This article is about what a typical Shaastra, Saarang, Mechanica (mostly Saarang and henceforth referred to as Saarang) core does during their festival. If you thought it’s about something else, read it anyway. For those of you who don’t know, Saarang is the cultural festival of IIT Madras and you know it is Saarang time, when posters like ‘Orgasm can wait’ (or some other corny tagline) start doing rounds of hostel and mess notice boards.
Now Saarang is organized and run by a ‘core’ group of students. Blessed with the absolute power and authority for 4 days, it is difficult to believe that they exist in flesh and blood on this Earth. These are some activities that you must do, should you become one of the cores (based on observations over the past 5 years).
How a core with his badge looks like
‘Badge’r others: I think, comparing size is a very part of the human nature. Be it the size of our TV screens or ‘you-know-what’s. And cores are no different. To establish that you are the top dog, you have to wear the biggest and weirdest badge of all the organizing committee. And when one badge won’t do the trick, wear another! Nothing stands taller than the pride of hanging 2 hoardings around your neck.
Dance like everyone is watching: Ever had that fetish of dancing in front of a crowd of 10,000 people but were too afraid to do a jig even in bathroom? Well, year after another, Saarang has provided an opportunity for cores to showcase their talent. By occupying the stage with artist during a professional show, you can not only spoil the show for everyone else but also brag later life that ‘people paid to watch you dance’!
Cost of a burger: 50 Rs, Cost of a regular pizza: 120 Rs, Cost of Paniyaram: 20 Rs : Cartoon Courtesy: Bhanu
Cross barricades like a boss: Saarang also translates into painful traffic regulations in insti for innocent bystanders going about in their life. It often leads to travelling 3 km along a convoluted path to cross a distance as less as half a kilometer for mortals. But not if you are the core! All you need to do is flash your aforementioned badges to cut across all check posts, barricades and travel like a boss.
Get famous: They ‘It’s an occupational hazard of being a core to become famous’ and one can not escape it. In Soviet IIT, News don’t make people famous but famous make the news. With the Saarang news-letter under strong censorship of you, use it the way you want to glorify yourself and forcing others to read it. It is not unusual to spot a matrimonial ad for cores every now and then in the news-letter! Actually, being a core is the 6th way to get a girl in IIT for many, with the possible exception of some (not all) female cores.
These are just a few guidelines. Suggestions and comments are welcome unless you are a core and are pissed off by now. :P
PS: This may seem hypocritical with me being a ‘core-reject’, but… What the hell…
PS2: The tone of this article was sarcastic. No monkeys were eaten while writing this article.
