The Great Raid.

You know I’ve been wondering.. A while back, when the whole ‘confi’asco began, we heard that somebody’s phone was confiscated and that poor lad was summoned up to the room and asked why there were inappropriate messages in HIS INBOX. Yea you heard it right, Mr. Smokey actually read through  his inbox. Now some would say that was very appropriate (some is well bred, about six feet tall, has the body (and mooch) of a walrus and gets paid a sizable sum monthly for assisting us in the labs..you know, with our projects and stuff. There is a cash prize for the user to identify this person ). Some would further go on to add that being the head of the institution, Mr. Smokey is entitled to go through any kind of personal property of anybody who dares to step foot in the college. So imagine if somebody has a statement underwear (you all know statement tee shirts, but only a few know about the existence of  statement chaddies ). If Smokey gets a fleeting glance at it or has a gut instinct that something’s not right about your chaddie, you are obliged to strip and prove your innocence/crime.


Jan 26^th was India’s 60^th Republic Day, which means 60 years since the big fat book a.k.a the Constitution ( in short, Consti – as referred to by lawyers)  was delivered by one Mr. Ambedkar. One of the many things that went through Mr. A’s mind when he made the Consti was a wee something called PRIVACY. One word to describing India’s IT act is ‘vague’. Probably because there aren’t as many geeks in the Parliament as there are in MEC. This in turn implies that nobody really has an idea of what the hell happens in the IT world every day. But even they were sensible enough to include a clause for the ‘Protection of privacy of personal records’. Now unless we go about broadcasting our inboxes on Twitter, I think they fall into the category of “PERSONAL RECORDS”. So I ask my cuz, who’s a busy lawyer at the High Court of Kerala.

Me: ‘….So this guy in college got ducked cuz Smokey found inappropriate messages in his inbox.
Cuz:  ‘SUE!’
Me: ‘Eh?’
Cuz: ‘SUE!’
Me: ‘ Dude, you just say that out of habit or wat?’
Cuz: ‘No dude, sue him! That’s violation of your right to privacy’
Me: ‘Really…. ? hmmm…’  play sinister villain background music

About 50 phones were confiscated the day before (and returned yesterday, I hear) in a very "productive" raid (in response of this humble endeavor I’d like to  hope). Some were picked from bags without the knowledge of the owner. Surprisingly, there was no gender discrimination this time over ( an exception by a group that usually considers girls to be alien demigods – I promise we’ll discuss that later) .Girls, boys and everything in between had their bags searched, guys had their pants searched.. A lot of girls surrendered their phones before the same fate befell them ( wise move, ladies). I don’t know what it is that motivates the gang – is it the sense of being able to enforce power over people who are guaranteed to not react, is it a sense of sadistic satisfaction that one gets while playing a make-believe Sherlock Holmes  game? I guess we’ll never know, because I cannot connect with that sort of a thought process. I hope none of you can either. Anyway, the point I’d like to reflect upon is what happened between the time of confiscation and the return of the phones. There are a number of possibilities:

The phones were kept locked up in a cupboard and left untouched ( ha ha) .

What actually happened (Rumor has it that laughter was  heard..Its just a rumor though..)

 So lets come to our hero of the day. Lets call him Cell Phone Hero. His Facebook status is ‘Committed’. And he’s not bluffing. He’s got a girlfriend. Very cute couple. CPH’s dad, mom, grandmom, granddad and everyone else in the surviving generations of the CPH family is summoned.
Dad tells Chimm that he knows about the girl. Bad move. Lecture on morality.
Dad says my son is innocent. Worse move. Short session on moral degradation of the parents.
Dad says Chimm is wrong. Fatal move. Curses and chides at the dad, not the kid. Dad is made to understand how morally depraved he is, and how he should be ashamed of himself for leading his son in the wrong path. Subsequently he is poked fun of by the gang, which is always around.  Dad returns home, cursing how he wasted a precious swimmer on such a worthless investment.

Now this issue is fresh. And obviously we are going to dig its grave soon like its predecessors. Right? That is the MEC way, that is our tradition. This kind of an act from the authorities is to inflict fear and rule. Something that used to happen during the reign of Hitler. So your college life is pretty much doomed. 
So as V for Vendetta would say

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

 

Vendetta?? No way. We are either too lazy or too busy to take action against such atrocities even if it questioned our own Privacy. We got assignments and home works to do. So lets get back to our "busy" life and do nothing about it.