A lot has happened over the past 4 months. A recap:
* A last round heartbreak prevented us, i.e. me and my classmate, we of the Mumbai University quizzing team, from adding the national trophy to our university, state and zonal ones, the first one while representing our college. 2nd place and a clutch of local media coverage in New Bombay (mostly college propaganda) played their parts in consoling us.
* Our inter-college fest, preparation for which should have started at least by October, was finally upon us. At one point of time, the other organizers were seriously willing to pitch in money for me to fly back immediately after the aforementioned quiz. Strangely, I refused.
* The quiz took me back for the 2nd time in 6 months to my beloved Calcutta. The day of the quiz involved a return trip to Medinipur (loochi-alu dum breakfast at Kharagpur station is awesome!); the day after was a bandh, rescheduled to convenience the lazy gentry who from what I gather quite enjoyed their mini-vacation, given that the bandh (on Jan 22nd) was followed by a state holiday (Netaji's b'day), the weekend and a national holiday (Republic Day).
* Since Friday was my weekly off this semester (yes, we work on all Saturdays), I sort of made a rule of watching at least the major release of the week first day, first show. It went according to plan for 'Luck By Chance' (landed me a slot on Zee News, I guess) and 'Dev D', before the fest played spoilsport. Nevertheless, I still saw 'Billu', 'Delhi 6', etc. within the first week. As soon as the fest was out of the way, the box office collapsed and so did my health; both are yet to recover.
* Ah, the fest. You see, ours is an academic college with unimaginable discipline. Little wonder then that the attitude of the authorities is, 'Fest? Why?'. Nevertheless, at the risk of a 3rd attendance drop, I bunked lectures to try and get money, media partners, etc. (courtesy my year drops, this was my 5th fest) Of course nothing ever works when it comes to our college, especially not with the ready excuse of recession; all the money and tie-ups came through personal contacts.
* Anyway, the fest. Budgetwise, we just about managed to put on a show. But, at least as far as our low standards went, what a show it was! We had 3 evenings of music plus one of dance; these included our first ever metal gig, our biggest professional performance (The Works! Thanks a ton, Mihir, for playing and for this) and our first big-league celebrity visit (Shankar Mahadevan). That apart, the workshops especially theatre, photography and film appreciation were grand successes, as was the giant backdrop (featuring Jimmy Page sporting his trademark double-neck guitar); I was able to promote the quiz - one event which I never let anyone else organize - to the very top of the competition stack, and gave away 5 grand to the winners. Hoping to see participation from all over the country next year - please spread the word!
* Oh, before I forget, the theme of the fest was - 'Youth of the nation, UNITE!' *winks*
* Now then, my illnesses. After the fest, I chose not to go with my class for the industrial visit to Hyderabad - you see, I don't like tours conducted by others. Anyway, it was good I didn't, for immediately after that, I was down with gastroenteritis, and was back on my feet for barely a week when I took ill again. A bunch of tests later, I was diagnosed with typhoid - which, as I type, is on its way out after a relapse. How I'm in a position to appear for my semester exams which start this Tuesday, I don't know.
* Ah yes, academics. A final calculation showed that I attended some 38% lectures this semester. The rest 62% is accounted for by the national quiz, fest work, gastro and typhoid, and of course a bunk here and there. So at the end of the lectures, I hadn't written any of the journals, didn't know a word of any of the 6 subjects and had frightfully low attendance figures. On top of it, I happen to have some really unhelpful classmates. Nevertheless, my class teacher (yes, we have those in college here) batted for me and saved my neck, while I miraculously cleared 5 of the 6 internals, somehow managed to complete writing 6 journals, taking sheafs of printouts, getting them certified and submitting them on time. Of course, submission was immediately followed by the string of 6 vivas; luckily, I survived without too many scratches, and the bricks went right back inside.
* As usual, I have had complete articles written and stored in my mind, which for some strange reason I cannot access now. Mostly thanks to my sickness, I was able to watch loads of films (it all started way back when I was fit and fine and at Hathibagan, north Calcutta in Jan) and listen to a lot of music, mostly on endless repeat, all of which I still intend to write about. Of course, my usual suspects - media, politics and society - won't be given a miss. But right at this moment, looking back at my series of good luck in college, I'm seriously beginning to wonder if it'll start running out, come Tuesday.
