Dekh’ when again the contingent began marching with heads held high and hearts filled with pride.

The marching continued till all contingents returned after their rounds after which the Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, Dr. H. Vinod Bhat delivered the Republic Day message to the assemblage. Soon after, the presentation ceremony began with the participation certificates, tokens of appreciation and Best Marching Contingent Awards given to participants of the parade. The formal ceremony concluded at about 1000 IST with the parade commander asking the guest of honour permission to break the parade following the vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Sabu KM, Associate Dean, SOAHS.

Following a distribution of sweets and an informal photo-session with the Director of MIT, both the contingents boarded the NCC Army vehicle and journeyed back to the unit. Congratulated by all for a job well done, the party was broken then with instructions to return at in a formal attire for lunch. The badakhana feast with all PI Staffs, ANOs, and cadets and the student body in attendance commenced at 12:45 PM in the ground floor of the NLH building. With every memory cherished, the lunch with all the cadets and army personnel in an informal civilian environment was a time that was to remain in the hearts of everyone there for an extended period of time. With freedom in our minds, faith in our hearts, smiles on our faces and spirits flung high, the students of MIT salute the motherland and all her children in memory and in gratitude of their services to the nation and its people by being a small part of a tribute paid on this historic day.

Objectivism is ”the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” So says Ayn Rand in the appendix to Atlas Shrugged, arguably her best work on the theme.

In “The Fountainhead”, we have Howard Roark, a spirited and assertive individual who loves making buildings, so much so that he considers what he builds a part of him. Vain and stubborn at times, he struggles because of society’s inability to recognize art. Expelled from school, brought down to the streets, and bombarded with all sorts of legal, moral, and ethical weaponry society can produce, this is the story of how much he takes in.

Common opinion has become the standard and those who give people what they want even though it’s not what they need (or deserve) are the ones that rule. Peter Keating, a perfect example of the most ‘brilliant’ in a herd, is an everyday sight in this age. Gail Wynad – somewhat of a realist in his occupational dealings – is an idealist in his philosophy who made his fortune by telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. As the story progresses the reader is given a whole new perspective of life, one that could lead him to questioning his very basic ethics. Enter Ellesworth Toohey, a masterpiece of a character whose intentions – malicious or selfless – are in a suspended state of ambiguity till what seems almost the end. Surely a treat.

The one main female character in the book, Dominique Francon, is probably the most interesting and complex character in the book. Each one of her actions connotes something different. She’s the one character you see as a new person every time you come across her.

The best villain is the one who does not think himself villainous. Nobody is right or wrong here. The book just has you stare hard at the face of the society; gives you a ringside ticket to the circus of life and tells you to decide what you want to be. Speaking about great acts of selflessness, the theme has been debated upon time and again ever since man started documenting his imagination. Here you find a different spin altogether. Selfishness isn’t such a bad thing Rand says. On the contrary, it is quite the opposite. According to her, absolute selflessness is a crime. This brand of a philosophical/logical debate is reason enough to pick up the book.

This book not only has an intricate storyline, but the feelings of the characters also perfectly resonate with our own. After every chapter, and sometimes even after a paragraph, one finds himself taking long breaks to ponder upon and think of all that it could have possibly meant. No wonder Rand’s manuscripts got rejected so many times for being ‘too good’! It’s philosophically demanding and you may need to spend some time on it, but every moment feels like it is worth it.

The beautiful yet diverse ways in which her characters think show us how she really gets into the skin of the character concerned. The reader is confused and awed not knowing which character he truly supports. My friend once joked that if Roark lived today, his passion for his craft would probably make him a hacker! There is no hint of partiality or influence of any other character when she builds up a solid support story for one. Reflecting upon the profundity of the parallel paths each of the two lead characters take, their adventures, and their rise and fall, the awesome climax looks like the recipe for a masterpiece or a disaster, or even a bit of both! This squarely makes this book a timeless classic.

I can’t tell you if you’ll like it or not. I’ve seen some people saying they loved it and others left stupefied. Mostly because the end leaves you wondering about what is the better of the two – the character’s architectural prowess or his passionate insanity. However I can say this, it’s definitely a must-read for all who love their craft, whatever it may be.

With the semester break now a distant memory, the lone MITian- desperate for a change- goes out into the streets on a free afternoon. Finding nothing intriguing in Manipal, he takes a stroll towards a place where his visits were only limited to the bus journeys from home; Udupi – known far, and wide as the temple town of Karnataka.

