College Politics

Some time between Sep- Oct 2008
you know they talk about the great indian political system and how various differences can be resolved by education/cultural integration nada nada...

Well let me share one exeperience of mine. i stood for the post of the college president at our B-school, and what did i find? Regionalism rules here as well, the votes are always polarised according to which region you belong to. In my defense i stood against a candidate who was backed by quite a few from our batch, but i believed that i was a better candidate than him, hence i stood for the election. i was in for a suprise. Most of the election speak was directed at how the choice would serve the lowest common denominator.

Anyways flash forward: i withdrew from the election and my opponent lost it as well as most of our batch voted for other candidates in the fray. the equations were changed as another Indian managed to clinch the vital 20 votes and win the post of the college president.

What have I learnt from all this? Elections are dirty, there is always politicking and no candidate wins on merit, there are other equations such as where you come from, no of people who percieve you to be suited to thier needs, no of supporters that you can muster - whether by hook or crook, :). the other way is to assume that the world can see your merit for the post and hope for the best, as we have learnt in our college: "Lifes not fair"

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