Q) Since the time you joined IIT, you have been involved in sports, now as the Deputy General Secretary of BSA, what initiatives have you started working on?
Our professors have been busy with JEE Advanced, and as a consequence, we are yet to start work with full force. Currently, we are focused on finalising the team. In the meantime, I am sure you must have seen our series ‘Legendnama’ on Instagram, which serves as a farewell type tribute to our seniors. We shall soon be posting interviews with our outgoing general secretary, Sanidhya Tewari, and Deputy General Secretary, Krishna Chaudhary. Online Chess tournaments are also being conducted.
Q) You wrote about conducting virtual marathons. How will that work? What exactly is your expectation? Could you please elaborate?
We are looking forward to large-scale enthusiastic participation in our virtual marathon, we may assign NSO hours for this. Through this event, we aim to increase the fitness of the students by’ engaging our contingent and other self-motivated students.
Q) How will the proposed talent hunt plan be different from the trials conducted for being inducted into the team?
Talent Hunt goes beyond team games and mundane exercises- it is about making physical activities fun! Somersaults, skipping, juggling, dancing with a ball, and any other recreational physical activity under the Sun are included!
We are looking forward to hearty participation from the students to make this a successful event.
Q) What can the participants expect from virtual training? About organising podcasts with coaches, what is the progress there?
Weekly training is at the forefront of our agenda. Weekly training will be conducted for the institute team (not just the contingent)- we want all our players up and about for the championship next year. It is my personal experience that people do not pay much heed to Whatsapp messages, thus to increase involvement, such activities become necessary. We are also considering random slotting to facilitate bonding, so some people from cricket, some from athletics, etc. shall train together. Such sessions won’t require any equipment and focus more on ‘warm-up’ and ‘cool--down’ exercises.
Podcasts have been ideated to explore the nuances of games. Our experienced coaches will be talking about techniques, and our captains shall conduct podcasts for freshers to encourage greater participation!
A lot about sports depends on connection, and we are trying our best to build that ‘connection’.
Q) We talked to the students, and they were hoping for a timeline to be released to keep track of the various activities planned. Will that be possible? When can they expect such a timeline?
To say that we have an ‘exact timeline’ in mind would be wrong, thanks to you know who. Like I mentioned, we are still working on finalising the team. It is difficult to commit ourselves to a timeline in these uncertain times but we shall try to come up with a tentative timeline soon.
Q) What will the newsletter talk about? Has a team been constituted for the same? When can we expect the first edition?
This semester being online, we have decided to focus more on the ‘online’ aspect of publicity. Our publicity team is hopeful of releasing the first newsletter by the end of this semester. We would publish a newsletter every semester. If you go to the site today, the data uploaded is of previous years; we are trying to upload the latest data to get things in order. We have also decided to go ahead with an online query portal, which shall serve to help people with NSO hours, equipment, and other sports-related queries.
BSA’s first yearbook is another thing to look forward to this year, and we are in talks with the Dev Club for the same.
Q) What is your plan for the students enrolled in NSO?
I think that we should go ahead with doing something in the lines of the ‘Fit India’ Movement. This activity shall include weekly sessions for NSO hours and can also be used in the Inter-Hostel General Championship. In case we decide to incorporate this in the general championship, Institute captains and coaches shall verify the entries.
Q) We expect the new batch of freshers to be with us in a few weeks, and they may be reluctant to join NSO in the current circumstances. How do you plan to woo them?
I believe in expanding the BSA family- this shall automatically lead to NSO enrollments. We have tied up with IITDonAir for online sessions with our illustrious alumni. This shall inspire the incoming batch to join us by making them aware of all that lies ahead!
Remarks:
Amit comes across as a good fit for the BSA; he goes beyond tangibles like results and instead lays greater emphasis on the BSA family.
From discourse with him, it becomes apparent that he feels closely connected to the BSA. Having a personal attachment can make him a good leader for the BSA- eager to help and give results.
He has many ideas like podcasts, an IIT Delhi-‘Fit India Movement’, a Talent Hunt, and much more, which can be expected to diversify the BSA.
Rightly identifying the importance of virtual engagement, he has committed himself to publicity and revamping the BSA website.
Amit comes across as someone with great respect for experience and knowledge, a trait found in most pragmatic leaders.
The plan for those enrolled in NSO is still not clear. This may impact NSO enrollments this year; Amit remains hopeful his work shall automatically expand the BSA family.
While many things were said, one will have to wait and watch for these ambitions to materialise.
Link to Manifesto:
Interview by Ananya Mohit