Convenor Sunday

#5 “Back in my time (Darn! I feel old), all of us, had stacks of thoughts and opinions about various issues involving different laws, social-economic affairs and even politics, in fact “especially politics”. Not having any proper platform, some of us would be found having small chit-chats/ dialogues, sometimes longer conversations on such issues, either outside the cafeteria or at ‘the chowk’ or in hostel rooms. Once, I saw a group of juniors, having one such discussion and I so wanted to join, but for the fear of being an intruder, stopped myself. That’s when the idea of having DDC transpired. And it was a crazy ride from there. Convincing the VC for the set-up, permission for expenses/costs (Oh! What a herculean task it was.), finding people to join DDC, more so, finding participants and sometimes even getting permissions to have our discussion topics approved by the authorities. It was all crazy and exciting at the same time. I remember how political (borderline controversial) discussions weren’t much appreciated (read ‘never permitted’) by the authorities, but who could ever stop us from doing anything. In fact, there was a special charm, if that “anything” was forbidden, to say the least. So, imagine there were times, we would sneak into one of the halls to have discussions on SP’s ‘policies’ in RMLNLU, with people guarding the doors of the room for any sudden ‘check’. And now I get FB notifications about events/Discussions/PDs that the current Committee keeps organizing, which brings both, nostalgia and sheer pride in me. It feels great to see ‘my’ (if I may) DDC being run so beautifully by the current members now. To see it still in motion, in fact sprinting its way ahead for the batches to come is such a joy.” – Pragya Nalwa, as narrated to Sanyukta Srivastav. Pragya was the Convenor of the Debate & Discussion Committee in 2011, in fact we can proudly refer to her as one of the founders of the DDC. We owe a part of what we are today, to all our founders
	#6 “As they say, the journey of thousand miles begins with a single step. I have experienced this in relation to the humble beginning that Debate and Discussion Committee had in RML NLU. In a budding law School, claim to fame is obviously winning a moot court competition and therefore, the first priority of law students was participating in moot court competitions. There was a time when more than 80 teams use to participate in Moot Court Grand Intra and less than 3 teams for 4 debating competitions. However, the committee members knew that this will change if efforts are made in right direction and with a motive of promoting the debating culture in the college apart from organizing separate Grand intra for debating competition, we had an idea of organizing a debating league which we termed as ‘Tarka’. From there, the things were set in motion and the number of participants went on increasing and so did the laurels they brought to the university. But more than anything else, the success lies in the fact that the culture of debating was instilled in an institution and the result is before us. Since then, the debate and discussion committee has been successful in organizing 5 RMLPDs and it is a recognized tournament in India. It gives me immense satisfaction when I see committee contributing so much in promoting the debating culture not only in the college but in India by organizing events like RML PD where students across different parts of the country find a platform to showcase their talent and inspire others to be a part of such intellectually stimulating activity. I wish all the success to the committee, participants of RMLPD and students of my Alma-mater. Happy Debating! – Raghav Kumar Singh, as narrated to Megha Gupta. Raghav was the Convenor of the Debate & Discussion Committee in 2012, and someone who worked to lay the foundation for us to start a tournament like RMLPD. We are grateful to our former Convenors who have lead us to where we are today
#13 “In mid-2014, Dr. A. P. Singh Sir, the DDC chairperson at the time, faced a problem of plenty. Three very different people (some more different than others, LOOKING AT YOU RYAN) applied to be DDC convenor. As a novel move, Sir decided to appoint all of Shreya, Ryan and me as joint convenors. In hindsight it was a great idea, as combined we managed to pull off a very exciting debating year for RML – but it wasn’t without its share of challenges. Debates are all about expressing yourselves and that’s what the OC stood for. We worked hard, partied harder and in the end pulled off a great event. Fast forward, we had the Debfest, a revitalised Satta and Tarka – but most importantly, with help from Chetan, KJ and Makai amongst others, we laid the foundation for the Debating Society. Nowadays, it is incredibly satisfying to see the constant FB notifications of us winning debates. This year’s RMLPD is going to be bigger and better than ever. A lot is written about the kebabs and the prize money but honestly, the City of Nawabs has an old world charm and an infectious happiness about it, which is enough to draw anyone in. Come get lost in its history, its tehzeeb as its always ‘Pehle Aap’ in Lucknow.” – Anindya Roy, as narrated to Anmol Yadav. Anindya was the Convenor of DDC in 2014 and was one of the joint convenors who gave our tournament the name it prides on today.