Chess, Time-Turners, and Tea

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Ping! Radical Empathy

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How many people do we walk by every day without knowing anything about them? We sit next to people in class, without even knowing their names, let alone their ambitions, goals or little happinesses. In all earnestness, we might smile at people every day, but we don’t truly know most people around us.

To fix this, our team of writers from Ping! decided to spend a few minutes with students of this prestigious fast-paced college– to have a simple conversation.

As our team scrambled around campus trying to find people who were willing to answer our list of questions, we discovered that each person had their own perspectives on life. Their own spark that burns their flame, their own glint in their eyes.

Each person’s interview tells us something unmistakable about them. These individual dreams, aspirations and goals are strokes of paint that represent the beauty of the canvas of IIIT.

This project, in a way, is our tribute to the beauty of the people in the campus. We call it our very own Radical Empathy Project, heavily inspired by the podcast of the same name. So sit down, make yourself cosy, and spend 5 minutes of your day with us and all of these beautiful people.

The first person we got the privilege of interviewing, is his very own character. His laid-back personality and endless jokes make him very endearing. You’ll often see him mull over a chess game, or go into intense debates about anything political. You might catch him around JC, late into the night, a cup of tea in hand, with a group of friends. We interviewed him in one of these “chai-breaks”.

Vaishnavi (interviewer): “If you could have tea with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?“

Interviewee: “Hmm. Bobby Fischer.”

“Why?”

“(geekily and quickly) Because-he-was-a-madman-and-a-genius.”

“Who’s Bobby Fischer?”

“(still geekily and quickly) world-chess-champion-1972– (realises) sorry.”

“(laughs) It’s okay, you can go on about it.”

“One of the strongest chess players ever.”

“Okay, damn, well. Moving on. What is your most treasured memory?“

“(pause) Fuck. (shorter pause) Around April, around this time only, I think six years ago, I got a draw against this guy- who is a former national champion –he was ranked 2200 back then, I was 1200. He was a thousand points above me. It was never expected. I would have never thought I could do that shit.” || “Yeah, I was happy that day.”

“(laughter) Damn, all your happiness is related to chess.”

(in the background) “… [chess] kassii!”

(laughter)

“Okay. What would constitute a perfect day for you?”

“Umm, 8 hours of sleep.”

(background) “Winning against [redacted name] [, in a game of chess] (laughter).”

“Yeah! Winn– increasing my bullet–chess–ratings by a hundred points. Getting some productive work done, like, reading literally anything, like, on any topic which interests me.” || “Just reading, reading the whole day, like, something on Google, YouTube, something.”

“Tell me about one thing you’re ambitious about… or one thing you’re proud of.”

“Proud of, or ambitious?”

“Both. Different questions.”

“I’m ambitious about… say… just somehow surviving, just scraping through, but making it always.” || “Something I’m proud of? Somehow scraping through and making it–(laughs)”

“(laughter) Okay. What’s a piece of advice you’d give to a stranger?“

“Calm down. You might not make it but at least you’d be calm.” || “Hogaya?”

As our flimsy teacups found their way back onto the well-worn tantra tables, we all witnessed a sense of camaraderie with a guy that most of us were not very familiar with. The air was light with laughter. Anyone in that setting would have calmed down.

Our search for people to talk to eventually took us to the workspace. As is the norm, the air is filled with the lively hum of ongoing discussions and the rhythmic clatter of keyboards. Amongst all, we find our interviewee. He is, in some ways, similar to our “chess kassi” from the previous interview.

He tries his best at everything and has a knack for excelling at everything he does. He somehow walks the tightrope of meticulousness and humour. He is a jack of all trades in a way, just due to his endless curiosity. You will find him looking up Peano axioms in one class and reading up random philosophies in another.

Here’s our interview with him, which took place on the all-too-familiar swivelling chairs in the workspace.

“Okay, I’m starting the recording now. Hello.”

“Hello!”

“Okay, first question, what is your most treasured memory?“

“My most treasured memory? (pause) This random time in grade 5, when I had to go to school on a Saturday because I was preparing for the Math Olympiad. But then we had a break in between and I was randomly playing football.” || “And I felt very free.”

“Aww. That’s kind of cute. But then (laughing) it’s–it’s like, ‘I had a break for once in my life and that was my best memory’.”

“That’s just one that randomly comes to my mind.”

“Okay, yeah… that’s a nice one, actually. Next: what do you value the most in a friendship?“

“Hmm. Trust, reliability, honour… I don’t know. Something along those lines.” || “N-not honour. Honour is a very strong word but, like, something which is kind of, like, optimising all three of those values to some extent.”

“Optimising? Every CSE kid ever. Okay, next question: what would constitute a perfect day for you?“

“A perfect day?” || “Having a good sleep cycle. Then, paying attention in classes. And then, I don’t know, studying something I find interesting. Almost killing myself when working out. And then just chilling out with my friends, like, normal, casual, good conversations.”

“Very, very based. Especially the ‘killing yourself in the gym’ part. Very based.” || “Tell me about one thing you’re ambitious about, or one thing you’re proud of.“

“(pause) I don’t know. I have a weird connection with ambition. So, I am not extremely sure whether it’s the best thing to have. Even though society really, really values it. Probably even more than wealth and shit, which it already values a lot. But something I’m proud of… again, pride is another one of those things.” || “But, I think being dedicated and totally into whatever you’re doing, that is something which should be valued more than ambition, but it’s not in society. And I think that is one thing I could kind of say that I’m proud of myself for, that I mostly really enjoy doing the things that I’m doing.”

“That works. That’s why it’s an odd question.” || “Okay, next one: if you could wake up tomorrow and gain one quality, ability or skill, what would it be?“

“(pause) I mean, there’s two answers to this. One of them is, like, why would you want to gain some quality without having worked hard for it? You would just not be able to like yourself for it. But, if, hypothetically, I could get such a quality… I would like to be more organised, I guess, and, like, in control–though, actually no, I don’t really know whether I would want that. Wait, let me think–”

“Superpowers are also–”

“Okay! Superpowers as well. Damn. (pause) I’d want Hermione’s time turner from Harry Potter so that I could attend all classes, because everything seems very interesting.”

“Nerd. (laughs)” || “It’s a nice answer though. People usually say they want fly or something like that.” || “Last question. If you could give any advice to a stranger, what would it be?”

“Hmm…”

“Short (laughs)”

“Be nice to other people, you don’t really know what they could be going through. I don’t know. That seems like one piece of advice.”

“Yeah, that’s good advice. That’s all.”

As our interviews ended, recordings turned off and phones put aside, what we left behind was, well, a ghost of a thought. Our interviews, especially the ones that happened in a group, seldom ended with the end of our recording. Our aim, maybe, had always been to make people think; and when people think together, there’s bonding, familiarity and earnestness. Conversation was all you needed for that, nothing more–and nothing less.