Spring Semester 01: The Second Beginning
English

Nobody holds an orientation
for the second semester.
By January, everyone is
supposed to know the way.
Pahunch gaye? Laddoos safe hain?
Safe, Maa. The trunk weighs more than me.
Share them with your wing.
Not all in one night like last time.
That was one time, Maa.
Sun. Papa went to the bank yesterday.
The next instalment is due in March.
I know, Maa.
We'll manage. You study.
And beta, average is not a bad word.
Average is not a bad word.
Internship season.
Everything goes on the wall.
Sorry, Tanvi di! Sorry.
Is this a bad time?
I can come back. Sorry.
Meera. That's three
sorrys and no question.
Sorry.
Mentor circle, Thursday, five o'clock.
Bring questions. Leave the sorrys outside.
Sonam came back a week early.
Her new project has two supervisors
and one very large grant.
Run one. Let's keep
this relationship short.
Arjun agreed to be
junior warden of C-Block.
He's still trying to remember why.
'Tap not working at night.' 'Tap
not working at night, again.' 'Tap
working only in my dreams.'
Whose ball is this?
Not mine, sir. I only play with strings.
Name?
Dev, sir. Second year, room two-oh-eight.
And I can't even catch.
Kabir! The trunk is back!
Maa sent extra. For the whole wing.
Is this a bribe?
Ji, sir.
Everyone, this is Joseph.
Our second counsellor.
Good afternoon. I worked at a de-addiction
centre in Kochi, so I'm very hard to
shock. Please don't try.
Two counsellors. Excellent.
So the problem is under control.
The waiting list is shorter.
The problems are older.
Older?
Some students waited all
semester to walk in, sir.
Their problems had time to grow.
The Dean's new Well-being
Committee meets for the first time.
Dean sir's orders. The box opens
in committee, nowhere else.
And these are only from C-Block.
'C-Block. No water in the
taps after ten at night.'
Simple. Fixed water timings.
I'll put up a notice tomorrow.
Before the notice, Prakash ji.
What does this look like
from a student's chair?
From a chair? It looks like no water.
Sir, it looks like a lab report at
eleven, no water to wash your face, and
a quiz at eight.
'First-year, C-Block.
I don't want to talk about the hostel.
Just want someone to know.'
Who wrote this? I'll find out by tonight.
Sir, he wrote it so nobody would find out.
From his chair, Prakash ji?
Frightened.
I'll do breakfast duty
in the C-Block mess.
If he wants someone, I'll be there.
'PhD scholar, CSE. Fellowship
not paid since October.'
CSE. That's my department.
From his chair, that's
four months of mess bills.
And this circular. 'Voluntary drug
screening.' What is there to explain?
It says voluntary.
Sir, to a first-year, voluntary sounds
like a trap until somebody explains it.
Then somebody should explain it.
In plain words. I volunteer.
Four problems, four rules.
Drafted by tonight.
Ma'am, there are fourteen
hundred students in my hostels.
When something goes wrong at
night, it is my phone that rings.
I know. So let's take them one at a time.
Properly.
One at a time. With a deadline.
With a deadline.
The National Task Force set up by the
Supreme Court surveyed students across
India for its interim report.
About thirty-four percent
said they felt like outsiders.
Only fifty-six percent trusted their
administration to handle serious issues
fairly.
The authors say the sample
isn't representative.
Among the institutions that responded,
more than seventy percent appear to have
no full-time mental-health provider.
Fewer than four percent had a
protocol for a student at risk.
And forty-five percent had held no faculty
sensitisation workshop in eighteen months.
A study of nearly twenty-seven thousand
students at twenty-two colleges tested
a short exercise about belonging.
It helped, but only on campuses
where the setting supported students.
The researchers call it seed and soil.
Every slip in that box was about the soil.
Ma'am, I think this tree is dead.
Palash. It flowers when
everything else is dry. Look up.
One flower.
One item at a time.
And one student at a time.
Try this week: write down one rule,
room or routine on your campus
that makes students' lives harder, and
the name of one student you will check on.
And here is a phrase to keep.
One rule, one student.
Support details and sources
are below this video.
See you in week two.