by a rampaging student mob and the exhibits themselves expropriated for use as missiles and during a pitched melee  , I was struck on the forehead by a rock which a visiting UGC professor later identified as belonging to the pre – Paleolozic age.

The campaign was mean and bitter, but thanks to my well oiled political machine, the liberal use of money and muscle power and my vote banks among the under – graduates, I got elected

Immediately on ascending the high office of the Geology Association President, I saw as my first priority the healing of the wounds caused by the divisive and fratricidal campaign and I issued a stirring message to all the geology students imploring and exhorting them to put the past behind, sink their differences and stand unitedly behind me in the face of the threat posed by the renegade Geo – Chemistry Association.

My appeal was heeded and under my stewardship, a two day colloquium on the Geo – morphology of igneous rocks thrown by students on buses was organised and a field trip was undertaken to collect rock samples for use when the university syndicate and academic council were next in session.

But dissidence soon began to rear its ugly head and through my trusted servitors and flunkeys whom I had planted in strategic positions throughout the Association, I learned that a secret cabal from the ‘D’ section of the evening college, aided by some extremist distance education students had managed to infiltrate the under – graduate ranks – my traditional vote banks and was planning a breakaway move in cahoots with the turncoat Geo – Chemistry Association.

In a desperate bid to quell the rising tide of dissidence and rebellion, I expanded the power of the Finance Committee accommodating almost all the dissidents and rebels and I won over the uncommitted under – graduates by promising them future membership in the prestigious Souvenir and Programmes Sub – Committee.

But the fragile façade of unity soon cracked and the Geology Association suffered a vertical split with the dissidents breaking away from the parent body and joining hands with the traitorous Geo – Chemistry Association to fight the next College Union elections on the basis of seat sharing and a Common Minimum Programme. The once monolithic Geology Association suffered a further split with the rebels forming a splinter Geo – Sedimentology League and Forum for the Study of Neolithic Rock Fossils.

I am now presiding over a rump organisation deserted by opportunists and time – servers and facing a bleak future on the hallowed precincts of learning. How the mighty have fallen!

I am sorry to paint such a dismal picture of campus politics, but I am sure you will agree, facts have to be faced.

S. Raghunath