Saturday, January 21, 2006

Anna University - the next step

The Vice Chancellor is thinking hard (might be hard to believe, but true) about what next to do to improve the moral climate of the university. He has already banned mobile phones, since the students were often endlessly preoccupied with mobiles, "chatting away with friends uselessly''. He has already implemented a dress code that states that students should not wear jeans, t-shirts, skirts or sleeveless and tight-fitting outfits and enjoins them to dress conservatively, as these outfits detract from the seriousness of academic pursuits. He has also raided the College Hostel and broken the tradition of pornography prevalent in Engineering College Hostels in the country. More importantly, all this has been publicised in the newspapers so every one knows that he is a moral guardian, a paragon of virtue.

But one can't rest on his laurels, can he? So what is the next step to prop up his image of moral guardian? Aah, the women. Girls are the root cause of all this distraction for the boys. A triumphant smile crosses his face. He prepares yet another press release. From the next academic year onwards the classrooms will be split in two with a wall built to separate the boys and girls. Only the professor can see both sides, the students cannot look at the other gender.

22 comments:

Gurusamy Thangavel said...

He may even think that from next acad. year onwards boys only will be admitted to Anna Unv. Ha.. Ha..

Rakesh said...

who knows he might not just build a wall within the classroom he might built a wall throughout the campus ;)

The Talkative Man said...

chenthil,
link please.

inlivenout said...

Uh?! Is that true,Chenthil? Or is it your imagination?

Anonymous said...

No, instead send out the girls already studying. "Women are the root cause of all evil. Women shouldn't come out of the kitchens. They shouldn't study Engineering."

That will complete his image as a dictator. IBN Live had come yesterday to interview him, right after NDTV. They guy is giving more interviews than the President. It seems to me the only way to make yourselves appear on screen is by making such rules

ashok said...

This all started in the 90s in Anna University. The intractions between boys and girls in the School of Architecture & Planning (SAP) were an eye sore for the then VC and other engineering faculty. In those times girls stayed in boys hostel overnight to work for group projects or competitions... and this gave a huge "stomache burning" for the engineering students and staff alike. soon false accusations were raised and the girls were restricted to the boys hostel lobby and subsequently banned altogether from nearing the boys hostel.
Another point of hatred for the VCs were the colorful archi girls (and some lady staff too) who came in 'all sorts' of modern dress.

SAP was an autonomous school in the Anna campus and this was always hated and envied by the VCs. Till the time Prof.Harris was the dean of SAP, the VCs couldnt do much about it. Prof.Harris was a strong and influential character.I heard later that, As soon as Prof.Harris retired in 2002, the VC started targetting SAP. The VC took away the SAP hostel and merged the architecture students with other engineering hostels. All these dress codes and his other fanatics are mainly aimed at SAP as far as i can see.

Nilu said...

I suggest castration. The penis is the root of all evil. So, list castration as a pre-requisite for an Engineering degree. Similarly, list mastectomy for women.

I wish someone takes a look at their research program. What a waste of my money!

Chenthil said...

TTM, ILO - if this is not understood as satire, then I am a really bad writer :-).

Krithika - he is surely getting there. I guess we should have Nilu writing to him :-)

Thangavel, Rakesh - nothing can be ruled out with the level of prudishness this guy exhibits.

Ashok, I understand your angst about SAP being merged with other Engineering courses. But I think this VC is more interested in being regarded as the powerful dictator - something which Mr. Natraj the Chennai Police Commissioner also is interested in. We live in interesting times.

Anonymous said...

and what gender should the professor be? ;)

inlivenout said...

RH,LOL.

Chenthil,well,Its Mr.VISHWANATHAN you were talking about;So,I had to keep my options open.No wonder if your satire gets implemented in reality!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to point out, these rules target only women. Guys have a free reign. The other day the VC guy spoke on the occasion of inaugurating a "telephone booth" and ranted that women waste 3 hours speaking to their boyfriends, when they must be studying. It was never the other way round - he implies that boys are by nature far from frivolousness and flirting. Chauvinism of the highest order.

Anonymous said...

there should be two sides to an argument. from what i have read so far all seem to be from the same perspective and that is incredible!
- vivek

Anonymous said...

chenthil,

remember the MSEC days with Ibrahim The Great ??

was he not equally bad as our AU VC?

Anonymous said...

On Vivek's request,

http://www.liberty.edu/studentaffairs/deanofwomen/index.cfm?PID=6548

http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest117.html

ashok said...

anon,

Ibrahim the great was a totally different case...cant compare these two except that they are nutcases...

D LordLabak said...

lol. And I heard girls admitted into Anna University should call all the guys "Anna", is that true?

Anonymous said...

'yarro'
tks for the informative links,

well, you suggest that there seems to be justification in the edicts, afterall

-vivek

Anonymous said...

vivek, i wonder what chenthil has got to say regarding those links. just curious.

Chenthil said...

Vivek and Yaaro, on your prompting I checked out the links. If you think Anna University girls were dressing up like in the first picture, it means you have not been into Engineering Colleges here.

And the second link is about School Uniforms - so google better to get relevant results :-)

Anonymous said...

Burkha's "we the people" with Chennai ites was a interesting sequel to our topic.

Chen, did u watch it?

Chenthil said...

Anon, I knew about the program but didn't watch it. I don't think much about talk shows, hence skipped it.

Anonymous said...

Chenthil said: If you think Anna University girls were dressing up like in the first picture, it means you have not been into Engineering Colleges here.

True I have not been into ECs there in this century. The only representation that I have about the information age Indian colleges is through the picture tube; and that's very different from the way it is where I am.
- Vivek