This particular piece of whatever-you-call-it was written about a year ago and published in a blog which is now non-existent.I had written it about the time of the grueling round of club interviews.Two semesters later,I cannot believe I was so worked up about it!Some people have read it, some haven't.If you belong to the latter,proceed.

I always thought that being in a club would be a great experience, an opportunity to learn things that were never taught and to develop qualities like leadership and to interpersonal skills that are invaluable and which most of have no clue of and most of all, being in an engineering college, to cultivate an interest in the latest advancements in technology. With great enthusiasm I filled out the “resume” forms handed out by the clubs. I answered the questions which ranged from the mundane (“ A selfish person is foolish. Comment”), to the ridiculous (“Mention one personality whom you would take out to dinner and why) to the best of my literary abilities. If you’re wondering why these insightful looking questions are being called mundane and ridiculous, I’d like to add that these are questions that one must answer in order to get into the “tech clubs” which are being funded by the college to “promote technical education and help students hone their skills to become technocrats”. Do any of these “tech” clubs actually know what the word “technical” means? After healthy dose of personality contests (read beauty pageants), mock placement packages for fresher’s, pool parties, ballroom dances and everything else under the sun which even an imbecile would term “non-technical”, we can safely conclude that they don’t.

There are various criteria for getting into these elite societies. First and foremost is the gender of the applicant. Owing to the rarity of the fairer sex, and their reputation for being crowd pullers in most events, the big four are invariably engaged in barbaric dog fights to snap up the “good ones”. Sex sells and here’s the finest example. Another very important criterion is the applicant’s knowledge of photo shop, flash (in the literal sense for female applicants), movie maker or any of the countless software applications one can conjure. The clubs cannot stress enough on how important this is for a potential member. The junta selected under this criterion are usually the “shy types” who are very sociable with computers and would hence enhance the image of the club by designing mind blowing posters which would take attention away from the fact that a certain technical society is having a dance workshop or maybe that another is having a beauty pageant. The creative teams in these clubs have to be given credit for their originality and ability to think out of the box. In no two consecutive years would you find the same dance workshop being held. For example, if its salsa this year, the next year would be jive and so forth. If creativity is your forte, there is ample opportunity in the clubs. Apart from these the other quota available to get into these portals of excellence includes “contacts” with suitable members already part of the club(the higher up, the better), Rs.1250 in your bank account during the month of January, helping move furniture during college fests or just plain sucking up to the interview panel. If an applicant fails to meet the aforementioned he would be deemed unfit and be ragged by the interview panel, who get their kicks by thinking they’re the desi version of Donald trump.

Being in a club has its own perks. Apart from the prestige issue, a member can gain solace from the fact t that no matter how badly an event has bombed, he is assured a “treat” from the club. Add to this the yearly trips to exotic locales, the constant company of female members(which every NITKian so desperately desires), “contacts” which enable one to climb higher in the student association and workshops that promote interaction with (female) members other student chapters; it’s a very attractive package indeed. And all this while the institute foots the bill for “club treat in sad’s” and the suchlike.

While this may seem to be a rant by someone who did not manage to make it into any club, it is a view expressed by many and is in fact the reality. First of all, the clubs must find out what is required of them (or at least get someone else to do it) and stick to it. Secondly clubs are meant to be recreational and in this spirit they must keep membership open to everyone. If this is asking too much of them, the selection process has to be fair and transparent. And lastly the money allocated and spent by each club must be made available to everyone.