Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Magna Carta

Yes. I am writing this post solely because I want to hog the limelight by criticising the one publication that is getting compared to 'The Dark Knight'. ;)

So, now that my motives are clear, I will proceed to what I have to say. First of all, kudos. You managed to publish another edition. I never expected you to take this beyond one edition. However, I want you to note down certain points.

1) Never ever praise yourself in an article and that too the main article. We understand that you guys are quite the 'revolutionaries'. You don't need to tell us that about yourselves and that too in the very first page.

2)You displayed an advertisement about Tathva and how there are only eight more days left. And, simultaneously in an article, you raised fingers against the selling of branded T-shirts, which happened during the last edition of the same festival by quoting certain points. Get your facts right. None of the major clothing brands will sponsor specifically for a college unless it's an institution with a lot of brand value. The agreement was signed with one of the subsidiaries who supplied to the major brand and supplied us with the same quality t-shirt albeit with a reduced cost.(Indeed most brands put a high price tag on their tees because of their brand value. That is why they are able to offer 50% reduction when selling off their excess quantities in retail stores). Even otherwise, it's something we do to raise funds for our college festival. So, you could have let it go. And of course, clubs. I am seeing people criticising clubs on the basis of that sole article. And this is addressed more to them than the editors of Magna Carta. It's because of these 'elitist' institutions that a culture has developed inside the college whereby student talent has been encouraged like anything. Yes, they are not perfect. But, they are irreplaceable.

3) In plain words, let's see the effect that you have made right now. You made a lot of people start thinking. And, you have ruffled up some feathers. But, instead of creating a change, I think what you have done through that article about AVC and likewise is make the administration and faculty get even more closed and suspicious. Very frankly speaking, we are past a stage where we can create an upheaval for each and every issue in this college. And, so as students, we need to learn how to manipulate this system to our benefit. We need to learn when to stage a protest, when to go for a signature campaign, when to talk and when to let go. The above mentioned articles will just make it even more difficult to obtain event permissions and conduct interactions with the staff to our benefit. Trust me, not all faculty are trying to eat students alive here. Perhaps, you did understand much better, if you visit any other college in our state, which doesn't have the presence of a political party. (And if it does, God save them.)

4) Your articles highlight the problem very poetically indeed. In fact, some of the articles seems to be more about including complicated words than highlighting any specific issue. But, have you ever suggested a solution? I haven't seen an article which says " So, guys what we need to do is..." All of us complain but it takes some amount of character to try take the bull by its horn. Finding a solution is not easy. Interestingly, there are people who have successfully done it here in the past and made life much better for the rest of the student population.

5)Magna Carta has succeeded in creating a lot of excitement out here. We do get adrenaline kicks from such secretive activities. We do have a certain amount of revolutionary blood in us. But, perhaps that is not what this college needs. It probably needs students who have a definite sense of right and wrong and who are willing to lay down quite a lot for this college. It needs a student community which stands together with a lot of unity and cohesion. Unfortunately, we as students never quite measure upto such ideals.

No, I am not trying to portray the Magna Carta team as villains. They are not.(They would be once the faculty gets hold of the new edition ;) ). But, I think somewhere along the line, they are doing it wrong even though they may have the best interests of the student community at large.

So, that's it folks. Cheers.

7 comments:

kanha said...

i even support torque review to the most extent of it... but also request the people of magna carta to put their motives more straight into their writings...and then their publication does some actual good..

also in some ways i would like to support magna carta,.. dude they were tryin to tell a whole some thing else thru the article ( i wont take the names though )

kanha said...

in my previous post..the article i was referring to is 'the Big Fat Lie'
others i did feel baseless, pointless..!!!

torque said...

Hehe. Different people, Different opinion I guess. :) @Kanha

K said...

true..the first edition did give me goosebumps.. but they kind of spoilt it with the 2nd edition.. too much of " we are a part of a HUGE secret".. and waay too much of "things that are wrong here".. and absolutely no solutions.. the only thing that still excites me is the question "who is behind all this?"

torque said...

@ kiran

Hmm. The excitement kind of burst when the first page of their second edition was them trumpeting about themselves. :P

Unknown said...

I think u should read the 1st page again...it was exactly 'trumpeting '..although it was totally out of place and unnecessary and over..
n I think ur articles are pretty good :)..I read a few ..

torque said...

Thank you, Anoop :)