[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section title=”1. Missing the First Degree” tab_id=”1652338272725-838cd9b2-9565″][vc_column_text]I had to miss my B.Tech convocation due to my stupidity on Janmashtami in 1973.
Blog
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Nostalgia Nugget
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section title=”1. Sholay in H8″ tab_id=”1652600817207-76f540c4-916d”][vc_column_text]This was in our third year. We had just won the Institute Treasure Hunt. Our joy knew no bounds. Jitna daru ka stock tha pee liye. But yeh Dil Mange More. So we went to YP seeking some more.
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Nostalgia Nugget: Look Before You Leap
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One night, four students were playing till late night and could not study for the test which was scheduled for the next day.
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Nostalgia Nuggets
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section title=”1. MI Grasslands” tab_id=”1652337456758-33798e0b-7b48″][vc_column_text]The MI rock show took place in the SAC amphitheater, and the sound check would go on for what felt like hours (especially for the headlining bands).
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Nostalgia Nugget: War Piece
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There used to be, and maybe there still is, a quota for foreign students. The IITs used to attract students from all over the global south.
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Nostalgia Nuggets
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Jimy Uranwala and Sapnon Ki Rani
I could hardly believe my ears when I heard someone in my hostel wing strumming his guitar and practising singing “Mere Sapnon ki Rani, kab aayegi tu,” that popular song from the movie Aradhana. We were familiar with Jimy’s repertoire of English pop songs but Hindi songs were not his cup of tea. We all gathered near his room to hear him practice and he told us he will be singing this song at the campus festival.
This reminds me of the time we were taking part in a NCC parade opposite the Main Building. Jimy wore his hair long in keeping with the style adopted by pop music singers of that era.
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Nostalgia Nuggets
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Photograph: H4 fifth year students of Class of ’71 (April, 1971)
[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section title=”Prof Tales” tab_id=”1652365984022-e8331a76-ed3f”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]I always recall the eclectic collection of professors from all over India who taught us various subjects during our years at IITB.
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Art for Social Change
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Illustration by Rajat Patle
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Through times immemorial, art, either in the form of expression or protest, has been an important medium for effecting social change. Whether it is through poetry, film, music, illustrations, etc., art has been used to rally people for social justice and for equality, whether related to religion, caste, gender, sexual orientation or wealth inequity, to name a few. While the methods may have changed from physical representations such as handwritten placards to virtual formats such as social media, the fundamental concept of using art to get your message across has not. In this first issue of Fundamatics this year, we explore how art has been used by some of our alumni to create social change.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Damayanti Bhattacharya provides a good overview of this issue’s theme in “Imagining a Better World”. In “Celebrate New Freedoms in Newly Free India”, Ali Baba, aka Prof. A.Q. Contractor, talks about the denigration of the four pillars of democracy in India, in his usual inimitable tongue-in-cheek style. In the ongoing “The Entrepreneurial Roller Coaster: Kashish”, Sridhar Rangayan talks about the challenges he faced in organizing India’s first LGBTQ+ film festival, Kashish. Yaquta Contractor and Pradnya J explore the use of lines, colors, and patterns in “Art for Arts’s Sake?”.
In “Bridging Biodiversity Conservation and Arts Practice”, Abhisheka Krishnagopal examines the importance of art in biodiversity conservation. We feature poetry by a regular contributor to Fundamatics, V. Sundar in “Authenticty”. In “My Second Home: The Mysterious Aghanistan”, Devashish Dhar talks about his experiences living in war-ravaged Afghanistan, and hopes that art and culture are not banned there again. And finally, illustrations are an important medium to highlight social issues; enjoy some by Prof. Arun Inamdar below![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]We hope you enjoy this issue of Fundamatics. Happy New Year, dear readers… may 2022 be better than 2021 in every possible way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”12684″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”12683″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Artwork by Prof. Arun Inamdar
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My Second Home: The Mysterious Afghanistan
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All photographs were clicked by the author.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It was 15 August 2021, when India was celebrating its 75th Independence day, at around 2 pm I received a call from my Afghan colleague working for the United Nations in Kabul. He spoke with urgency and desperation that he had to leave office and return home immediately since the Taliban had entered Kabul city. I was telecommuting from my home at Nagpur due to the COVID19 pandemic. Everything changed after that, everyone stopped discussing work and their only concern was to evacuate the UN staff.
