JULIE MERIN VARUGHESE
December 31, 2012
2012 - Looking Back From Kolaveri to IIT, Chennai was in the news more than once, across the nation and the globe. Some of it gave us cheer, while others made us cringe. In the concluding part of a three-part series, Julie Merin Varughese does a round-up of who hit the right notes and who didn’t, in 2012
The year 2012 rode in on the back of the success of a song — Why this kolaveri di — that put Chennai lad, actor Dhanush, and, to an extent the Tamil film industry, on the world map.
But it wasn’t all song and dance for the city this year. Chennai made it to the national headlines on several occasions, cyclone Nilam and the Velachery encounter apart.
IIT-Madras, its director Bhaskar Ramamurthi and a couple of other faculty members shot to fame this year thanks to a few unsavoury developments.
The premier institution, expected to train young minds to spearhead technological advancements and innovative thinking, seemed to go retro and not fashionably, at that.
The management attempted to introduce regulations that restricted the movement of students, especially women, at night. Though students cried hoarse over the moral policing, the administration insisted the rules — such as a curfew of 11 p.m. for women students and increased surveillance — were intended to protect them.
The institute refused to engage in a dialogue with students over the matter. and worse, it suggested that escorts – male students – be provided to women students who desired to venture out of their hostels after the deadline. This apart, another proposal sought to ban women students from entering boys’ rooms.
The institute seemed to be propagating the very thinking that today’s society is struggling to battle and change.
IIT-Madras was in the news, yet again, for the wrong reasons in August. A news photographer, who reached the campus after news of a student suicide broke out, was attacked by a faculty member and security guards. The lensman ended up injured, but the institute stood by their actions.
Though Mr. Ramamurthi, tendered an apology to the press later, after journalists in the city raised a hue and cry, he insisted the photographer was in the wrong and claimed the faculty had only manhandled him to protect the dignity of women students on the campus.
One can only hope 2013 proves to be a little more empowering for students of IIT-M.
