Hindi debate in IIT?

Note: This is based on my recollection. If you remember different please correct me.

One year “Hal” (in Silicon Valley) Kazi became our hostel’s Culture Secretary. I used to think of him as Delhi crowd’s chamcha, so I was not very excited by that. Why he was scared of those snobs was a mystery to me but he was.

There used to inter-hostel debates and also at university levels. Sanjay Bhargava was our hostel-7’s champion. Nandan used to represent his hostel and his met his wife through that, good for him.

I was a Hindi-guy so I was out of it. So did most of my hostel mates who were mostly Marathi speaking. We used to call them ghatis, I guess that used to embarrass them further. Few categories were lower than theirs. Perhaps mine, “bhaiya” or something similar.

That came as a total surprise when Kazi told me that he was planning to hold a Hindi debate competition. I had visions of my participating in Hindi debates and the glory, fame and the rest.

Then came the obstacle from Sanjay Bhargava. He was Hindi speaking and opposed Hindi at all levels. Kazi told me that Sanjay Bhargava had opposed his move and had threatened not to participate in English language debates.

Sanjay was needed in English debates for inter university competitions and Kazi had to back up and his dream of Hindi debates died.

Now Sanjay Bhargava is doing social work for common people in India. I don’t know how he remembers it. But this is how I remember it. Earlier he had stopped talking to me and his wife had told me he was upset about things I wrote about him on my web site. Am careful now, and don’t want to offend anyone needlessly, but really want to know what really happened regarding Hindi debates at that time.

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