Heights of " STUPIDITY".

*Disclaimer - not meant to make fun of anyone. All the events are written as they happened.



You have to earn marks...this is what was proved by the recent Business Research Methodology viva we had few days back. The situation was nothing less than the boiler room. The whole story is as follows – Prof. Saptarishi taught us (section F n L) business research methodology in sem 2. We were supposed to submit a project (one for each group), which had 30% weightage ( 30 marks). The groups were selected by sir himself. Each group had 7 members. There were three stages - project proposal, interim project and final project plus viva. Viva turned out to be a surprise element. When each group submitted its final project, sir announced the most dreaded news- the whole project is an individual mark component not a group component and each person will be marked accordingly, based on his/her viva. My group members were Rajhans, Saher, Nishit, Ritika, Anabadaya and Shalika and I. I always liked BRM from the first day itself and took an extra effort to make the project. Since everyone thought it to be a group component, not everyone in d group contributed to the project. And this was d case with each group in both the sections. And when we came to know about viva, everyone was still ok ( everyone had obviously sailed through sem 1 without working on project n fooling faculty by going through the project in d last minute and answering during viva like he/she is d only one who has worked on the project). But
this time the faculty was Prof. Saptarish. He had a superb idea of finding out who has actually worked on the project n who hasn't. He played Roadies( the popular reality series on MTV ) with all of us. Whenever each group went for viva, he asked each member to write names of two group members who he/she thinks hasn’t worked on the project. First group to go was stunned by this act of his ( because these people did not know about this at all). But subsequent groups totally planned their course of action with people in hostels actually plotting against the weakest link in the group and also the most influential person in the group( who hasn’t touched the project ) threatening others so that his/her name doesn’t come out during the VOTE OUT. People in one group actually went to the extent of telling sir the whole conversation among the group members regarding whom to vote out n manipulating about who had worked n who hasn’t. They got d whole conversation printed out( wtf ) and the funny part is these people are supposedly more mature than most of us, considering their age ( more than 24 yrs ) and the work experience they have. Never mind , I wouldn’t go in the ethics and rationale behind it. But would want to concentrate on my group.
In my group, people who actually worked were me( not because its my blog n I can write what I want, I did work on the project with all my heart n mind..remember BRM being my fav subject ), rajhans , saher and ritika ( at times ). but the major decisions were taken by rajhans and me. So, when the other members got to know about the vote out n the marks attached to viva, each one of them came to us( Rajhans and me ) and asked us not to mention anybody's name and with the group consensus we decided we won’t name anyone and we’ll tell sir that we all worked and contributed equally to the project. And let him figure out himself who has worked n who hasn’t( we are as smart as sir, at least that is what we thought). So,with all confidence we entered the conference room. " har roadie akela hai " ( every roadie is alone ) is changed to " har brm viva dene wala akela hai " ( anyone appearing for BRM viva is alone ). What happened next was no fault of mine or Rajhans's. Both of us had decided against writing anyone's name. We told sir, what the group had decided. He handed us the sheet containing how many students in a sec will get an A,B, C and D grades in the project to weaken our resolution. But he failed at shaking our resolution. But what can you do when people are so stupid. Viva started with X (we told him/her to tell sir that he/she had worked on literature review ).

Sir - so, tell me X what was your contribution in project?
X( very confidently, as if he/she had read all the research papers) - sir, I did the literature review for the project. I worked really hard on finding out the research papers, sir( why the hell he/she had to go to this extent, to show his/her contribution, sir, would have understood there at that moment itself that he/she is bluffing) n some blah blah....
Sir - ohh, I see. very good, very good ( must have delighted X, but he/she was not wary of what was coming next..poor he/she ) so, X how many research papers did u go through considering u have worked really really hard for it.
X- sirrrrrrr...I cant recollect the exact no., Sir interrupts - I am not asking the exact no..tell me approximately.
X - sir, I still cant recollect ( I was like...wtf..tell him fast, tell some no. , some realistic no.) but I think 7- 8 papers.
Sir - wow...X...so, how long did it take for u to finish one paper?
X- sir, i can’t recollect ( I was looking at his/her face..what the hell are you doing..haven’t u ever read anything in your life..book, magazine, newspaper...approximately say something) sir, I think 5 mins ( the biggest ‘wht the f ‘ situation I have encountered in my life...X finished one research paper in 5 mins..has he/she lost it, telling sir that he/she hasn’t touched the project).
Sir - what?? 5 mins ( acting like it is such a long time...don’t forget this guy( sir ) has brain ).
X- no no sir, i think 1- 2 mins.( no comment further from my side..I was speechless...we tried to help her but he/she screwed it...)
Sir - ohh my god!!!!!!!! you can actually finish one research paper in 1- 2, X??
X( got the sarcastic tone of sir ) - no sir, I think I took more time.
Sir - how long..one hour, 2 hrs, 1 day..how long??
X( finally, made some sense ) - two hrs sir.
Sir- ok X..tell me one research paper you remember n what did the researchers measure n talked about in the paper??
X - sir, I don’t remember (common...remember something in your life..something..I kept thinking).
Sir- Don’t worry, take your time..we are in no hurry.
X- some crap..blah..blah..some made sense n rest was utterly nonsense.
Sir - ok, so lets take you went through 8 papers n it took you 2 hrs for each paper, so you worked for 16 hrs. That is your whole contribution in the project??? Is this why you have paid such an exorbitant fees??
Should have seen the look on his/her face. I don't know if it mattered to him/her. But sir got bored of answers and switched to the next member.
Sir was smart enough to make out who has worked n who hasn’t.
All in all, it was fun, seeing the level of foolishness, stupidity around me. what is even more appalling is people still expect great marks, without touching the project. My viva went great. Didn’t have to worry for had worked day n night for the project.

X is one of the member of my group. I thought its better to conceal the identity of the above mentioned person for he/she may not take it in right spirit.