Almost ... but not quite ...

A famous construction used brilliantly by the inimitable Douglas Adams in his historic novel series called "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". And in a context that is as much a far cry from his work as were some of his hilarious portrayals of alien civilizations, it pretty much sums up our experience of an event just concluded. An event that is much-vaunted in that it is supposed to crown the best western "group" in the campus. The prospect is a mouth-watering one for most college students as western music, or more specifically, ROCK music, has been the age-old way of breaking the rules, of creating new standards of musical perception. It is something the young generation can identify immensely with, and especially so in a totalitarian professor-dominated society like IIT Kharagpur. Here for a brief time, we get to throw caution to the wind and revel in the sheer, raw power of heavy metal even within the auspices of the Students' Gymkhana. A breath of fresh air it is supposed to be, but therein lies the fallacy. It is judged by - yeah you guessed it - a professor. What we get as a result is not something that should come as a surprise. A Hitler incarnate, to judge a mutinous show of boldness from the students. A veritable fossil to pass judgement on something that is quite clearly out of his time. The results are for all to see ...

While these events should serve as points of encouragement for young budding musicians, they instead kill off the last dregs of originality and creative spirit that may have been left after years of oppression. The few of us that have dared to dream, almost invariably end up on the losing side.