Anti-stress Shastra: BIT-Mesra in Ranchi

Whether you believe wrought iron makes tech students overwrought is another matter, but BIT-Mesra in Ranchi seems to have embarked on vaastu shastra to release positive energy in its hostels.

Alarmed by rising instances of stress and some suicides, the BIT-Mesra board of governors has decided to make its hostels vaastu-friendly in addition to regular student counselling.

For BIT-Mesra, the first major step is replacing iron wrought furniture in student hostels — 11 for boys and three for girls — with wooden ones to stop negative energy.

In recent times, mechanical engineering student Gaurav Kumar in 2013 and budding architect Arunava Mukherjee committed suicide in their BIT-Mesra hostel rooms. Depression and stress among students coping with academic pressure, fear of not bagging prestigious placements or heartbreak are more common.

Vaastu shastra refers to the ancient Indian doctrine of architecture that relates natural laws and elements to human dwellings. As according to vaastu experts, one of the major reasons for stress and suicides in BIT-Mesra could be attributed to iron window bars and wrought iron furniture. Vaastu tenets hold iron sacred, but not when twisted and mutilated to form objects.

BIT vice chancellor Manoj Kumar Mishra said they would soon replace all iron wrought furniture with wooden ones. “It may be one of the few reasons for rise in suicide rates on campus,” he said, but declined to name the vaastu consultant.

Well-known vaastu consultant Dr Anand Bhardwaj, who also happens to be the director of International Institute of Vaidic Culture (IIVC), New Delhi, told The Telegraph over phone from the national capital that he had visited BIT-Mesra recently.

Speaking on hostels of the tech college, Bhardwaj said: “All hostel rooms use wrought iron beds, tables and chairs, which not only create negative energy but also make students sleep for longer and involves them in scuffles. Wrought iron furniture is made of twisted steel bars and melted cast iron, which diverts and distracts attention.”

“If the college management replaces these iron wrought beds, tables and chairs with wooden furniture, the entire campus will have positive energy,” he said.

He also added it was imperative that students on their own kept their tables and rooms clean and removed broken pens and the like for positive energy.

When asked, Ayush Srivastawa, a fourth-year civil engineering student agreed wooden furniture would be a good idea: “There’s too much rusting in old wrought iron furniture. So, it should be changed. Our hostel rooms urgently require whitewash.”

Should schools and colleges become vaastu-compliant? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com