10/09/2014

10/09/2014; 20:04:
The morning of the 6th of September began with me being jolted out of my bed, for there was a guest lecture by Mr.Alok Purohit, RCOO, Dainik Bhaskar Group at 11 a.m. which needed to be prepped for. The lecture was to begin at 11 a.m. and unlike most other high profile guests, Mr. Purohit was already on campus, all ready, by 10:15 a.m.
I reached the venue for the talk and directed interested listeners into the room. Along with other people, about 20 Pi Quiz kids were in the audience. The Pi Quiz was an aptitude test, conducted for students of classes 9 to 12 in 5 cities- Bhopal, Indore, Lucknow, Delhi & Chandigarh, as part of Atharv 2014. It wasn't your regular test and was very enjoyable, as per the feedback received from the participants. The top 30 performers on the Quiz- 15 from class 9-10 & 15 from class 11-12 had been invited on campus, to enjoy Atharv and also participate in our Flagship Game Theory event, Game of Shadows. Mr. Purohit spoke about his career, moving from radio to print media & about how radio shall always remain his first love.
Meanwhile, the MUN resumed session and Round#1 of the Business Quiz, Pragnya, began as did GGWP- our LAN Gaming Event.
The spray-painting workshop continued, and two new ones began too. One, conducted by the CEO of Twenty19.com was focused on giving students tips on getting internships and, the other, conducted by TechBharat & AIESEC IIT-Delhi was titled 'Digital Marketing'.
I retreated to my room, after making sure that all three workshops were in session. There were then at least 10 cartons full of MTV B'lue in 3 different flavours- Guava, Peach & a new Zesty Orange, of which 5 needed to be transported down to JAM, where MTV was conducting a random game- you're blind-folded and given a sip out of a random bottle of B'lue; then, if you guess right, the bottle is yours to keep. Well, if you guess wrong, the bottle is still yours to keep! Well, transportation was fairly easy, since a lorry along with 2 guys from my batch found its way to right outside my hostel. All that was to be done was to carry the cartons from the fest coordinator’s room to the hostel entrance.
Post-lunch, War of Words- the debate event - resumed from where it had left off on the 5th i.e. the post-elimination round began. At around 4, Tremolo- the Acoustic Music event began in the New Auditorium at a large, excited audience. While the other Music Event, Delirium-the Battle of the Bands, had seen only 6 bands perform due to paucity of time, Tremolo had 12 participating teams.
A lovely fusion of ‘Khwaja’ & ‘Somebody’ ensured that the winning band, Leaf Tones, was the same one that had won Delirium the night before. People assured the performers that this performance had given them goose bumps and that this win was well-deserved. . Since the audience were equally enthused, the Karaoke & Photo Booths attracted large participation. There was this lead singer of one of the top-bands who refused to leave the Karaoke booth until he’d sung every song they had on their list!
Meanwhile, in the Academic Block, Round #2 of Econjecture- an event based on Economics & Debating and Round #2 of the B-Plan Event, Avant Garde, both began at 2 p.m. A few events had had their first rounds online, due to an exceedingly large number of registrations and the first on campus round was Roud#2. Also, Strat-o-Sphere, the strategy event saw its Finale, in the form of complex to-be-solved case-studies take place. Strat-o-sphere garnered very appreciative feedback from the participants and almost no audience.
Round #2 of Finopoly- Atharv’s Flagship Finance Event began- it had so much going on, auctions, bidding and more- all in front of a live audience @ JAM.
Since the media had been unable to get themselves on campus, our Coverage team provided a select number of good pictures of the day’s events which I rushed across to the editorial team, to ensure that they did make it to the next day’s front page.
The Finale of the GenKwiz began and ended in the Old Audi, just in time to allow the participants to go view the Dance events. The evening was titled ‘MTV’s KYY Night’, and the cast of the show ‘Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan’- Charlie & Ayaz- were there to judge the event and add a dash of glamour to the dazzling evening. The Dance events- Bailar (Solo Dancing) & Promenade (Group Dancing) - saw a large number of exceedingly talented performers. Right before the dance events began, a couple of informal games were held- the Paper Dance which was extremely enjoyable and the Mad Pie event- which involved eating 4 cupcakes in under a minute, no hands allowed! Surprisingly, a lot of guys did manage this feat which I’d already deemed impossible. Bailar saw so many varied dance forms being staged- from classical to hip-hop, everything was on offer! Promenade saw very well-coordinated teams, some even offering progressive stands on social issues. An interlude saw a duo perform a street comedy style dance- their coordination was so good that it was scary.
Mid-night saw the beginning of Round#2 and Round#3 of the Game of Shadows- one was a Blind trading round, which had 12 teams of 5 participating and the other was the ‘Electoral Chairs’ and saw 25 participants.
The Blind Trading round was very interesting. There were 5 different types of goods, each of which had a different value. Good A had the maximum value & least quantity in circulation and Good E had the minimum value and the maximum quantity in circulation. Each team was given a set number of one type of good. The objective was simple: Trade, to maximise your set value & make sure to have at least 20 of each type. One member of each team was put into a room, with 11 others (one guy from each team); each member would be trading with no knowledge of what or how his team-mates were doing. One large catch was that the players were not told the value that each type of good carried! This was mind-boggling & interesting!
The chair round saw 25 chairs scattered in a set area. The objective was simple- to find a chair in the allotted time (8 minutes). At the end of the round, a leader was to be elected who would then eliminate two chairs. And, anyone who did not find a chair was eliminated. This continued until it was down to 4 people- the finalists. The best part of the game is that anything on the Rules that is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. Deciphering what that meant was entirely up to the participants!
Personally, I found the event rather intriguing.
The event ended well past 2 a.m. A treasure/scavenger hunt had been flagged off at 1 a.m. It was a fun team event, with 3 members a team. A list of clues had been given; instead of having to collect the items, photographs of the answers had to be clicked! I must admit that the clue-designers did a pretty good job of them!
And, late night( or well early morning) was spent on the lawn in front of the library, where the food stalls were, eating leftover Mad Pie cupcakes!

