My Debate Experience

2021 was a wonderful year for me. It was the year my relationship with debate went to the next level. The year NOSFAM went to a greater height. The year I completed writing a research paper. But most importantly, it was the year I truly realized what I wanted to do with my life ahead of me.

Over the past few months, I participated in International debate tournaments. First were Harvard and Stanford, then Georgetown, Potomac Debate Academy, and finally, one conducted by the NSDA (National Speech Debate Association) itself. Over the course of the few months, be it win or loss, joy or heartbreak, frustration or sheer anger, there was one thing I didn’t feel. Scared.

Had fear overcome me, I doubt I would have been part of these tournaments, let win or lose. I doubt I would have been constantly researching about Urbanization in West Africa, the topic for the Harvard and Stanford debates, and the doings of the IMF. I doubt I would have the names of Robert Barro, and his protégé Lee, Dreher, the famous duo of Ravallion and Chen, Jeffery Sachs, the renowned Joseph Stiglitz, or any other researcher who’d spent time to highlight the good and bad sides of Urbanization in West Africa, to critique, evaluate and praise the doings of the IMF, implanted in my mind.

Over the course of these debates, I learnt a lot about finance, about the economy of countries, about trade, negative trade balance and neo-colonialism. I learnt about debt traps, debt crises and the cycle of death around the IMF. How the SAPs (Structural Adjustment Programs) caused the Asian Financial Crisis. In my mind, there was not an ounce of doubt that the IMF had done more harm than good.

Yet debate constantly surprised me. It constantly told me, how the IMF had helped Mexico and Brazil in times of turmoil. It told me how the IMF had lifted 40 million out of poverty, how it had helped during the Great Recession of 09, and how it continued to help during COVID. And so, I asked myself, did the IMF really do more harm than good?

While the answer to that question will still be undecided, at least until the researchers of the world come to a consensus, there is some news that I would like to share with you. Two days ago, there was a once-a-year International Spring Tournament hosted by the NSDA on its campus. We went up against teams from California, Maryland, Washington and India amongst others.

I don’t know if it was luck, hard work, or probably some crazed up combination of the two, which it was, but we were able to make it to the top. The place Shivani, my teammate and I had dreamed of going. We came out first! And I couldn’t have been happier.

It took us five tournaments, a trillion research papers, one unforgettable experience at the Georgetown University, but we made it! And I couldn’t have been more pleased with the both of us. Shivani worked so hard for this, and honestly, it was just such a memorable experience! I was lost for words.

Thank you for your support. I know that this wouldn’t have been possible without you. It wouldn’t be possible without my supremely dedicated coach Mr Rajiv Kacholia, it wouldn’t be possible without my extremely talented partner Shivani, and it wouldn’t have been possible without appa. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.