Monsoon Semester 04: Invisible Backpacks
English

By week five, the rain has settled in.
So, it seems, have the students.
But every student here carries two bags.
You can only see one of them.
Kabir! Trip money? Everyone's coming!
I can't, yaar. Cousin's wedding.
I have to go home.
Again? You skipped movie night also!
Next time. Pakka.
I'm writing 'pakka' next to your name.
His scholarship is late.
Again.
The op-amp is gone.
Let's swap it.
Wait. The noise is at fifty hertz.
That's mains hum. Check the
ground connection first.
Let's just swap it and see.
Guys! Fifty hertz. It's mains hum.
It's the ground!
Good idea, Varun.
Team effort!
Good idea, ma.
Both times.
Private marks this time, ma'am.
I got three emails.
Not three hundred.
Only three?
Two about the syllabus.
One saying thank you.
Sonam! How are the crystals?
Still refusing to grow, ma'am.
I've started talking to them.
Arjun, this is Sonam.
Chemistry.
Hi! Arjun, computer science.
So where are you from?
Gangtok.
Oh, nice. But originally?
Originally, Gangtok.
Sikkim. India.
You're the third this week, sir.
On Monday, someone asked if
I needed a visa to come here.
You're doing better.
You only asked twice.
I'm so sorry. That was a stupid question.
It's okay, sir. It just... adds up.
I'm an idiot.
Twice. Don't make it three.
Freshers! How's life?
So, what was your rank?
Why?
Just like that, yaar.
Everyone asks.
My rank got me in. Same as yours.
Chill, I was only asking.
It sounds like small talk.
But students sometimes use a rank to
guess someone's caste, or their admission
category.
Achha jawab tha.
I've practised it.
From the bus, it looked
as if everyone had come.
Ma'am, can I put the quiz
club poster on your door?
Next to the sticker?
Eye level. And sit for a minute.
Two minutes. I have a
peer-mentor meeting at seven.
How's the lab?
Good! Varun had a great idea today.
I had it first. But it
happens every week, ma'am.
It's fine.
Every week is not fine.
So what do I say? 'Excuse
me, that was mine'?
Why not? With a smile.
'So glad you liked my idea, Varun.'
Ma'am, you're dangerous.
Oh, and some senior was asking a
fresher his rank at dinner. Again.
Again?
Every year, ma'am.
Okay, I'm late. Don't worry, ma'am.
I'm always fine!
Roll-number order. Twenty-six years.
Money. Where you come from.
How others see you.
None of it shows up on a class list.
In the National Task Force's survey,
thirty-four percent of students said they
feel like outsiders on campus.
About one in three.
Short 'social belonging' exercises tell
students that worrying about fitting
in is common, and that it fades.
In one well-known study, they
raised grades, and even health, for
students from groups
that often feel excluded.
But a replication at twenty-two
institutions found the exercise works only
where a campus offers
real chances to belong.
A message of belonging only works
if the campus keeps its promise.
Belonging is also designed,
or undesigned, by rules.
A former student at one IIT
describes how assigning roll numbers,
and then hostels, by entrance
rank sorted his batch, roughly,
by admission category.
The Supreme Court's Guideline Seven
asks institutions for sensitivity to
students from marginalised groups.
And a lot of that design
happens in classrooms.
Chai. Hot, this time.
Progress.
What is all this?
Project groups. By hand.
Forty students? That'll
take you all night.
I've let the roll numbers
decide for long enough.
One night is cheap.
Can I help?
Read me the names. Slowly.
I want to know them before they walk in.
Good morning. Your project
groups start today.
I made them myself.
Not by roll number.
Not by friends. Every group mixes
hostels, home states and schools.
And no one is the only woman in her group.
And I'd like to say your names
the way your families say them.
Tell me if I get yours wrong.
Sayantan?
It's Shaayonton, ma'am.
But everyone says Sayantan.
Shaayonton.
I'm not everyone.
And one rule in this room.
Ma'am, that's three rules.
It's one rule. Respect.
I've just written down the instructions.
Last thing. If you've wondered whether
you belong here, you're in good company.
Almost everyone does, this early.
It gets better.
And if it doesn't, there's
a sticker on my door.
Maybe we measure it twice?
Guys, let's measure it twice!
Kabir's idea.
Oh. Kabir's idea. Good one.
Sonam! How are the crystals?
Still refusing, sir.
Better question, though.
I practised.
Try this week: stop asking students
for their ranks or categories.
Learn to pronounce
every name on your roll.
And say in class that doubting whether you
belong is common, and that it gets better.
And here is a phrase to keep.
You belong here. Struggling here
is normal, and it gets better.
Support details and sources
are below this video.
See you in week five.