Debating at SRCC

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) to represent IIT Roorkee at the SRCC Debating Festival in the Parliamentary Debating event. The event was quite good and, by most standards, well-managed.

We started off against Stephens A who, like most DU colleges (we discovered later), relied more on style than substance. Not that they were a bad team, but they did not give the kind of clinching logic that you should give. Rather, as the adjudicator pointed out, they won for better assertiveness - what we call Manner.

Then came Gargi, against whom we did put up a good fight. In fact, I think we won that one but adjudicator seemed to be biased, coming up with her own logic that was actually contested by the winning team themselves! But never mind - on Day 2, we had the opportunity to debate with Law Colleges, which, in my opinion, are the diametric opposite of DU colleges: more on substance and logic, less on style. It was a pleasure debating with NUJS and NLUD. Their teams were not great, probably rookies, but winning or losing on the back of logic is far better than doing it on Manner.

We ended the debating with LSR, which was a rather pathetic team that we actually enjoyed destroying. Although it was a closed adjudication round, we were able to find out that we had indeed defeated them - the advantages of staying after the break-in (and having a spy as trainee!)

The sad part is that because of the way the tournament was structured, we got to see very few good adjudicators. Not that the ones we got were bad (except the one against Gargi), but they could have been better. And we did not get to witness the legends - RVCE and NLSI - who would have done wonders for our debating skills. Nonetheless, for my second tournament (and first PD tournament), it was a good experience. And leaving with 3-2 in a DU college isn't too bad either, certainly better than what IITD or PEC managed to put up!

As for accommodation, it was pretty good, although we expected separate quarters for the sexes. Still, it was comfortable and the break-in party was a delight. As for the SRCC campus - 'smaller than my department' - it was rather disappointing, although mainly because of all the renovation going on. Still, the people were nice and the atmosphere competitive. A good experience - and I hope for more!