10/09/2014

10/09/2014; 12:28

Most of the 8th of September was spent recovering from the craziness of Atharv 2014. Our BET dinner was scheduled for the evening of the 8th- BET aka Business Etiquette is a 2-credit course, this term. One part of the course focuses on Dining Etiquette. So, one of the components for the grading of the course is a Business Dinner. Dinner arrangements have been made in 3 batches of 35 students each. Ours had the privilege of being the first batch. It was lovely to see everyone all dressed up, for it was a formal dinner & dressing was graded too. It was even better to see everyone work their way through a 5-course meal, suspiciously using 4 different forks, 2 different knives and 3 different spoons and some daring ones even using a pair of chopsticks. We were back on campus only after mid-night.

Yesterday was spent finally winding up writing about Atharv Day #1. Then, there was this morning’s end-term to think about. Unfortunately, my preparation stopped at thinking about preparing. That’s how it almost always is!

There’s an EVM-Electronic Voting Machine- to be made, as part of our Introduction to Engineering course. It ought to be ready by Saturday & we’re yet to start working on it.

In other news, we received an e-mail informing us that the whole month of December shall be a long break, to allow us to prepare extensively for our IGNOU exams during that time. People are now contemplating changing their examination centres to home territory, instead of spending a month here, for the actual papers are on less than 7 days. The B.Comm students all have 7 papers & 7 assignments to write. I, on the other hand, have only 4! The assignments need to be written & submitted by the 15th, along with two DD’s- one for examination fees and the other for next year’s fees.

This morning’s end-term paper was rather okay. Compared to the International Relations mid-term paper, which was both lengthy and extensive, the end-term was more compact & enjoyable. I shall get some lunch & get working on the fest reports for day #2 & 3.

07/09/2014

07/09/2014; 23:55:

Atharv is nearly at a close; it feels like the perfect time to write. Capture the memories forever, for with time they will fade. Nearly a thousand participants were on campus over three days, to participate in various formal & informal events conducted as part of Atharv 2014. Even more spectators were around, to partake in the festivities on offer; the SunBurn this evening ought to see even more people.

Day #1 began among a lot of excitement & speculation. The Inaugural Ceremony saw an opening address by the director, Dr.Rishikesha T. Krishnan, a rather emotional account by the fest coordinator which detailed how Atharv took shape over a span of over six months, how much it means to the whole team and our vision, taking Atharv forward; an invocation the Lord, in the form of song & dance, and then the Inaugural Speech was delivered by Mr. Syed Kirmani, wicket-keeper par excellence & member of the '83 cricket World-Cup winning squad.
This was followed by 'I-Conclave', the panel discussion. On the panel were 5 eminent industrialists of the country, namely Ms.Meher Pudmajee (Thermax India), Ms. Chandna Ghosh (ITC India), Mr. Pradeep Bhargava (Cummins India), Mr. Anurag Jhanwar (Crisil India) & Prof. P.D.Jose (IIM-Banglore). The idea in focus was ‘The role of business houses and MNCs in Sustainability – Building Communities of the Future, the Lifestyle of the Future, the Networked Cities of the Future’. The Panel Discussion was relevant to today's scenario & attentively listened to, by a large audience.

Soon after, the different events were set to begin. The MUN, slated to run for 8 hours each day, on each of the 3 days began immediately.Vox Populi- the voice of the people- Atharv's media event began at around 3, with 92.7 FM's RJ judging the event.We ran around, making sure that everything was in place, while the judges were being waited upon, even going and checking on the MUN, in the middle.

Around 3 p.m, the media was on campus, to cover the event. We were near the fountain, in front of the Acad Block Reception; the MTV crew & VJ Hozey were there too, with their shooting in progress. MTV was to cover Atharv as part of their 'Campus Diaries'. Hozey drew a lot of public attention and at least 200 selfies featuring Hozey were clicked, in the one day. We stood around, talking to Hozey; he is from Mumbai & that was enough in common to set a conversation flowing. We then watched Hozey do a 'Hey! We are at IIM-Indore, that's right the Indian Institute of Management, right here in Indore to enjoy Atharv-their 3-day Cultural & Management fest'. We did lose track of time & had to rush down to the swimming pool where Mr. Syed Kirmani's interview was scheduled. The gym instructors and staff at the Sports Complex had been very happy to be talking to Syed Kirmani sir. It's amazing, the way one sportsperson can respect another, the way no one else can. Mr. Kirmani's interview was a very relaxed one, by the poolside. He loves to talk and is always willing to share his life experiences; and, it's not just cliché when I say that he is really humble, given everything that he has achieved. The interview was followed by a short photo session, both for the media and us fans. This was all done by around 5, since the media had VJ Hozey to catch, at Halla Bol- the Street play event which had begun by 4:30, in front of JAM.

