While Getting Famous

It's not easy to cope with increasing fame. Many a time people are unable to cope with it because they do not try hard enough. Sometimes they are unable because they try too hard. And probably VIT is going through such a phase.

VIT. India's International college, as they advertise it. And to a lot of extent, it is. With the number of increasing foreign students, there is no doubt VIT is going international. But with the local practices it follows, shall the college be able to bring and maintain a respect for itself at that level, is a big question.

To start with, we can have a few lines from Deccan Chronicle, a Chennai based, relatively new, but popular newspaper. DC has a news about VIT cultural fest drawing huge crowd under a column called 'Paloma's Pick' (Chennai Chronicle, page 31, Sunday Feb 3) which writes: "The one big dampener on the entire event was the stringent separation of the sexes right from the entry to the food to the exit...". It cannot be said what effect would such a news have on the image of VIT at local, national, and international levels.

The practice of separation of boys and girls in the state is old and there are reportedly a number of colleges that have much more stringent 'rules' regarding the same. But with the international accreditations VIT has achieved, it is necessary for the college to cope with the international standards which probably the management finds impossible to deal with. In fact, the college management has been very diplomatic on the questions of inequality between the two sexes and the different practices followed for girls and boys, the one most questioned being the 'in-time'.

If you are not aware of the 'in-time', you can have a little idea here. The hostels for boys and girls are closed at different times, the time for boys being 9/9.30 daily except Saturdays when it is open till 11.30 in the night. Whereas the timings for ladies' hostels are governed by the library and the hostels close at 7.15 on weekdays and 5.15 on weekends as the library closes at 5 at weekends. Girls are allowed to extend their timings by a 'late-slip' till 8 on weekdays if they are in the library, subject to the condition they are in the library before 7PM.

And this is what the students have become habitual to. But when some event is there and people from outside come, it either surprises the outsiders or the insiders. All of the musicians who had concerts in the college have failed to conceal their amazement after seeing the wide barriers used to separate boys and girls. In an altogether different case, it was surprising for the students to see the college allowing girls to stay in the library till 12 in the night when it was the time of UK accreditation. But the earth went round again after a few days and the limits went back which surprised nobody.

The most surprising thing (for boys, irritating for girls) has been the day of VITEEE, the entrance examination for the college. That is a day boys cannot enter the college campus because of the exam going on. But unlike girls they can go out if they wish. Whereas girls cannot go out because the library is closed on the day.

There are a few more interesting facts and concepts like separate hostel id (for girls) to go outside the campus, fax from home (for girls) to go out of town, invisible cannot-sit-here boards throughout the campus (strictly followed for girls and boys found together), except canteens and library (thank God!) and whistling annas. By now you must not be surprised to know girls and boys have to be in different sides in the largest auditorium of the college.

Though we cannot expect much change in these things and sometimes they get even worse, it seems some things are changing for good too, as the new pro-chancellors of the college have been good enough to listen to the problems of students and give them necessary freedom at times. But there is more bad than good yet and there is a long, long way to go before the college gets truly international.