* A last round heartbreak prevented us, i.e. me and my classmate, we of the Mumbai University quizzing team, from adding the national trophy to our university, state and zonal ones, the first one while representing our college. 2nd place and a clutch of local media coverage in New Bombay (mostly college propaganda) played their parts in consoling us.
* Our inter-college fest, preparation for which should have started at least by October, was finally upon us. At one point of time, the other organizers were seriously willing to pitch in money for me to fly back immediately after the aforementioned quiz. Strangely, I refused.
* The quiz took me back for the 2nd time in 6 months to my beloved Calcutta. The day of the quiz involved a return trip to Medinipur (loochi-alu dum breakfast at Kharagpur station is awesome!); the day after was a bandh, rescheduled to convenience the lazy gentry who from what I gather quite enjoyed their mini-vacation, given that the bandh (on Jan 22nd) was followed by a state holiday (Netaji's b'day), the weekend and a national holiday (Republic Day).
* Since Friday was my weekly off this semester (yes, we work on all Saturdays), I sort of made a rule of watching at least the major release of the week first day, first show. It went according to plan for 'Luck By Chance' (landed me a slot on Zee News, I guess) and 'Dev D', before the fest played spoilsport. Nevertheless, I still saw 'Billu', 'Delhi 6', etc. within the first week. As soon as the fest was out of the way, the box office collapsed and so did my health; both are yet to recover.
* Ah, the fest. You see, ours is an academic college with unimaginable discipline. Little wonder then that the attitude of the authorities is, 'Fest? Why?'. Nevertheless, at the risk of a 3rd attendance drop, I bunked lectures to try and get money, media partners, etc. (courtesy my year drops, this was my 5th fest) Of course nothing ever works when it comes to our college, especially not with the ready excuse of recession; all the money and tie-ups came through personal contacts.
* Anyway, the fest. Budgetwise, we just about managed to put on a show. But, at least as far as our low standards went, what a show it was! We had 3 evenings of music plus one of dance; these included our first ever metal gig, our biggest professional performance (The Works! Thanks a ton, Mihir, for playing and for this) and our first big-league celebrity visit (Shankar Mahadevan). That apart, the workshops especially theatre, photography and film appreciation were grand successes, as was the giant backdrop (featuring Jimmy Page sporting his trademark double-neck guitar); I was able to promote the quiz - one event which I never let anyone else organize - to the very top of the competition stack, and gave away 5 grand to the winners. Hoping to see participation from all over the country next year - please spread the word!
* Oh, before I forget, the theme of the fest was - 'Youth of the nation, UNITE!' *winks*
* Now then, my illnesses. After the fest, I chose not to go with my class for the industrial visit to Hyderabad - you see, I don't like tours conducted by others. Anyway, it was good I didn't, for immediately after that, I was down with gastroenteritis, and was back on my feet for barely a week when I took ill again. A bunch of tests later, I was diagnosed with typhoid - which, as I type, is on its way out after a relapse. How I'm in a position to appear for my semester exams which start this Tuesday, I don't know.
* Ah yes, academics. A final calculation showed that I attended some 38% lectures this semester. The rest 62% is accounted for by the national quiz, fest work, gastro and typhoid, and of course a bunk here and there. So at the end of the lectures, I hadn't written any of the journals, didn't know a word of any of the 6 subjects and had frightfully low attendance figures. On top of it, I happen to have some really unhelpful classmates. Nevertheless, my class teacher (yes, we have those in college here) batted for me and saved my neck, while I miraculously cleared 5 of the 6 internals, somehow managed to complete writing 6 journals, taking sheafs of printouts, getting them certified and submitting them on time. Of course, submission was immediately followed by the string of 6 vivas; luckily, I survived without too many scratches, and the bricks went right back inside.
* As usual, I have had complete articles written and stored in my mind, which for some strange reason I cannot access now. Mostly thanks to my sickness, I was able to watch loads of films (it all started way back when I was fit and fine and at Hathibagan, north Calcutta in Jan) and listen to a lot of music, mostly on endless repeat, all of which I still intend to write about. Of course, my usual suspects - media, politics and society - won't be given a miss. But right at this moment, looking back at my series of good luck in college, I'm seriously beginning to wonder if it'll start running out, come Tuesday.
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