Halla Bol was very successful, with some really good participation that ensured great response from the crowd. There was a spray painting workshop, by Mr. Sunil Gogia from Mumbai, which was being conducted at the same time, in the J-Block Hostel basement, close to JAM. Mr. Gogia had spray-painted a spray-paint can, to have the Atharv logo on a black background. This, he presented to the fest coordinator as a gift, since it was her birthday too!
Meanwhile, in the academic block, War of Words (British Parliamentary Debate) elimination round, Vendition Vendetta (Ad-Marketing) round 2 which was essentially a presentation round, with the presentation focusing on revamping the advertising strategy for a failed product and Strat-o-sphere (Strategy) Round 2, which involved a financial case-study to be analysed & solved, went on, with the participants being pleased with the quality of the events. Round 1 of both Vendition Vendetta & Strat-o-sphere had been held online. The elimination round for the GenKwiz took place from 5 to 6 p.m., in CR-113, with the participants appreciating the level of difficulty of the questions.

When you decide to have 22 events + informal activities + workshops & guest lectures all in 3 days, there’s always more than one thing going on! In the New Auditorium, Campus Princess, which was a closed-event had begun at 3 p.m. Vanity- the Fashion event, began at 6 p.m., to a packed auditorium. And, that auditorium is huge! The judges for the evening were Ms. Poonam Vohra, Ms. Unnati Singh & Miss India 2013 Zoya Afroz. The event was very successful, with team themes ranging from ‘Prom-night’ to ‘Cruise’ and ‘Indian Wear’.
Right outside the Audi, the Karaoke Booth, the PhotoBooth & its crazy props- wigs, wings, placards with funny messages & the like drew a lot of attention. On the floor above, GGWP- the LAN Gaming Event went on, uninterrupted, for all the 3 days- the games included CS 1.6, NFS: Most Wanted, FIFA 14 and DOTA.

Post the Ramp event, Miss India 2013 was rushed to the VIP room and the media quickly followed. Then, an interview was taken, which revolved around the clichés of beauty – inner beauty being most important and how confidence is utmost necessary to achieving anything in life. I remember, when I was younger, looking at the Miss India winners/ participants, and seeing them as lovely, charming ladies, who lived in a world unknown to me. Now, I was in the same room as the current Miss India, and felt a rather strange realization, as I stood listening to the interview and learnt that she was only 20, which was well, almost the same age as me. I’ll be 21 in less than 2 weeks and the fact that we have indeed grown up struck me quite suddenly. I mean, I’m older than the current Miss India, and we aren’t even that different!

Delirium- the Battle of the Bands was to begin in about half an hour, at 10 p.m. After seeing the media off, I went up the hill to the Acad Block, where I met a couple of confused new arrivals. We talked, as I walked them to the registration desk, and they were disappointed on having missed the fashion event. I wandered around, helping with the registration desk (mostly by keeping people in high spirts), till about 11:30. On-spot registrations for the Game of Shadows were in progress, with more and more people turning up, every minute. The event was to begin at mid-night, in NC-1 (Acad Block). I found my way there, unplanned, while escorting a large group of interested participants to the venue. We had expected a good turn-out for our Flagship Game Theory event, but, the number of people there exceeded all expectations. There had been nearly 300 registrations (of which more than half had been on-the-spot registrations). The game was to have 4 rounds, of which the first was to be played then. The game was simply a winner takes all with some prizes for the audience. 60 people from round 1 were to qualify to round 2. Round 1 was called the Minority Rule. A simple ‘yes/no’ type question was to be asked and each person then had 10 minutes to record their answer, at one of 5 polling stations. If you were in the minority, you received a set number of points. At the end of a set number of rounds, the 60 candidates with the highest number of points qualified through to the next round. The game was good fun albeit pretty challenging. My role in the whole thing was limited to talking to all the 300 participants, gossiping, being generally curious about them, giving them insider Atharv news & the like. The whole thing ended after 2 a.m.
I left, to go to my hostel, tired, hungry & excited!! Also, I had all the new friends.

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!

04/09/2014

04/09/2014; 13:42:

I’m not sure if I want to fall to retrospect & write about the last 3-4 days. The highlight of 31st, 1st & 2nd evenings has been our TI Stall.
On 31st, we were told to set up two stalls, to sell SunBurn Passes and Atharv Merchandise, one, the usual one at TI Ground floor and the other one in their food court.
Someone had turned up with a laptop, and some while later, we’d set it up, to be playing SunBurn videos, to give people an idea of what it is that we are selling passes for. We did successfully sell a fair number of passes.

1st September also saw us going to TI Mall, to our usual stall. I had new company and we sat in the food court, generally talking to people and letting them know about the event. Someone asked about a Spray Painting Workshop that is happening as part of Atharv; it was a nice feeling to know that people are actually aware of and talking about Atharv.
Later in the evening, we walked ourselves to Chappan, to get two MoU’s signed, from two food places- one Frankie place & another that serves frozen yoghurt. We ended up bumping into friends from college who were returning from O2 café. We were advised to pay it a visit, and we did. The ambience was nice, as were the beverages we got.
The night of 1st was spent planning what all we would spend the next day doing, since it was an impromptu holiday. After a lot of discussion, we agreed to go to O2 Café, for lunch and then head to TI to our usual passes-selling business.
2nd September was thus spent, eating good pasta at O2 café and then heading to TI, where we did brisk business. Over this course of over a week of daily TI-visits, I’ve managed to meet a lot of random new people; also, all of TI’s staff now recongnize me as one of them, so much so that I was given the 20% employee-discount, when I ate at F.Y.I., in the food-court.

