'Other Side Of The Coin' . . . ATD at MNNIT Allahabad

... the other side of the story...
...they said it was hypocrisy on the Institute's part...
...they said it was orthodoxy on the Institute's part...
...and they said their act had no cuss words...

ATD at MNNIT Allahabad on Sept.28, 2016

Hello people!

A lot is being written, spoken and discussed about what happened day before yesterday during ATD's performance in gnoTalks'16 (during Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad's annual tech fest Avishkar'16 opening) in the institute.
gnoTalks is the annual Institute talk organised during the tech fest opening.

What I'm seeing is... That the artists have written posts and tweets describing their version and an online media website has shared that too. And most of our alumni don't know what had happened; they've just read the artists' version...

And sadly, a lot of random people are seeing these posts and shared articles, and forming negative opinions about the Institute based on that.

I'm an alumnus of the Institute and I was a gnoTalks'15 lead coordinator.
I would like to give some personal perspective of the organisers' view on the issue (though I wasn't physically present there, nor am I authorised to... But still)
[Here's a statement from official student coordinators of gnoTalks'16. Please go through this too :
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1065591243554665&id=1032875766826213&hc_location=ufi ]

I've spoken to a couple of current juniors, some who were in the audience and some in the organising.
And here's what I've gathered :-

Aisi Taisi Democracy, a sociopolitical satire genre musical standup comedy group of 3 people (one of them being a famous singer-musician, one being a lyricist-writer, and one being a standup comic) was called to present their act in gnoTalks'16 on Sept.28, 2016.
It performs standup comedy sessions involving good satirical songs. (like their song 'Meri Saamne Wali Sarhad Pe' :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7yICQRMmt8

I got a 10 min. sneak peak in their musical act at IIT-B's Mood Indigo last year, and I loved it! They're unflinching while presenting their sociopolitical satires and their music makes them all the more awesome!)

This time too, they were going good for most part... But they picked up a topic which they've termed 'sex education'.
In that, they started discussing how people used to get aroused back in their days, etc. Fine till there.

The show wasn't stopped because faculty wanted to moral police them.
It was because they had crossed the expected limit of decency at some points on that kind of a public forum, which wasn't acceptable to the organisers.

Let's keep this in mind that it was an institute stage, an institute hall, a public forum... It requires a certain level of decorum to be kept. It wasn't a hostel room or SAC common room where discussing & speaking everything among students is fine as long as they're enjoying it.

They used the ठेठ  desi slang for penis - l**d... The one we (my perspective) use only among friends, but never in public life, and definitely not on stage!!

Before that, they had also used phrases like ***** phatt gayi, ***** maar li, etc.

That's as far as I've got know. They surely could've had a better choice of words, if sex education was their intent. It rather seems to be a slang education session.
It's not whether these things are commonly spoken by people or not. It's just that, there's a fine line between how you present yourself in public life (in class, in office, on stage, in your home before parents, etc.) and in private life (among friends, or alone).

(By stage, I here^ refer to a college/school stage, and it's decorum which the respective college/school has been observing there over time...

... And not a standup comedy club or bar, where people are used to & expect expletives being used in comedy acts)

I'm sure most of us know these words and use/have used this language lot of times...It's nothing new. And we aren't little kids. But again, the place & time of using it matters. The day people start using such words in class, in office, at home with family, etc. ... I think then it would be fine to use them on our college stage too.

Also, certain students had the view that most of us listen to such language while watching online media like TVF, etc.

Well, agreed. But again, the time & place are different.

We watch such shows in personal space, alone or with friends. But they aren't screened for us in schools/colleges/offices... Nor do we watch them on TVs at home. And neither do we watch GoT on HBO with family. Nor do we do a number of other things in such places, which are meant to be done only in personal space.

...And doing them (/carrying that demeanor) in personal space only and not in all places doesn't make us hypocrites!

When we were kids, our parents used to tell us... don't lie, don't use bad language, don't steal, etc. ...of course they would've done (/ would be doing) it all, but in a different space, not before us kids! This doesn't make them hypocrites!

They chose for themselves, which space for what kind of activity.

What we need to understand is, there's a threshold to what entities can come under the purview of openness/being liberal. Of course, the threshold may vary based on individual perspectives.

And so, the idea of openness doesn't mean making all the goddamn things in the world 'open'. And likewise, having a threshold of openness doesn't mean being regressive.

And what irks me the most, is that some of the current students seem pissed with the show being stopped, while ignoring this fact, and posting about how the institute has been regressive.... And that this show was for students, so if some of them were enjoying it, it was fine.

The artists are presenting this as hijacking their freedom of speech and our institute faculty's regressive mentality, etc. ...saying they didn't use cuss words, etc.

They're pissed and are obviously lying (until the words I've mentioned above aren't cuss) and have diverted the topic to sex Ed being stopped midway.
They should've written in their post/blog, the exact words and phrases with which the organisers had a problem.
That would've been a complete picture for readers to form their opinions.

Their current post makes it look like a regressive institute's censorship just hijacked the sex Ed enlightenment efforts of the poor victim comedians!!

