How to be a JAM star at college festivals

Sushant Arora, 23, is a JAM master and an IIT-Bombay student. He gives you tips on how to become a star at your local college festival by saying funny things.

What is JAM?

Jam is speaking competition, which is all about having fun and at the same time entertaining the crowd. It is short for Just a Minute, which was originally a show on BBC Radio in the 70s. It has been modified ever since and we practice a version of it here in the Mumbai college circuit.

Typically there is a topic where one of the five people (or more) rambles on and makes funny and witty statements. The others who are not speaking try to object by hitting the buzzer or a table. The objections could be something as serious as someone being grammatically incorrect or as blasphemous and insane as 'You're black and I don't like black'.

Three things to remember while jamming

1. Don't start too early or too late
2. Speak in the Queen's Language else someone will object
3. Take care to remain on the topic because although there are a lot of interesting things to say you cannot say all of them at once!

Three mistakes to avoid while jamming

1. Don't get too carried away by wanting to win points. Try to have a good time.
2. Don't go trigger-happy and object at every other occasion. It ruins the fun.
3. The JAM master is god (so don't mess with him/her)

The most blasphemous thing you've heard during your JAM sessions

Can't remember the most blasphemous thing but can tell you the most pervert thing I heard recently. Someone said this -- 'Suddu (my friend) is wider than he is long so I am attracted to him'. And he wasn't talking about his height!

And the funniest?

A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it's 'two-tyred'

The most intelligent someone's said at a JAM session:

It was by one of my seniors mood-I. It became so popular that it is now JAM topic. It goes: 'Practice safe eating always use condiments'.

Quick tip for amateur jammers:

JAM is about having fun and speaking funny and intelligent things. I see a lot of amateur jammers trying to remember all technical aspects of jamming, learning all kinds of objections they can raise. The idea is to just go ahead and JAM rather than getting caught up in technicalities.

What do you do when you don't JAM?

I am a student of Electrical Engineering at IIT. But I am also an avid debater. I blog and am also working on a book.

What's the blog about?

It's fiction inspired by real life and is about all the crazy things that my friends do.

And the book?

It will be about life at Kota, where people go there to train for JEE.

Are there any websites to better our jam skills?

Well there are a lot of videos and audio files from the BBC shows. But the best way to learn is to interact with fellow jammers and jam continuously. You have to JAM to learno or attend workshops, most of which I conduct (smiles)

What books do you read?

Well it's more like what books I used to read because I haven't read one in a long time. But my reading ranges from books on political science to something as diverse as the (Terry Pratchett's) discworld series.

Interact with Abhishek Mande here!

Reader invite

Have intersting, funny or witty JAM session videos to share? Post your videos on Rediff iShare!

Simply shoot the video, log on to ishare.rediff.com and upload it. E-mail the link to getahead@rediff.co.in and if it's interesting enough, we'll feature it right here! Click here to see how to upload your video on iShare.