I will concede 

Liverpool 8 – 0 Besitkas

Arsenal 7 – 0 Slavia Prague

Chelsea 6 – 0 Manchester City

Manchester United 7 – 1 AS Roma

were encounters, as one-sided as our ( Harish Alaguppy and me ) attempt at the ‘Litluminous 2007′ English debate held at ‘Kamla Nehru College’

The topic, however, was worth a duel to the end – ‘highly debatable’ – with expansive realms available for exploration and a plethora of points to hammer the opposition with.

“In the opinion of the house, canon-formation is irrelevant in the global market”

One interpretation was ‘bold’ and extremely ‘literal’ while others were restricted owing to a narrow curriculum.

I had the luxury of consulting ’The Mighty One’ and whatever was spoken to me, and hence spoken by me, was precisely the string of notes that struck music in the ears of the judges. I will, however, take credit for presenting the ideas in the manner that I did. Harish’s impromtu jig did not fetch him the top honours owing to the scanty competition and a laptop in repair. Nonetheless, that did not prevent him from raking in a tidy sum courtesy

1) IInd Best Speaker

2) Best Team

3) Best Interjector

I on the other hand had to remain content with

1) Best Speaker

2) Best Team

not that I am complaining – a rather large helping of luck was involved along with 6 baskets of sweets.

I consider this exercise succesful, not because of the clean sweep, but the contribution – albeit small – it makes to the ‘Armor in my Chinks’.

Another positive was the  sense of vindication that the remarks of the Judges, one in particular, brought to the reality that I am doing engineering (not from the ’best’ college inspite of having an opportunity to go with a few ‘Good Names’ as my alma mater). The essence of the remark was – that Engineers, by way of their curriculum, are exposed to a lot more and hence we were able to view the topic from a much wider and comprehensive perspective contrary to the blinkered view of the literature students. Here, I have to say that the contrary is also true – his praise was noteworthy since it did us a service by highlighting our efforts to improve our mental faculties – as I have seen Literature (or History / Economics / Physics) students who possess the same expansive view and knowledge (not necessarily behaviour) that is worthy of commendation.

Apart from a rare chance at debating (courtesy the rigours of engineering coupled with my pure unadulterated laziness) the trip to KNC brought to light Sir Alagupps-a-lots views on the existence of two sets among human beings. Trust Alacrappy to present the understated in a manner which makes it appear something grossly overlooked. A large chunk of your theories may be original, agreed, but this proverbial ‘Beauty and the Beast’ theory is what most people say sans eloquence. The excogitation finds relevance because prior to it we were two among the only five males (students) in an all girl’s college. Is it a sign of maturity that not a single one seemed worth wasting a tick on – inspite of the overwhelming presence of ‘beauty’ that is notorious for its absentia from the campuses of engineering institutions ? (No I don’t swing the other way, thank you very much.)

P.s. – if you read it, you obviously disagreed, 0.1% might agree – please air those brickbats and bouquets - just say it !!