Yesterday, aka the 3rd of September saw an informal batch-gathering, in the lawn in front of the library, where all the food & other stalls are being set up. The evening was spent, walking around Kothari Market, the ‘clothes bazaar’, looking for a specific type of black net, which was needed for Vanity- the fashion event. We ended up back at TI, and I was guided to Pantaloons. Akanksha had taken it upon herself to make me buy some pretty clothes- I tried on printed pants, jumpsuits, tops, dresses and even a crop-top. I did finally leave with some shopping, probably one of the first times that I did manage to shop clothes in Indore (aka without my mother needing to tell me to). (I’ve bought too many pairs of heels after getting here, so, we’ll pretend that that doesn’t count!).
We then headed to Taas for dinner. We ordered quickly, for there was a 10 p.m. bus back to campus that we had to catch. Our dinner was supposed to be served in 15 minutes, but, they came & went, with no sign of any food. We raised concerns and were suddenly served our soup. We informed them that it was not the wait that was a problem, but simply the fact that we had a bus to catch. They were nice in that they let us know that it would be another 10-12 minutes before any food was served; we thanked and left, heading to McDonald’s instead.
Once back, there was so much to do on campus; posters & banners were being put up. I found myself pasting labels onto MUN placards along with 8-10 other people. MUN Kits, complete with ID cards, notepads & pens were being assembled and the excitement in the air was palatable. It was like the fest was finally happening! Here and now! 6-7 months of preparation had boiled down to this moment and were we thrilled!

31/08/2014

31/08/2014; 05:54:
30th August, Saturday- the day of the Flash Mob had arrived. I slept through the morning and most of the afternoon, since I slept only in the wee hours of the morning & I had some catching up to do. At 3:30, we put together a team, to man the desk at T.I. The team was to reach T.I. by 5, but, due to paucity of space on the 4 p.m. bus, the desk was all up & running only an hour later than our fixed time i.e. by 6 p.m. instead of the usual 5 p.m. By 7:30, all the Flash Mob participants had arrived, the sound system had been checked & everyone, including TI’s Logistics & Security team was ready. 4 guys opened the performance, swaying to the tunes of the catchy ‘Baby Doll’. There were quickly joined by others in succession and they danced to 5 songs and an enthralled audience, who dropped everything they were doing to watch the splendid scene. I even saw two guys angling themselves, in order to get a selfie with the flash mob in the background. The flash mob closed with flashing the Atharv banner, high & proud, as the crowd applauded.

All the participants of the flash mob had been in Atharv T-shirts and its success made a lot of the audience decided to get themselves T-shirts too; this was brilliant for our Merchandise / Sunburn passes Desk.
By 8:00 p.m., a news article detailing the Flash Mob and announcing that ‘Adani Wilmar & IPM, IIM-Indore present Atharv is happening soon, on the 5th, 6th & 7th of September’ was ready. Add in the photographs (courtesy the events coverage team), and we have a perfect piece. The video (and photographs) of the flash mob shall be on Atharv’s FaceBook page, soon enough.

A successful event later, almost everyone sat at McDonald’s , eating. Since it is right next to the entrance at T.I., I’ve been there, each time, since we began this Passes/Merchandise selling business and, all the staff there recognizes me. And, it is a good feeling. Heck, their desert counter even remembers my order- one medium McFlurry- Choco Crunch!

Transport to & fro campus had been arranged & we were all glad to be seated & back to campus. Another meeting, discussions, clicking countdown photographs, gossiping, night mess food, booking flight tickets for all our guest speakers & panellists, Kurkure, drinking hot water and jokes later, I’m here, writing. All’s well that begins well, runs well & ends well. And, we ought to let it end well & not drag … well, END!

31/08/2014

31/08/2014; 04:02:

29th August- the night of no sleep. After a short nap, I headed to RM class. The lecture, on ‘Grounded Theory’ was conducted by a FPM participant who is doing her research based on said theory. This was followed by a rather interesting ‘Logic’ Class. There are all these paradoxes that are so intriguing; you want to sit & think about them, for hours yet, because you know that it is going to be quite a task, you just agree that it is mind-boggling and live & let live.

Afternoon was spent in the Old Audi, working on our play ‘Aadhe Adhure’ which is to be our end-term piece for the Drama course. Once this was done, we along with Atharv merchandise set off for T.I Mall. We set up our usual desk, taped 3 T-shirts to make for a beautiful display, placed SunBurn passes & got to work, selling passes & our newly-acquired Atharv T-shirts. Since we were all dressed in the merchandise ourselves, we simply pointed to ourselves and spun around, giving our potential customers a good view of the Atharv logo.
We sold a passable amount of merchandise & passes. We’re hoping that the demand rises, as we get closer to the actual event day.