Cutting off their mics wasn't the most apt step that should've been taken by organisers/faculty, I agree. But then, I've mentioned at the end of this post, that the event FS accepts they had warned ATD manager a couple of times, but he paid no heed to the organisers' worry.

Notwithstanding what the faculty's mindset is about other things in the institute, I feel they were quite right in this case in stopping them, if all these things I've got to know are true.

As a student coordinator, I would've done something similar. (I would've gone up on stage to ask them to refrain from using this language further. No problem with sex education...continue that, but the language needs to be minded. If not minded even then, I too would've asked them to leave.)

Maybe the faculty's reaction of pulling the plug could've been his 2nd reaction; Talking to them could've been the first...  but I feel the reason was justified.

Some people and faculty have blamed the coordinators about why did they call them.

There's always a risk of crossing the line attached to comedians (happens everyday on TV). But then, people still want to have their entertainment. The coordinators can't be blamed for it. They tried their bit (requested the comedians before the show to not speak anything indecent, else it might be stopped... I too did that last year with the then group of invited comedians).

[And let's not forget, that this was arguably the grandest organised gnoTalks by our students (esp. yesterday evening!), with probably the best panel we've got till now!... Ashok Khemka, Rajat Kapoor, Amish Tripathi, Nitish Bharti & Aisi Taisi Democracy ... An awesome blend of inspiring & entertaining celebs of varied genres... consolidating gnoTalks as one of the most stellar talk shows in college circuits!

Kudos to the team for raising the bar! :) ]

So this was it. It was unfortunate and unforeseen. I presume this description of what happened should be factually correct.

Now we may form some perspective and discuss, if we want.

#Addition 1 :

just read an Avishkar'16 Festival Secretary's post... Coordinators had asked ATD manager sitting near the sound console 2-3 times, that the artists are taking it a bit too far, bring it down... But he didn't ask them to.

Well, if the organisers are feeling that the content is being explicit, and asking the ATD manager to do something about it, they should've responded to that then. That's what professionalism is.

So this was not just about
1.) they using indecent slangs,
2.) and lying about it on social media later,
this was
3.) being unprofessional as well.

And it's sad to see they're still defending their stand while replying to their Fb post comments! :(

#Addition 2 :

just saw an old ATD performance clip on their Fb page, which would suffice to show WHO the actual hypocrite is!!

Their post about gnoTalks incident mentioned 'hypocrisy', 'orthodoxy' of the Institute, and says their sex ed. bit 'comprised of no cuss-words'.

well... then why's there a beep at 00:43 in this past performance video of theirs?!! ... guess who's the "orthodox hypocrite" now! ;)

https://www.facebook.com/AisiTaisiDemocracy/videos/1986366998255083/
 

You yourself beep a desi slang word in a mere video of your old performance posted on social media... but...
 feel fine to use it (and more such cuss words) live on-stage, despite being asked by coordinators to refrain & despite seeing it was a mixed gathering, not a laugh/comedy club youth-only gathering!!

#ATDhypocrisy

#disappointed

ATD...
you accept when you're right in your punches by our applause...
You may now try to accept you were wrong this time by owning up the truth. (And putting both sides of the coin in your post)

The Outcast

 " GET  OUT  OF  THE  CLASSSSS . . . . . "   barked the PhD_instructor .

              2:30 PM...   An engineering institute...  Communications Laboratory...  New semester...  1st practical...  Light drizzle accompanied by bone-chilling wind, outside... 

The imagery was set. The mood was light.
             His hopes were bright.
But one thing he didn't remember -- the difference between wrong and right.
             His plea was rejected... outright.
And no one cared about his plight !!
               
A student of this batch, a simple-looking guy with a jolly demeanour, an eerie smile, a confident gait, and a green pullover,  was the cynosure of this activity.

       He wanted a fresh start to the new semester and only 20 minutes had passed  . . . when . . .  lo and behold . . .
 the instructor caught him . . .

                             O H   M Y   G O D  !!!

This extremely obnoxious, uncouth green-pullover guy, whoever he was, had just been caught red-handed, committing the gravest crime of the century . . .
                                 . chewing chewing-gum .
      An issue of paramount importance, had just cropped up before the PhD_instructor.

 The student pleaded . . . His repeated 'sorrys', his earnest assurances, his polite tone . . .  all seemed to be having little or no effect on the PhD_instructor.
  The student then lost his patience and confessed the crime, saying chewing it was his habit and that he would avoid it from next time.
                         But . . .  it was too late ... !!!
 The decision had already been taken. There was no point in pleading anymore.
            He had done the forbidden. He had to be rebuked.  

    Throwing him out of the class seemed to be the only plausible solution to the PhD_instructor, seeing the gravity of his crime.
ummmmm.....Yes.   It had to be done.
       " chewing chewing-gum in my class . . . How DARE he... " .

So eventually, all his pleas were rejected and his requests put down.
. . . he was  'sentenced to leave the laboratory at once' .

                                                *******

Amidst rain and thunder, walking briskly towards his hostel, alone and aloof from rest of the world, something crossed his mind -
           " Sarcasm . . .  because killing people is illegal !!" 

And then the outcast promised himself . . .
 
                               . He . Will . Be . Back .