Metamorphosis II: Rise of the Machines
In Metamorphosis, Gautam Hazari recounts what it was like to live in IITB 10 years ago.
Imagine a world without the internet; imagine a world without a campus network; imagine a world where a computer is so rare that less than 1% of the human population possesses one. Too hard to imagine? Well this is exactly what our hostels were like 10 years ago. And if you ever try asking us old-timers whether we felt deprived, be prepared for a minor heart-attack, 'cause we definitely preferred the situation back then to what it is now.
Before the invasion of the machines, our hostels used to be lively and exciting hubs of social interaction (sorry, but GTalk and AOE are poor substitutes). The hostel lounges were always brimming with many random activities, someone playing music, someone playing carrom, someone playing with their food while they finished with the newspaper, someone playing with someone else's sentiments and someone playing the fool. The GCs were hotly contested by a large percentage of the inmates of each and every hostel, intra-hostel events would happen almost daily with a substantial participation across all batches. Junta would play football or cricket, especially during the midsems and endsems. The wing corridors would be infested with people discussing world politics and nation development.
The invasion began about ten years ago in the form of hostel compi-rooms which were normal rooms with three Linux computers without a graphical interface.Then the hostel compi-rooms began to replace the lounge and TV room as the preferred hub of social activity. The compi-room would be the place to spot the who's-who of the hostel and of course to steal someone else's chappals whenever your chappals broke down. The only way to ensure that your chappals were not stolen was to have shocking pink chappals.
Soon the invasion spread to the hostel rooms with many students purchasing personal computers and long UTP cables to connect them to the compi-room. In 2001 the institute surrendered by providing LAN wiring to each and every room. Soon after that the invasion was complete. And as the machines get sleeker and more powerful with the advent of laptops, omnipresent WiFi networks and computers the size of mobile phones looming on the horizon; the students who enter in a few years’ time will surely perceive the current setup as prehistoric while those of you who would have been successful in escaping from the institute by then are sure to lament and criticize all the newer powers the machines would have developed to keep students hooked on to them. And as you stare helplessly at each batch of fresh captives, all you can do is flashback through memory lane and "remember when you were young ..."
Volume XI