I got back to campus, planning to have a nice, uninterrupted sleep. Of course, my-social-self had other plans. I ought to put my phone on Flight mode & have a long, peaceful sleep, one of these days. Well, who am I kidding? It shall be possible only after the fest. Fortunately, it is very exciting to be this busy. And, frankly, it’s encouraging too, for a lot of reasons – well, for one you feel like you are now prepared to take on any work that might come your way, since you have fallen into the habit of actually working and not merely pretending t do so. Secondly, it makes you feel like you are actually doing something productive with your time & life, and, that is a happy feeling.
So, I wandered off to see the Flash Mob practice. It was amazing to see almost 60 juniors (2013 &2014 batches) all peppy and dancing. The entire team (the 2012 batch boss people included) looked happy tired; and the enthusiasm, hard-work & dedication were palpable. As I walked back to my hostel at around 1 a.m. (since we all have a hostel-in-time extension up until the fest), I happened to see the Atharv Banner, posters & countdown all put up in front of Mess 1. And, was I delighted!? Seeing a public countdown makes reality sink in, in a really scary way.
Once back in the hostel, I wandered off to find people who were awake, in order to talk; mainly because talking is good fun. I was informed about the soon-to-be-submitted IGNOU assignments; they need to be handed in by the 15th of September. I racked my brain and managed to remember my IGNOU roll number; this let me find my subjects and hence my assignments. I was just surprised at the variety of subjects that I had managed to pick. One is a Foundation course in Science & Technology which is a compulsory course. Of my three electives, one is on European History, one is on HIV/AIDS and the last is a course under BSW (Bachelor of Social Work). I’ll have to get working, as soon as Atharv is successfully over.

29/08/2014

29/08/2014; 05:52:

All of 26th morning was spent watching the Business Etiquette presentations. People had come up with a whole lot of innovative ideas.
One group had background music, with live running commentary by one group member, while the rest of the group hilariously mimed everything that was being said, as it was being said, to demonstrate First Impressions, Elevator & Dining Etiquette.
Another group made the whole presentation in the form of a NatGeo show, complete with a host in camouflage gear. The host followed members of the Managementus Graduatus species and one member of the rare sub-species Managementus Graduatus Etiquettiu around their natural habitat- the cubicle-office & their mating ritual-performance location, the pub.
A video advertisement for a Cultural Sensitivity Seminar that offered to transform a person from being highly insensitive to different cultures to being very sensitive was a novel approach to the whole idea. It looked like the real deal- all with a host in a shiny shirt & successful reviews by past users of the product.
Short video clips, which showed an untidy, cluttered table, loud co-workers and gossipy cubicle-mates, accompanied by words of wisdom were well-appreciated.
One group focused their presentation on Dining Etiquette, following the story of a man, who by undergoing rigorous training goes from being ill-mannered to being the perfect dinner host to his clients. The highlight of their presentation was actual noodles making an appearance on the character’s plates, who attempted to eat these with almost-real chopsticks.
The presentations went on till 2 p.m.; the last group picked ‘Telephone Etiquette’ as their topic & demonstrated a series of small acts, which saw people munching while on the phone, people breathing heavily into the mouth-piece & people forgetting to identify themselves on an official call to a new person. The best part of this last presentation was the PowerPoint presentation which ran in the background- it was one single slide, which a group member typed & re-typed as the act progressed. It felt like a Tickr with Live Feeds on it.

Post all the presentations, I slept all afternoon & all evening. Atharv’s Core Committee met again at 11 p.m., to make important decisions. We seemed to have run into a slight bit of trouble & confusion was in the air. Discussions ran late into the night, shifting from a physical meeting to a conference call.

We had only 2 lectures on the 27th , both pre-lunch. There was then a meeting of Atharv’s Core Committee, at 1 p.m. Most of the previous night’s confusion was clearer & an optimal solution agreed upon, rather quickly. So, everyone was happy.
SunBurn is to be in Indore, on the 7th of September, at the IIM-Indore campus; the passes had just been printed! I set off for T.I. Mall, to spend my evening there, selling passes for the event. We set up a registration desk, stuck a poster, positioned our standee perfectly & got to work. We got a much better response than anticipated and an immensely better response than our counterparts at C21 Mall.
I got back by 10, just in time for the Freshers’ DJ Night. I believed that sports shoes were the perfect attire for the party. Fortunately (or not!), my friends were vehemently opposed to my genius plan. I was promptly advised to ‘dress up’. I complied. Scrutinizing glances, 3 outfits and 2 pairs of shoes later, I was declared properly dressed & permission to go to the party was sanctioned. I had the most incredible date to accompany me to the DJ Party. He’d called up & let me know, exactly 15 minutes before he showed up that I was obviously going with him & that I ought not to dress up too much. There was also a strict prohibition on the involvement of any pretty heels. The party had begun, when I reached. My incredible date hung around, complaining about the DJ & the atmosphere for exactly 10 minutes before he turned around & decided to leave. I might have followed him, but, I bumped into a bunch of batch-mates on my way out & we headed straight for the dance floor. The party was well organized, and all was good except that the Schezwan Chicken was too spicy & that the DJ had no English music. We got back to our hostel around 1 a.m. & since we were in the party mood, we were up all night, finally crashing only at 6 a.m.

28th morning was non-existent, for I woke up only by 12 noon, to find my room-mate missing. She had very nicely left me a note & I figured that she was out in Indore city, probably eating chicken.
I had a nice, long bath & prepared to visit T.I. again. This evening was less successful & someone very nicely informed me that Thursday is the least popular day with mall-goers in Indore.

Once back from T.I., there was the usual 11 o’ clock meeting at the FPM Block. A special meeting of all the boys of the 2014 batch had been called at 11:30, courtesy the Atharv Coordinator. They were all informed that their valuable volunteer services would be very required on the 5th, 6th & 7th of September, to ensure a very successful fest. The meetings, 3 cups of tea & some rain later, I was back to the hostel by 1 a.m.

