“F*** POLTU”
This was the piece of welcoming text that greeted me as a fresher, when I first stepped up to the D Wing of my hostel on my first day in IIT Delhi. Painted boldly in dark color on the facing wall (my wing mates would know it better) of our wing were these two words, defiantly challenging us into the IIT life. “F***” I knew from a dictionary, was a slang. This made me feel even more embarrassed with my family along, who I feel were pretty well disillusioned of the premier institute’s hostel culture. The second word however hardly made any sense to me and I assumed this to be someone’s nick or character and prayed to be forgiven of any such gratitude. But hardly did I knew, that very soon that second word would become an intrinsic part of my life @ iitd.
Now I really can’t remember whether it was me who myself got into this POLTU stuff or someone got me into it. Though I strongly feel that my nature always had a strong affinity to the ‘game’ but I am still sceptical. As they say, the higher one rises in tree of hierarchy, better can one see its own branches. It is now I realise, that from day 1, the people I used to meet and interact with, highly catalysed my growth as a POLTU.
Now for those who are still clueless about what’s this POLTU, for them, POLTU is short term for IIT D Politics. And when we talk of politics, there have to be the parties, better known as alliance in POLTU lingo. A great person has well said- “When there are boundaries, one has to take a side”. Though many will not accept this, but this is truth and a fact that even those calling themselves “Anti-Poltu” cannot deny. What is more important is the level of commitment one shows, because to get something one has to commit himself to it and be ready to pay for it. There were always mixed sentiments about POLTU I was exposed to, before I actually understood it, becoming a part myself. I hear the phrases till date; ‘Poltu sucks’, ‘ it’s dirt’, ‘it estranges one from his friends’ etc. I won’t comment on national politics, but IIT politics has been nothing similar for me. I have got some of my best pals here. The bond is imperishable. In fact it was here I realised who can be a friend indeed, the one who shall stand by me beyond everything else. Apart from POLTU, the people I got to know would last forever in the list of close friends. I have always been fond of social networking. This was undoubtedly a path to facilitate it. Not only I have learnt to take decisions, but to work hard, to work passionately, to work for others, to control my emotions, to evade slumber, to achieve, to be optimist, and to look for good in everything and nothing. It has been here, that I learnt some really important lessons of life, which I somehow missed due to my pampered brought-up.
What I have summed up in all these years is that Politics is nothing but an ideology and actions to support it. It’s all about a perspective to look at things. Until and unless one can tell apart ambition from greed, power from responsibility, interest from opportunity and vengeance from revenge, politics shall always be a machinery for general good. Though I have myself like my other fellows, been often put to the hard tests in its course, I shall always cherish my experiences with poltu @ iitd throughout my life.
