The 34th World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC)
2014, held for the first time in India at Chennai, is by far the grandest modern event of the ancient art of debating. And I can surely
add that it is also the confluence of some of the most intellectual
thinkers and orators from around the world, from Israel to Venezuela
to Zimbabwe.
Our contingent comprised of six members, a speaking team,
comprising of Karan Suresh and Abhinav Roy Burman, that finished
at the 189th position on tabs out of about 350 teams and we can
proudly say our boys outdid some of the top teams from India. Four
adjudicators represented us, presiding over debates contested by
teams including debating heavyweights like Monash University,
Cambridge, and Harvard among others. They were Vivek Eluri, Aditi Chalisgaonkar, Kevin Mathew, and Dakshesh Thacker. The convenor of the society, Vishnu Swaroop, won himself a spot on the Organizing Committee of the event, enjoying king size buffets at
the Taj Coromandel, much to the ire of the rest of us. Vishnu was heavily responsible for the smooth functioning of the event, earning him Facebook mentions from debating giants all over the world, from Ireland to Czechoslovakia to Pakistan.
We witnessed history being made when the first Indian team, IIT-B A, managed to qualify to the knock-out stages. We need to
keep this in perspective: the debating culture in India is a few years old at best, whereas higher achieving countries have been
debating for over 50-60 years. Their achievement represents the crossing of a threshold by India and heralds the breaking of many
more ceilings.
The WUDC experience showed us that there is a youth population at all places around the world that strives to remain informed
and conversant on a wide range of topics. We saw Americans studying at Harvard use Rahul Gandhi as an example in their speech.
We witnessed the whole debating community choosing to wait it out and delay the schedule by more than two hours to accommodate participants held up due to passport issues. We saw an organiser pull 40 straight hours of working because she was the
point of contact for most issues. We felt wonder and amazement, and a reinforced belief that no matter where you are from, at the
end of the day what is going to make a difference is what is inside your head. — Dakshesh Thacker, 2nd year EEE
tached a greater value to making sense while
talking.
The very first formal debating societies
started in London in the 18th Century. They
charged entrance fees to people who came
to watch members debating of issues as a
form of entertainment. The winner was decided by a show of hands in the audience.
That women were treated as equals and
competition was free of gender discrimination tells us that even in those overwhelmingly patriarchal of times, the power of reason could make headway.
It is upon this history that I say that
the classical view trumps the romantic one.
This is where the utility of discussion lies.
It has the power to change minds. And the
more you practise it, the better you become
at communicating effectively. While as engineers we might think it unnecessary that we
deal in numbers, physical dimensions and
microchips - even to us it is of use. Even
Tesla and Edison had to hash it out in public to advocate the best form of electrical
transmission. The policies that govern our
lives are debated by our politicians. It is
necessary for us to be able to identify when
a certain question hasn’t been answered
entirely. It is necessary for us to be make
sensible opinions and defend them when
required.
Competitive debating in India today
is just taking off. There has been a mushrooming of societies all over the country.
No matter where you are, good quality tournaments are not that far away. These tour-
naments call everything into question. We
have debated motions based on international relations, motions that advocated policies
relating to various aspects of governance
and fun motions that first make you laugh,
and then make you think (“This House believes that the state should actively investigate the supernatural”). The IITM Debate
tournament held recently had as its round
one motion “THBT women should throw
tampons into temples to protest religions’
contempt for menstruation ”.
There’s also the occasional hypothetical.
One where a series of events is described
leading to a fork. The decision to be taken
next is the issue of the debate (in the XMen universe, a permanent and irreversible cure has been found for the mutations,
“This House will mandate the cure for all
mutants”; and the Case of the Speluncean
explorers).
The flip side, though, is that becoming
good at debating takes as much time and effort as becoming good at any physical sport.
The average person requires continuous and
dedicated practise over 3-4 years to become
good enough to be a part of a tournament
winning team in India. Till you become
good enough to enter into the money winning rounds, the expenditure for each tournament you go to is considerable accounting for registration fees, accommodation,
food and travel. Then there’s the issue of
attendance for every Friday and/or Monday
that you miss. These are issues most debaters face (at least the ones from engineering
colleges). But despite these impediments,
the numbers are only growing. Debating
is becoming a part of the campus culture
around the country and this only makes me
happy.
I think debating instills in us a healthy
sense of rationality and objectivity. To be
a good debater, you need to be aware of
current affairs, conversant in matters of
politics and finance, among other things. It
forces you to give better reasons for your
decisions. It makes stronger that lit F