Who Won The RCA?

For those who are unaware of what RCA is, I don't really think this entry would make a lot of sense. In brief, those people who figure out that they would never go anywhere studying what was taught at IIT, RCA was the respite. The ultimate competition that completely consumed all the time you had.
I had the pleasure of this consumption for 4 years, first as a foot soldier and finally as the head of the student body from inside the deciding committee( or as they call it: The Prize Committee). Those were good heady days when all that mattered was winning the next event and cheering your heart out in sem hall or convo or SAC or wherever the event was. Cheering in itself helped accommodate those people, like me, who otherwise did not have a single talent to compete in some event.

Anyways, for a lot of us from 1997 to 2001, RCA was everything. We won it in all those years except in 2000 when a couple of professors with some students robbed it from us. We lost it in 2002 to a competing hostel called Vindy(full name is even more stinky!!) and then won it comfortably for the next 3 years. We have not been winning it for last two years, so when I found out that this year we won again, I was ecstatic. I was looking forward to going back to Kumaon and congratulating folks in person.
After I graduated in 2001, I had promised that I would not think about RCA again. This was pretty much the case for last 7 years except that during the time of February, an itch would start to at least know who won....just know...nothing more...no questions about which clubs we won and lost, no points, no judge related questions...nothing.

So I land up in Delhi and head straight to the hostel. To my indignance, I find out that we did win the RCA but shared it with Vindy. Now nothing could be more insulting. First reason for that is that there should be a difference between tigers and dogs. A tiger, which Kumaon always is, chooses what to eat and a dog, which I thought Vindy was and is, feeds on whatever people throw at him. Sharing RCA is like sharing a prize between two barking dogs and Kumaon is no dog. I was even more surprised to find out people from Kumaon who were so happy to have shared it. Now I don't know if I am being unreasonable or what, but sharing was always like losing( Check this pic of our victory in 2001 when it came closest to sharing with Vindy and Shivalik). Babars,Das, Pasus & Junejas of the world would concur.

So I am suggesting a simple thing. Kick out the RCA from our common room and give it to Vindy rather than holding on to it in 1st semester. At least, that would make people feel bad to win it alone next year. Tigers don't share their meals and Kumaon sure is a Tiger.