A Part Of My Life

I was just going through the official website of Orissa TV where this news grabbed my attention. This took me to my campaigning days in my graduation college, but believe me candidates during that time were never so numb to execute this kind of an act which is utter rubbish.

An overpowered presidential candidate of my college (BJB (A) College) in Bhubaneswar tried to set himself ablaze during the oath taking ceremony of the triumphant presidential candidate this Thursday. This strikes a chord of me regarding my election agenda wherein I constantly emphasized on making the voting process peaceful unlike the parliamentary elections that we generally have. I kept roaring in all my speeches & interviews addressing the fellow students to show their class as the members of the best college of the state. I don’t want to comment on his course of action as I seriously criticize the state police for being a mere puppet in the hands of politicians & top bureaucrats, corrupt politics for getting themselves involved in student body selection & the candidate himself for his insensitive mind & good for nothing brain.

I want to share my experience. Every single guy in the state wants to study in this premier institute at least for some time. I consider myself really lucky that I spent the most important phase of my student’s life (5 years after schooling) in this college. Now let me talk about my campaign.

My Strengths (Top 5)


· Being the LAST ENTRANT, initially I grabbed less attention of the politicians so that I could compete independently having full freedom.


· Being the ONLY CANDIDATE REPRESENTING SCIENCE BLOCK, the whole science fraternity was in full support. I found some real dedicated friends & supporters.


· My DEBATING SKILLS came as an aid while giving speeches which was the biggest differentiating factor. While other candidates focused on giving leaflets, notes & handouts, I focused on giving oral presentations which attracted a chunk of students.


· I used DIFFERENT STRATEGIES for different breeds of students. For instance, I used to give speeches in English in the science block, in hindi in the commerce block (majority of the students were hindi speaking ) & in oriya in the Arts block. I used different banners for three different blocks concentrating on issues that appealed to them.


· I tried to find out the OPINION LEADERS & briefed them my agenda before moving on to their peer groups.

My Weaknesses (Top 5)


· MONEY was always a concern for me as I did not represent any political party. I had to keep track of every penny that I used in the process so that I could have my desired amount for the last phase which generally demanded more spending.


· Being a Science student my NAME WAS NOT VERY KNOWN in the arts society which had thrice the number of students to that of Science.


· CONSTANT POLITICAL THREATENING pressurized my supporters & they always had this thing back of their minds during campaigning.


· I had my CAT EXAM just after the elections which restrained me from going in for a full fledged process which my competitors used to have.


· Being a NON-HOSTELLER, it was always difficult to collect votes from the three hostels

The moments that I would cherish for ever (Top 3)


· Being APPLAUDED & APPRECIATED by the students of 1st year each time I interacted with them gave me great pleasure & confidence to march ahead.


· Getting all the ATTENTION OF STUDENTS (god, I can’t forget the girls…J). Getting the SUPPORT FROM FACULTIES was never expected & came as a bolt from the blue.


· My COMPETITIOR ASKING ME TO WRITE A SPEECH for him which he would just learn & reproduce in front of the students as the students directly questioned him for not projecting his ideas like LAGNAJIT. (Ha ha ha)

The moments that I don’t want to recollect (Top 3)


· Being FORCED TO SLAP a supporter of my competitor as I always wanted to complete my process in a peaceful manner. But that was the need of the hour which I could not avoid.


· Being ABUSED by my girl friend for not giving her enough time before my fellow contestant (she never knew that he was my competitor) & he using that thing as one of his election stunts (how cheap)


· I, being CALLED UP BY A LOCAL POLITICIAN asking me to withdraw my name from the elections. He even went on to the extent of involving my family members in it.