Nineteenth

This week marked the end of seventh semester. Also, I would be taking a one month winter break to match the institute academic calendar. But it was a happening last week of semester, considering exams ended on Tuesday. The week could be summarized by following events, mentioned chronologically:

• Guru and Why Nations Fail: Just out of sheer randomness, we (Samarth, Chetan Pranay & I) decided we just need to rewatch a good Bollywood movie. After rejecting ideas such as DDLJ, we decided on Guru. Eventually though, the plan fizzled out and I was the only one who ended up watching the movie. And I just could not ignore the subtle analogies between the hostile institutions faced by young Guru Kant Desai and the extractive institutions as described by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson in Why Nations Fail. Government of India had, with an intention to reduce economic inequality snatched away opportunities for entrepreneurs to succeed and accumulate wealth. It created a licence raj which gave tremendous monopolistic powers to existing influential players. Not only did the aggregated economic pie (GDP for those familiar with ECO101) stagnated but also there was a loss of social welfare. I would say the movie is a must watch after reading the book.
• The Institute Lecture: IIT Kanpur started a new series of institute lectures, 'Making of a University'. Prof Sudhir Jain, founding director of IIT Gandhinagar delivered the inaugural lecture. And the statement, 'I want my students to be either professors or entrepreneurs' will perhaps play in my head every time I would think of academic administration. The leadership style of Prof Jain reminded me of stories of Dr P. K. Kelkar, founding director of IIT Kanpur. I hope other newer IITs have the fortune of having such dynamic leaders at the helm and the brand IIT would remain in safe hands.
• The Wedding Crashers: Samarth had an invitation for some relative's wedding in Kanpur. Also, Chetan and I happened to be useless. He asked us to tag along and we were more than happy to join (after all, who refuses free food). It was only later that we realized that the ceremony's at Status Club, perhaps the poshest area of Cawnpore. With jeans and hoodies, the three of us were prominently out-of-place. And well, two of us uninvited. Samarth introduced us to the host and she was really welcoming and even nudged us to join the celebration. It was fun to attend a wedding uninvited. Also, it was my first experience of the north-Indian wedding (I have always attended Gujarati/Marwari weddings back home).  
• Placements: Witnessing the frenzy, competition and energy during day 1, slot 1 was indeed an experience. I can't really classify it as pleasant or bad but was definitely worth experiencing. For a moment, I felt even I should participate in the procedure, just for the thrill of participation. Maybe, such was my perspective because I was observing the placements with a security of PPO in my pocket. 

And I also happened to read a couple of articles about sexism against residential female students in two of the elitist colleges in India (You can read them here and here). After reading them, I feel happy that IIT Kanpur at least treats all its students equally and consider them to be mature enough to make their own decisions.

I plan to spend next 20 days in the comfort of home-cooked food, pleasant weather and amazing books. Of course, there will be family and friends for company. Happy holidays!