The Paryaya ceremony is a religious event that takes place every alternate year to mark the transfer of the temple administration, and involves bestowing the puja rights upon the next pontiff, among the 8 seers of the Ashthamathas. The Ashthamathas were founded by Acharya Madhwa, and it was his disciples that instructed the pontiffs of the Mathas to share the responsibilty of the Puja among themselves by a ceremony deemed as Paryaya, or ‘change.’ The outgoing swamiji whose duties culminate on the 17^th of January then transfers the ‘Akshaya Patra’ -which is essentially the key to the temple- to the succeeding seer. Sounds simple enough? Well, all of it takes place in a gala ceremony with thousands of devotees pouring in from all over the country.

PC: AK Bhagavath

The festivities are initiated by the yearly Rathasapthami, a seven day car festival that takes place on every day of the week preceding Sankranti, and hundreds of devotees head to ‘Car Street’ during this time. Every alternate year, when the Paryaya is to be celebrated, the festivities continue, and on the eve of the ceremony artists, and performers from across the state congregate at Udupi. With stages built at every major crossroad, and folk artists thronging the streets, the night is a feast for the eyes.

This is a bi-yearly event. Why then was this year’s ceremony unique? Since the inception of the two year tenure (replacing the two month Paryaya originally envisaged by Acharya Madhwa, the founder of the Dwaita philosophy) no seer in history has been selected as the Paryaya Swami for a total of five times. Even the legendary Acharya Vadiraja of the Sode Matha, held the position on only four occasions. This time though, Acharya Vishwesha Theertha of the Pejawar Matha rewrites history by holding the position for the 5^th time, and his induction fell on the auspicious day of Madhwa Navami i.e. the birthday of Acharya Madhwa. Branded as the Pejavara Panchama Paryaya by his faithful devotees, it was all Udupi talked about for a while.

Walking through the city at night, visitors were treated to a variety of sights. From school play grounds converted into makeshift parking lots to the actual parking lot made into a spectacular stage for the cultural and formal proceedings of the day. The paddy fields were turned into an enormous kitchen which had a granary and dining hall to feed all those who visited. From fireworks adorning the sky to the repeated gonging of the temple bell resonating with the lively atmosphere, the city -home to quiet, and mostly shy natives- bustled with activity.

About an hour after midnight, the city saw people nestling on footpaths, and roofs of tall buildings. There were volunteers marking a perimeter, and leading people off the main road. The Paryaya procession was about to commence.

PC: Vishal Acharya

The beating of the ceremonial drums could be heard from a distance. Tradition demands that the seers take a dip in the chilling waters of the holy pond at Dandatheertha (near Kaup). They then arrive at Jodukatte (situated near the Udupi Taluk Office) to commence Puja for the Paryaya Swami’s Pattada Devaru. The procession begins at 2 in the morning with the Swamijis paraded on traditional pallakis or palanquins followed by various performances.

The procession was led by Udupi’s very own ‘Pili-vesha’, or the Tiger Dance followed by a variety of folk, and urban dance forms indigenous to states as far away as Punjab ,Maharashtra, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh. These performances paraded the streets of Udupi for two hours before entering the Car Street.

After the swamijis acquired the blessings of lord Krishna through the Kanankana Kindi (the window of Kanaka), they visited the two most historic Shiva temples of the area after which they are welcomed into the Krishna Matha by the outgoing pontiff who will have spent the whole night in worship. After visiting the smaller shrines of Mukhyaprana and Subrahmanya inside the Matha itself, the ceremonial transfer of the Akshaya Patra, the utensils of Acharya Madhwa, and the ascending of the Sarvajna Peetha (the spiritual seat of Acharya Madhwa) by the Paryaya swamiji marked the beginning of a new cycle.

By the time the proceedings were over it was 6 AM in the morning, and dawn was breaking. Giant Television screens showcased live proceedings of the ceremony.

The seers then trailed the Paryaya Swami to the Badagu Malige which is the room of the first shishyas, or students of Acharya Madhwa. A small philosophical discussion followed by the honoring of the pontiffs by the Asthana Pandits took place before the formal ceremony known as the ‘Durbar’.

PC: AK Bhagavath

Usually housed in a place that specially catered to such events, the Rajangana this year saw yet another deviation from the standard norm because of the sheer number of people who participated in the festival. A dais especially constructed for the Durbar (The Anandatheertha Mantapa), saw all the swamijis of the eight Mathas participate in a discourse with numerous politicians including, former Deputy PM L.K Advani, MP Uma Bharati, MP Ananth Kumar, CM of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, former CM of Tamil Nadu O. Paneeraselvam, and several others in attendance. After a multitude of speeches, felicitations, and cultural programs, it was noon and the Maha Annasantharpane –or the badakhana feast as we probably would know it- was announced to satiate one’s hunger. All in all, the Paryaya festival was an indelible experience and proved to be testimonial to the rich, illustrious past of the town of Udupi.