Idiot box politics

"K.s.Hegde ladies hostel" proclaims a shabby,little,crooked board
(how cliched! I wonder if all the documented old time places in India always had crooked boards)
nailed on the now fraying and bending lines of barbed waire hung over the 8 foot wall surrounding our modest,make-shift home for the next 5 years..
A few of the wires were actually cut
from the effects of the forces of nature or the mere strain of holding in the ever blooming politics i always wondered..

The TV room was a small room right next to the common dining hall
It was a small and stuffy
it had one window facing the backyard and name-sake curtains adorned the window in a grotesque manner.
no breeze ever came through that window.
The curtain was old,filthy and had strange stains on it.. it even had a barely contained tear!
This room when opened,
welcomed you with a burst of hot,humid air
that almost perennially smelt of sweat mixed with the other quality the air develops from housing too many people in highly uncomfortable close quarters consistently over long periods of time..
Our beloved idiot box was placed on one of the spare beaureaus the hostel manager managed to spare.
It was a 21-inch sony colour screen TV
this room although small& seemingly harmless held in its belly a million rules and strata
like in a football stadium
there were those who sat on the grass
then the next who got the barely there seats
then the next strata who got the better seats
then at last came the seats with the best view inside your own air conditioned chamber,small speakers for commentary ,couches and service for popcorn,beed and the like.
the senior most got the highest strata,i.e. THE REMOTE !!
if i had special effects i'd make that word glitter in gold..
whether it is a single person surrounded by a bunch of giggly,innocent,idiotic,inexperienced juniors or a big group of seniors with a comparatively smaller group of juniors;
the rule held its ground
the senior is next only to god in the TV room.

In the first few months of being a freshie
even the privilege of entering the TV room was not granted to you
you gradually acquired it as you stayed longer and became a more familiar face
Just like a company gives you more fringe benefits as you work for a longer time..

here i will present to you a few scenarios:-
In case only a bunch of juniors are watching TV and a senior happens to enter
either you quickly handover the remote or if you don't have the guts to look into her piercing evil eyes,walk forward and place it right next to the TV and quickly make your exit or if u wish to stay..move as a far away from the danger zone as possible.
In case you are better acquainted with the senior folk or are the type with more confidence you ask what they would like to watch and obediently switch channels.
As time passes by,you are given the right to request the change of the channel to a one you might prefer.
IF the senior was feelings generous or has a liking to you or felt pity for you poor soul then they might;just might change the channel during commercial breaks.

These days times have changed such that the juniors hold power over the seniors due to the simple fact that a bill has been passed declaring ragging to be a non-bailable offence.All institutions have buttoned up and there are posters everywhere at the start of every academic year.they'd even gone the extent of forming an anti-ragging committee!
So anything and everything can be framed as ragging and the poor senior most often insulted badly by the members of the disciplinary committee or as we affectionately referred to it as the disco.
They would of course protect you from the police
but not before giving you a seriously scary,earth rumbling warning coupled with suspension.

So now,the tables have turned or rather there is havoc in our little belly which was earlier full of orderly proceedings.
now juniors no matter how low in the cadre demand to watch what they want
and if it is a small group of seniors,the chief aim of the juniors is to irk them mercilessly until they decide that they have had enough and leave.
once they leave it is a mass jeering the hooting that erupts from the room
the seniors emerge..harrassed,irritated and ready to bring the roof down in a barely controlled rage
if they were to summon them all in for a mass scolding/lecture on appropriate behavious
one must be careful for the scales might tip either way
of course there always are the few juniors who would later approach the senior and try to appease them with some well practiced diplomacy.
but nothing really helps.
A small portion of the anger is forever left with the harrassed party.

I,personally stayed away from the tumultous belly and all its rumblings
for the simple reason that all those proceedings seem too cumbersome just to watch the damn tv
or is the tv just an excuse for politics concerning hierarchy i often wondered..
besides,the room was always an unbearable affair for me
Hot,stuffy,sweaty,dungeon like and severly claustrophobic.
the 2 merrily whizzing fans which would never turn fast enough.
i always felt as if it was my first breath of life all over again everytime i emerged from the room.
however higher up in the cadre i go i surely will never be a politician
I'd rather spend my time in my well-ventilatedcool room on my comforatable bed with some music..

Besides..it was called the idiot box for a reason!