THE VIRTUOSO Viva la Debates

Birla Model United Nations Conference 2014 Issue #1 7th November

THE TASTE OF TODAY

His senses were blurred, sensations intermingled. The loud colours were not just metaphorically, but literally and truly loud. He saw

green when he was envious, the word “Hate” tasted of cold and hard bacon. His mother was the essence of roses and detergent. The route to school was a road of tastes: jam, chocolates, crabs, butterscotch

ice cream and (most importantly) bhelpuri. He had synaesthesia: a neurological condition in which the senses

mixed together, so that the sensations one normally considers separate start to fuse. In synaesthesia, the activation of brain

regions associated with one sensory modality, the inducer, is involuntarily associated with a second sensory modality, the concurrent. To put it simply, a sensation stimulates another

sensation. However, there exist some forms of synaesthesia that are induced by

semantic representations: the meaning of a sensation stimulates another sensation. This is ideasthesia, sensing ideas or concepts.

If I were a synaesthete, the meaning of today would taste like the long soothing swigs from a communal one litre Pepsi bottle. Today

would remind me of the bread pakoras we ate while making the folders, and the bitter taste that spray paint fumes leave behind.

Today, this wannabe synaesthete would taste and then reject in her mind numerous caterers, and savour stolen Melody toffees.

Today: cream filled happiness that would fill my soul with a warm, fuzzy happiness. Or today: A heated explosion of spices in the mouth, devilish and pungent flavours that would make me beg for

water. Today: a taste that will reside in my mouth forever.

I hope Birla Model United Nations Conference 2014, and The Virtuoso is a gastronomic experience for your inner lexical-gustatory synaesthete as well.

Under Secretary General International Press.

Urvi Sikri

UNGA: Women Empowerment -

By Vikram Alagh and Dwij Arneja

Time. As the hourglass runs empty the woes are realized. Yet, it is already too late, or is it? Crimes committed against women pose a similar question. As idiosyncrasies paved the way for debate, it was found that women are the shining lights of develop-ment, yet dimmed; never able to illuminate the path enough for others to be able to pursue it.

Egypt was pointed fingers at, albeit wrongly so. When the delegate of Sweden came to speak, he alleged Egypt of being the worst country for women in the Arab region, ag-gravating the latter party. Argentina, being an ally of Egypt was able to defend Egypt, by drawing out a geographical fallacy in the accusation as Egypt belonged to East Afri-ca and not the ‘Arab region’.

Overall, general consensus (along with half the delegates) was evidently absent. A few delegates pushed towards the solution-oriented approach but were fogged due to the parallel views of the newly formed blocs in the committee. Tomorrow, like the cat of Schrodinger, is both a better and a worse day as the committee remains enveloped in a blanket of ambiguity.

Exigent or Insignificant

Photos by Drumil Zaveri and Mahima Naik

Cartoons by Utsav Jain and Tushar Kaul

UNGA

The committee circles around the recognition of crimes against women, and the injustice done to women. There has been furor about how wom-en are treated in every part of the world, be it Asia or Australia. Women are usually considered as a part of the household work rather than work in offices. I opine that women should not be considered as an icon for household work, sexual pleasure or any other group for that matter. They should be considered equal as a man and should be provided equal rights, not being downtrodden for shallow anatomical reasons. Moreover they should be considered as an asset rather than a liability.

Why is this sexist thought

processing?

Opinion by Dwij Arneja Photos by Drumil Zaveri and Mahima Naik

UNHRC: UNCONTENDED BELIEFS By Svaraj Anand

The first day commenced with the delegates debating about the legalization of eutha-nasia. The committee was heavily biased towards not legalizing euthanasia due to it being a breach of morals and ethics.

The delegate of the Unites States of America raised an argument of there existing a slippery slope wherein the legalization of voluntary euthanasia would lead to the prac-tice of involuntary euthanasia, which is somewhat synonymous with murder. The dele-gate further stated that assisted suicide should be legalized as people in vegetative states and those who are terminally ill undergo mental and physical pain, and keeping them alive against their will would mean keeping them alive in agony.

The delegate of the Republic of Korea began by saying that ROK condemns the legali-zation of euthanasia or that of assisted suicide as they both could be exploited if legal-ized. The delegate elucidated upon this by saying that a person’s family could force eu-thanasia upon them in case of shortage of resources. The delegate suggested the en-hancement of medical facilities rather than the legalization of euthanasia as certain medical measures can be taken to reduce the amount of pain that a person under-goes.

At the end of the day, the committee was seen to be moving in vaguely the same di-rection, proving that debate can indeed solve many more problems than war can.

