05/09/2014

05/09/2014; 11:56:
It’s been a crazy 24 hours. After the MUN prep was done, there were odds & ends to wind up, including writing the Inaugural Speech (the one that the student fest coordinator had to deliver); we finally managed to catch some sleep, in the early hours of the morning. I woke up, mid-morning to 17 missed calls and a whole lot of work. Formal letters were to be drafted; I sat at my desk, toothbrush in one hand, mouse in the other, downloading our Letterhead template. Letters requesting transport facility though the fest, for guests and people who will attend SunBurn, were written. Then, there were media schedules to be fixed along with articles that needed to be sent in, by crazy deadlines. The good part is that one of our articles found its way to today’s newspaper, perfectly in time for the event.
At around 3 p.m., we set out to get hard-copies of the invitation to the Inaugural Ceremony and Panel Discussion printed. We then spent almost 3 hours, visiting each faculty member in person, to hand over the invitations. Everyone had something or the other to say; it was very nice to receive feedback from the faculty on something that we had been working so hard on. We received loads of wishes & luck, queries about the SunBurn night, the event schedule, the food stalls and comments on how the ‘personal touch’ that had been added to the invites was well-appreciated since it was a change from the usual mail-only system.
This was then followed by a meeting, where the judges of War of Words- the British Parliamentary Debate were briefed. I missed all of the meeting, reaching only when good-byes were being exchanged. I’d tried to register as a participant for WoW, but, was denied access; it’s okay, I get to judge the event now!
I then finally visited the registration desk, which I was told had been buzzing with activity, since the wee hours of the morning, since one contingent had arrived at 5 a.m. There were participants, our volunteers, the actual registration desk guys, laptops, room keys, welcome kits, information brochures and lots of paper-work. The merchandise stall was all busily trying to attract customers. I then spent an hour or so doing what I do best- talking to new people; participants have all been given red-stringed ID cards & all the MUN delegates have green ones. All crew members have orange-stringed ones. At around 7:30, we finally managed to grab a bite. We were then informed that Mr. Syed Kirmani, our Inaugural Speaker was here and that a dinner had been scheduled with him, at 8:30. 3 members of the PR & Marketing team and me had a great time, drinking soup and discussing Mr.Kirmani’s childhood and passion for golf. This was followed by an informal interaction session, on behest of Mr. Kirmani himself. Almost 25 students (including 5 camera-people) settled on one of the open corridors of the Acad Block, to listen & interact with Mr.Kirmani. One student in particular seemed to be a big fan and got Mr.Kirmani to relate a large number of his cricketing anecdotes.
Later at night, Ojasvi & I set out to meet new people, as a lot of participants had arrived on campus already. My room-mate took it upon her to ensure well-behaved participants. As self-proclaimed Discipline Coordinator of Atharv, she went around campus, checking participant ID cards, pretending to look for banned items and glaring at all opposite-gender interaction. She put up a very colourful act and watching was fun! I ended up back at the registration desk, this time trying to persuade people who had been sitting there for over 16 hours to go get some sleep. Some people just wouldn’t budge. I see a good number of dark-circled eyes and droopy faces glowing with excitement, all over campus.
There was then all this preparation going into Finopoly- our Finance Event- currency notes were being counted, play-cards being made and all this work-papers lying everywhere. I did help with some counting, before going over to the registration desk to resume gossiping with newly-found friends.
After talking late into early morning, I walked back to my hostel. When I’d made my way downstairs, after the dinner, we’d seen a team hard at practice. They were practicing over & over, for a street play and are presumably ‘Halla Bol’- our Street Play Event - participants. On my way back, at least 6 hours later, I spotted them, tirelessly delivering dialogues and fixing scene positions.
Half a dozen apples and much discussion over the college Fashion Event team’s costumes later, we decided to catch some shut-eye.
We were up, in less than 3 hours, for the Inaugural Ceremony was to begin at 10. I however had behind-the-scenes work to get done, ranging from getting print-outs of event evaluation sheets, to getting posters put-up and arranging media interviews with our guest of honour, Mr.Syed Kirmani, the panellists and our event judges. Miss India Zoya Afroz should be on campus soon & there’s an interview to be arranged!