College Magazine — Web Magazine — Episode 1

How’s it going on guys? NefariousPie here. I hope you guys are doing well. I know a lot of people who regularly visit this site, are from my college. They will have a very good idea about the topic I’m discussing here. And for the people who don’t know about my college or me, I’m talking about our first-ever college magazine “Ingenium”.

About Ingenium

Ingenium is a College Web Magazine comprised of two parts. One is the Technical Magazine part and another is Cultural. Some people may think that “It’s just a magazine! What else anyone needs to do other than collecting submissions and posting them.” And their concerns are not completely wrong. Some people do exactly that. But we’re not “Some people.” Are we? We wanted to do our best for the magazine. ‘Ingenium’ was not going to be our last event as committee members of the Students’ Chapter (But F*ck CORONA).

The web magazine may seem like a small event. But in the Background, a lot of things happened. It’s not possible to write everything in a single blog. So, there will be a series of blogs following the storyline. It will start right here from the first time the idea popped up in our head. And hopefully, end at the publishing of our first-ever Web Magazine of our college.

Instigation of College Magazine

The first time the idea of a web magazine popped up in my head, was the day our committee established. We were coming back from our college in a train. I asked my mates about the idea of a web magazine.

Have you ever had an idea that most people think is totally ridiculous? (Yeah, just think for a second and tell me in the comment section). Well, I have, and the idea was “Web Magazine.” There were 4-5 people in our group. And just one of them supported me. I thought, “it’s not the right time”. But, I was in no hurry because I had a very hard feeling that people are going to love the idea at some point. You have to give your feet some gravity to get grounded.

My Thoughts on Web Magazine

The reason the idea of web magazine was in my head for several reasons. Remember that, our tenure as Students’ Chapter committee was just started then. So, COVID-19 and lockdown was not even a concern right then.

• As it was just the beginning of our committee, an event like publishing a web magazine was a good choice for identifying people who do their job well.
• A lot of people could participate in this. It was free and online so there was no limit of participation.
• Publishing a Magazine means you as an Editor have to communicate with Writers. It will help you to make connections for further events.
• Web Magazine will motivate students to write blogs and continue their passions even if they are pursuing an engineering degree.
• People who are interested in Web Development will have a new project in their CV.
• Students will get MAR points for publication.

Realization

After the initial denial from the other members of the group, I stopped talking about Web Magazine. Abhishek kept saying “College me Magazine Hoga”(college Magazine will be published). So, I never lost hope. Any single moment in life is not forever. The way of thinking changes with time. And that is exactly what happened with the team. They realized web magazine will be a nice and easy way for students to gain experience in blogging and obviously ‘MAR points’. So the student committee decided “Magazine Hoga!”

I knew that from the beginning that Web Magazine was a good idea. But the reason I never lost my hope because someone’s there supporting the idea. It is very difficult to stay happy at every moment of your life thinking positively. But when your friends are with you standing alongside, life becomes less messy.

Kick-Off

We went to the HOD and Assistant HOD for permission. After working on so many events, earning permission from both of them was a ‘Piece of cake’. Assistant HOD was quite excited about the event as well. I’m not going to lie, he’s a ‘Saviour of Students’ Chapter’. The amount of help he provides to us is immense. Our initial steps were done. Now we could start our Web Magazine for CSE and IT. But, we wanted to do that for the whole college. For that, we needed permission from a higher authority. And there was him, the Professor who’s never going to permit your event in the first meeting. Let’s call him ‘The Troublemaker or Agitator’.

Initial Denial

The morning did not start well. Abhishek had a Stomach issue. So, he was not coming. He was the guy who can manage ‘The Troublemaker’. Now we had to talk to ‘The Agitator‘ for permission. I had confidence in my event idea. But, The Troublemaker was not in a mood for permitting us. He lectured us about placement, future, Indian politics, college issues for about one hour. And at last, denied our proposal.

We went out of the room. I took a deep breath and punched the wall with my fist… I was angry. And that’s how I control my temper. That was not the first time the higher authority denied our plans. Sometimes I compare our situation with Tom and Jerry. Both the cat and the mouse do what they have to do to survive. They both need to eat, but unfortunately, the cat’s diet consists of mice, making them almost always the loser in their encounter.

The students are the mouse, as our desire is almost always silenced by the championed cat (the Authority). We are trying to survive here. We are trying to explore our college life. The world does not understand the struggle.

I got a call from Abhishek asking, how things have gone? Before the call, I did not speak a word with anyone. I was gazing at the leaves of the trees. My mind was completely blank. Received the call and suddenly a trail of words came at once in my brain. I said “Look, I don’t give a f*ck about this college. I don’t have any interest in conducting any more activities here. If the college wants us to just do our study and take a job, let’s do that only.”

To be continued…