UNHRC

Euthanasia is a topic of major contention; different people and religions have different opinions about it. The illegalization of euthanasia was car-ried out by a congregation of baboons working to illegally pocket large amounts of money. However, euthanasia is necessary for transporting pa-tients suffering from mental and physical pain from a hellish world to ap-parent nirvana. As the eyelids of the first person to be legally euthanized close shut, a million more voices would rise from around the world, or ra-ther won’t, to free them from the shackles that confine them to a single room. In summation, euthanasia should be legalized as it gives some hope of redemption to those who are incapable of expression.

Giving hope to the hopeless

Opinion by Svaraj Anand

Photos by Nainika Chaddha. Cartoons by Mriganka Singh and Tushar Kaul

UNSC: AN ASHEN DISCLOSURE By Iman Syed

An inferno raged across the Middle East and, with the withdrawal of the US troops, it has

seemed to have been dowsed. But, like every fire, it did not simply die out: it yielded sultry

ash and glowing embers that remain to remind the world of the harrowing conflict in the

Middle East.

Is the Islamic State just ash? Is it the mere remnant of the war’s seething flames heated by

the cinders of the foregoing strife?

Though a majority of the World views the Islamic State as a result of the bloody clash be-

tween the Middle Eastern jihadists and the Western forces, certain members of the Security

Council realise the true nature of the disruptive organisation. While most of the representa-

tives initiated the “blame game” and embarked on an expedition into the past, the permanent

members of the Security Council rose to devise steps to purge the peril.

In order to curb the rising threat, the People’s Republic of China proposed a strategy to tackle

the ISIS from an economic standpoint by laying sanctions on the financial sources of the or-

ganisation and augmenting border security in the Gulf region. In this light, Iraq questioned

the air strikes commenced by the United States of America on the Levant region, adding to

the list of such allegations issued against the United States. From secretly sponsoring the Is-

lamic State to incoherently taking this opportunity to strike down the Middle Eastern coun-

tries, the United States of America and its allies have received several accusations for having

self-centred ulterior motives at this time of crisis, which the USA, along with UK, flatly refut-

ed.

As the discussion progressed, it became evident that the Islamic State is not paltry ash. The Islamic State is a continuation of the firestorm and is not to be taken lightly.

UNSC ”Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jager!”

The time-honoured German apothegm voices the current situation in the Levant: “Are you the food? No, we are the Hunters!” Following the brutal beheadings of American, British, French and Leba-nese citizens, not only has the Islamic State succeeded in generating terror across the globe, but has also left the Security Council in complete disar-ray. While the Committee attempted to prod the insurgents’ true identity, the Islamic State already thundered the answer: they are not the frail prey that they had been deemed as. They are the conquerors.

Krieg Lied– The War Chant

Opinion by Iman Syed

Photos by Sanya Bedi. Cartoons by Utsav Jain.

OoTP: NO FOOLISH WANDWAVING By Devyani Mahajan

Amidst the delegates wearing Harry Potter referencing t-shirts and wands being

given out to the zealots, a cloak of seriousness veiled the delegates. The former half

of the debate asked the delegates to give their statements regarding the thingama-

jig going on in the entire wizarding world. A variety of solutions were presented

ranging from making books free of cost to prioritizing the wounded and diminish-

ing the caste based society (particularly, the ‘Mudblood’ terminology). Flitwick,

once being a professor at Hogwarts, surprisingly, was clueless about the im-

portance of O.W.L.S in the education of young witches and wizards. He proposed to

make classes more ‘practical’ and abolish these examinations that were hampering

with their schooling. A contention regarding Azkaban no longer being a feasible

place to send the Death Eaters to, the Ex-Representative of Magical Law Enforce-

ment mentioned how the Death Eaters should have trials and a certain punishment

be decided for them. Percy Weasley mentioned the problems of recognizing the

‘Death Eaters’ from a herd, and the authority that would rule upon these trials.

There was an abundance of personal grudges too, with the Representative of Grin-

gotts stating how the bank was furious at the break-in staged by Harry, Hermione

and Ron. Aberforth Dumbledore pointed out the bank’s fault in not recognizing the

security issues.

The committee had as much zeal as Buckbeak did when given a raccoon to eat.

OoTP

A battle was won and a battle was lost, this agenda handles both the situ-

ations. There need to be better security measures at Gringotts, more of

structural perfection in Diagon Alley, so on and so forth and the Order

provides just that in adequate magnitude.

Though a slight setback is seen in the fact that there are representatives

of certain communities who will require the betterment of solely their

own people, I vehemently believe that until and unless they don’t formu-

late solutions in unity, keeping their individualistic demands in mind, the

agendum will not serve its purpose.

Unsettling Unity

Opinion by Devyani Mahajan

Photos by Sanya Bedi. Cartoons by Tushar Kaul.