We then gathered in the common room, to wrap up all pending fest-related work. There was a rather detailed Events Schedule to be prepared. Of course, expert advice from the head of the Events vertical was called for, so, I shifted myself & my laptop to her room. She sat working busily & this helped me get to work too. Well, the writing was fun & is finally all done; I shall probably put it on here, once it gets approval. Plus, the names of the judges of each event need to be added.

06:21 :

It’s now daylight out. I’m still at the desk of Ms. Events Vertical head, typing busily. Her room is on the first floor (mine is on the ground floor) and I can see a large green patch of land, beyond the institute boundary wall. It runs a great distance, before it gives way to trees and an endless expanse of blue-grey sky. There is one single white cloud in the distance. It hangs low in the sky, looming over the vast expanse of all-encompassing green nothingness.
There are a few other clouds, closer to the hostel building. One is particularly domineering. A shaded hint of sun rays poke their arms, as if trying to draw their way out from within & around. And, I see 3 lamp-posts & a tree with pink flowers.

26/08/2014

26/08/2014; 01:47:

My last night’s nap was suddenly interrupted by a phone call. I ran across half the campus, to return Harmon-I’s microphone. We’d borrowed it, for lack of our own equipment and they needed it to conduct the audition for PGP-I.
Our Sunburn passes are all ready to be sold and marketing strategies are being worked on; with all feasible ideas being implemented. There was even a meeting called, last night, to have a fruitful discussion about this.
Post-meeting, we stood around talking. The 2014 Batch has been instructed (by the organizers i.e. the 2013 batch) to attend the Fresher’s Night DJ Party, on the 27th, with a date, the condition being that the date ought to be a senior. So, there are junior boys asking senior girls and junior girls inviting senior guys to the Dance party.

Once back to the Hostel, it was back to work. The official Atharv invite, the one that is to be sent to the Institute, the Sponsors and other important people has been prepared. I spent a while making it, and I do hope that our efforts pay off i.e. the invite does what it ought to – make people feel like they can’t be anywhere but at Atharv 2014 on the 5th,6th & 7th of September!

I woke up this morning, took a bath and found myself in the Logic class. The course is being taken by two of our programme co-ordinators and is rather difficult, since it deals with Philosophy, Mathematics and Decision Making. Post-lunch, we had 2 Drama & Theatre classes where we had a stage rehearsal of our up-coming end of term play , a Hindi play titled ‘ Aadhe Adhure’.
I just finished writing & editing 3 radio advertisements, for our fest. They focus on the Sunburn Night with DJ (S)haan & DJ Sartek , which is happening on the 7th of September. Atharv will definitely close on a high note! In related news, I’ve been offered the chance to be the M.C for the Sunburn Night! I’m beyond thrilled. I just hope that there is no change in plan!

This evening was the Prize Distribution Ceremony- Chunauti ’14. I can now proudly display a shiny gold medal which says ‘IIM Indore – Champion- Chunauti 14’ in the centre! Right after the prize distribution, I found myself lying down, staring up at a starless sky, behind the FPM Block.
Post dinner, we discussed the PR & Marketing potential plan of action for the 5th, 6th & 7th of September. It involves a dedicated set of people, each of whom has detailed knowledge of one aspect of the fest – Panel Discussion, Management Events, Cultural & Literary Events, Guest Lectures, Informal Events, Workshops & Sunburn Night. Later, we pieced together a play, for our Business Etiquette Mid-Term, tomorrow. We’ve picked our topic to be ‘Office Politics’. Other topics vary from Dining Etiquette to Cultural Sensitivity and Cubicle Protocol. Hoping to see some interesting presentations, tomorrow!

25/08/2014

25/08/2014; 19:09

22nd August-- I woke up, ran to class and got to attend a revision session of RM. All that we’d learnt in the last 14 sessions was summed up and the bits and pieces made a sculpted whole.
At 11:30, I was informed that there was a Campus Outreach to be carried out, our very first Campus Outreach in Indore! We were to leave at 12, and while this was being conducted by the Informals vertical, a few (read two) PR & Marketing team members were welcome. Sindhuri & I gladly jumped on board. 8-10 of us, almost 300 Swad Candies ( Atharv’s Candy Partner!), prizes and a megaphone got on the bus. We stopped en route, to pick up batteries for the megaphone since we’d been unable to source them earlier. The megaphone had everyone excited. This soon turned to disappointment when the thing wouldn’t work. The microphone was probably damaged. Mentally prepared to utilize our voice boxes, we reached the college. After securing permission from the Dean of Student Affairs, which surprisingly took under 5 minutes, we made our way to the college Canteen. Finding a flight of stairs in the open, I climbed half a floor up, onto a raised landing and put my loud voice to good use. We spent almost two hours, conducting informal games – with the Arm-Wrestling Event being the most popular-, talking to people about Atharv, giving them details of specific events and letting them know about Madhya Pradesh’s biggest DJ Dance party – Sunburn- hitting Indore on the night of 7th September.
The 7th September Sunburn will be held on the IIM-Indore Campus, on the newly levelled ground here. We were a little confused on the pricing, but, a Premium (VIP) Section will be made. Holding a Premium pass will allow you to be within 20 feet of DJ (S)haan & DJ Sartek , i.e. right next to the stage! Now, that’s exciting!

Later, since I had no other classes lined up, I went off to C21 Mall, to ‘chill’. I really like the honey chilli potatoes that this place in Malhar Mall’s food court makes! There was a Basketball match, the Women’s Final, as part of Chunauti ’14, scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. Careful calculation ensured that I was on the 5:30 bus back to campus. Unfortunately, the bus was a tad bit little and, I literally ran across half the campus, to join the match in the middle of the second quarter. It was an IPM v/s PGP game; both the teams were good. Everyone played well and, we were victorious, with a score of 32 to 26. Luckily too! Call it overconfidence, but, I’d already bought a cake from a bakery in C21, to celebrate our win!

Back in my room, I found pizza on my bed; it had been ordered around lunch-time and I’d forgotten all about it, in the crazy scramble of a day I’d had!

And, then, of course, I got to work. There’s the official Atharv invite and the opening address of the Inaugural Function to be worked on!
Here’s hoping that we do a good job of both! And, of the fest too!!

23rd August – The morning session was free and I yawned myself awake at 1:10 p.m. I rushed to make the 2:00 p.m. class, which was the only class I had all day. I’d had beautiful plans of missing this one class and heading off to Indore city to get my phone repaired. Of course, I realised just in time that I cannot go without my phone for the week it might take to repair my phone, since the fest is barely 2 weeks away and I have a bunch of phone calls to make & receive.
I’ve gotten great help from a kid in the 2014 batch, with doing the write-ups of all our panellists for I-Conclave2014. This time’s idea in focus has to do with Sustainable- Building cities of the future & the like.

Once class was over, at 3:15, I had to get on the 4 p.m. bus to Indore, for there was a 5:30 meeting with Radisson Hotel, to talk about the feasibility of them being Atharv’s Hospitality Partner. I spent the 45-minute interval running around, getting print-outs of the Sponsorship Proposal, arranging posters that needed to be sent out to campus ambassadors and generally gathering all relevant information. 12 last envelopes of posters were to be sent out to Atharv’s campus ambassadors in various colleges.
Once in Indore city, I wandered from one DTDC Office (the nearest to the bus route) to another whose number I had, until I finally made some phone calls and figured out that I needed to be at their Regional Office which was a few kilometres away. Since it was already 5:30, I made my way to Radisson. It felt a tad bit weird, not being dressed in formals, when everyone I saw working there was. Well, nothing beats light-green V-neck T-shirts and so, the meeting was fairly successful and elegantly brief.
I finally (with a lot of help from their Assistant Manager) managed to find DTDC’s Regional Office. DTDC has 30 franchise stores in Indore and I thanked my stars that I came to my senses after 2 wrong visits. Our final pre-fest shipment was accepted and the final payment made. Further shipments & payments will be after the fest is over; sending prizes, certificates & letters of acknowledgements.

Happy with work well done, I decided that it was the perfect time to buy some much-needed formals. I’d never shopped in Indore before and was rather lost. I wandered into Shopper’s Stop, only to find the women’s section full of printed dresses & kurtis. Well, the disappointment called for momos & I was off to Chappan- Indore’s Khau Gali. Post-momo-eating, I wandered around, and spotted a store that had a lot of denims on display. Well, I found a nice pair of jeans, but, they were men’s denims. I decided to drop them & come back if I didn’t find anything else. Honestly, I was just clueless about shopping in Indore; it’s been 2 years here and I haven’t bought one item of clothing- courtesy term-break shopping in Mumbai. I spotted a store which proudly announced that they had ‘Big Sizes Available’. It was as if it had been placed there for me. I walked in, bought 2 pairs of jeans and left smiling. I decided that the cost of the jeans ought to be put under fest expenses, since, the fest was a large part of my reason for buying new black denim. Of course, the Finance team also decided that new black denims don’t qualify as fest expenses. Ah, well, life’s good anyway.

24th August- Well, the morning session had 3 classes and the afternoon session had the Film-Making Mid-Term. Since cameras are entirely not my cup of tea, I had the afternoon off. Dainik Bhaskar- our media partner-’s representative was due to visit campus, in order to get details of event locations, banner/hoarding locations and about the Atharv Advertisements that are to be in print soon.
After spending a sleepless afternoon waiting on him, I finally decided to take a nap, at around 5 p.m. My head had just hit my pillow, when my phone decided to ring. Yay, work calling.
I showed Dainik Bhaskar’s representative around campus, the New Audi- where all the cultural events are to happen, the Events Court- where all the informal games & stalls will be, the Amphitheatre- where the Acoustic Music Event will happen, the Old Audi- where our Flagship game-theory based event ‘Game of Shadows’ will be conducted and the Acad Block- where all the Management events will take place. Details of each event, Dainik Bhaskar’s posters & standees were shared.
Right after this meeting was done, I literally ran over to the Throwball Court, for Chunauti 14’s Women’s Throwball final. Having beaten the PGP team in the qualifiers, we were pretty confident. Unfortunately though, our front-line player (the expert at catching drop-shots) was missing and that proved to be our weakness. We lost a well-fought game and tried not to be disheartened.
We treated ourselves to popcorn and I went a step ahead and treated myself to a much-needed nap. There’s been a lot of fest work happening, and sleep is the first thing to be compromised.

25/08/2014

25/08/2014; 18:40
21st August-- After being up for most of the night, I had to be up at 7. By now, it was not an option. The children’s faces as they questioned why ‘doosri didi nahi hain?’ was not something I wanted to be responsible for. Explaining to them that my fellow teacher was missing was hard enough anyway, and explaining my own absence was not something I wish to do. Plus, it’s fun; there’s something for everyone to learn! I-Help is taking of successfully and how!

I was back to campus, a little after 10:30 a.m. Exuberance ’14 - the fresher’s introduction / cultural performance session was due to start at 10 a.m. I managed to reach the Old Audi by 11:10 a.m. Somehow, the event had begun only a couple of minutes ago and I’d missed only one set of juniors on stage. The first half of exuberance was an introduction session, organized by the 2013 batch, for the 2014 batch.
The entire event lasted for nearly 11 hours. I reckon that the details call for a separate post. I’ll write that, soon!

25/08/2014

25/082014; 05:28:
There was a time, a couple of weeks ago, when my complaint was that I had this strong urge to keep writing and not enough content.
Now, I have SO much to write about and so little time. The worst part about delaying writing about a day’s happening is the fact that the memories become hazy, over time. And, writing is less enjoyable, and the content less vivid, when reported after a week.

Well, I ought to try, anyhow.

19th August- Once I was back from the meeting with Dainik Bhaskar, which was rather successful, considering that both parties signed the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), there was a 3:30 class to attend and zero desire to attend said class. But, well, classes are important.

A trial run of the ‘Game of Shadows’ Event was to be held on campus, at 6:30. Around 45 participants gathered, only for everyone in excess of 29 to be rejected, for the game had been designed only for 25 people and that was the maximum the organizers could do. The trial was part of our run-up to the main event, to be held during our fest- Atharv. The game was simple, there were 25 chairs hidden in a certain defined area. The objective was simple- to find a chair in the allotted time. At the end of the round, a leader was to be elected who would then eliminate two chairs. And, anyone who did not find a chair was eliminated. This continued until it was down to 4 people- the finalists. The best part of the game is that anything on the Rules that is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. Deciphering what that means is up to the participants!
Personally, I find the event rather intriguing. It’s based on the Game Theory & I’m not sure what to expect except that it will challenge and it will thrill!
And, we began a new trend of Fest Core Committee Meetings. From meeting every day at 10 p.m. to not meeting at all, to again meeting every day at 10 p.m. and then meeting as required, our new plan involves meeting every day from 11 to 1, when a good part of the populace is asleep. Our chosen location is the FPM Common Room, for it has this really nice wooden table – a round wooden table to be more precise- our meetings are now quite literally ‘Round Table Conferences’ and we couldn’t be happier! Also, work is being done at lightning speed, now that the fest is barely 2 weeks away!

20th August--

The practice for Atharv’s very own Flash Mob finally began, after days of anticipation! And, the megaphone I’d asked for finally arrived! Unfortunately, we didn’t have the required batteries and it couldn’t be used during the practice time. Hoping to get batteries arranged for, before 22nd, when we have a Campus Outreach to do!

The morning of 20th saw the very last session of the course on International Relations. In a rather novel approach, the second-last session was spent in going over the course material of the all the sessions and the last was spent in expressing our opinions on the course itself- the content, teaching methods and the theories involved.

We were supposed to go on an Industrial Visit to Bridgestone’s Pithampur Plant, as part of our Introduction to Engineering Course, on the 20th of August. We were to leave at 12 p.m. and I really did not feel like going. Honestly, I am glad that I did choose to go! The trip was well organized and very informative. We left campus, in two buses, and a 30-minute nap later, we were there! We were lead into a wooden-panelled conference room. There was a large oval table in the centre and chairs all around, in two layers, for, well, there was 70 of us. We were pleasantly surprised, since we’d expected only to be lead straight onto the shop floor. We settled in and were greeted with a video about Bridgestone’s vision & aim, followed by a presentation. Then, a technical presentation on the manufacturing process was given, which ended in safety instructions. We were to visit the plant in two batches. The first batch went off, while the rest of us ‘chilled’ in the board room. Another one-hour nap later, it was our turn! Replete with safety shoes & caps, we marched down the stairs onto a waiting bus. We alighted quickly. Suspicious, teeming with excitement, we made our way into the manufacturing area. We’d been instructed to walk only on the ‘green lines’ i.e. on one side of the work area, since fork-lifts and the like were humming around the area. We were shown lots of scary looking machines, most of them were semi-automatic- one step in the middle needed human intervention. It was nice to see so much automation and it was nicer yet to see that the need for human touch hasn’t been lost. Machine parts moved busily, stopping once in a while, as if in greeting. I felt like a kid in a candy store, and touched everything that I could lay my hands on! (everything that didn’t look too dangerous, that is!). The vulcanization process was SO cool- it was like watching tyres being baked at very very high temperatures. It takes about 15 minutes for one small-sized tyre to be baked and we reached the machine just in time to see it opening, its giant jaws pulling apart in a slow swirling motion, to reveal a freshly cooked mass of black rubber. It was perfectly round and the treading shone against the yellow light of dangly overhead bulbs in the workshop.
Our last stop was the area where tubes were being made, complete with titanium valves. We left the plant, after about an hour and 10 minutes, in awe, our curiosities mildly quenched.
After the visit, their Hospitality team had arranged tea & snacks for all of us. The other batch had already gone off to campus and we left the site at around 5, but, not before a group photo was clicked, with the Bridgestone logo in the background.

Once back, like everyone else, I was rather sleepy. But, of course, it was all taken care of. Lots of fest work ensured that I had something to keep me occupied, all evening!
It’s nice, being all important and busy; feeling like you have a purpose, for once in life.