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Saturday, February 12, 2005
Aaj naachenge saari raat...
It has all been happening in style...the string of parties at the hostels, each one with their own modus operandi, each one with their unique value to the outgoing batch of PGP at IIMK. Yes, it is time for them to go, the batch of 2005 at IIMK is ready to leave the campus after two enriching years of education (???), interactions, experiences and learnings (with an extra emphasis on the 'e'). For us juniors, it is time to throw them parties, parties that they are probably going to remember for a long time to come, that they are going to use to click snaps that will be the wallpaper of their machines for quite some days (months?).
Last night was the turn of the G hostel juniors to arrange for the party. With quite a substantial sum collected for the party (probably the biggest of all hostels), the food and drinks flowed without restraint and so did the masti. With the core of the BCA and the Dude group, both centered in the hostel, as also that of the emerging Gandh group, there was a lot of excitement built up before the party...what with status messages ruling the roost and people calling each others' parties names with gay abandon. There were plans to have the Big Fight too...between the BCA and the Dude group...conducted by the Gandh group...novel ideas, really.
What about the music...half an hour before the party was to start, Kashyap (the hostel rep and the party Kingpin) comes to me saying that I have to get the music arranged (what he meant was that I had to sacrifice my laptop and as I later came to know, my speakers and risk them against spirits, rain dances, washing machines, and what not :-)). As the party progressed and almost everyone started taking the DJing role up, I thought that I was ok and free but not for long. With the heads getting higher and lighter and the laptop virtually unattended, I had to don the garbs of the DJ (for the very first time in life).
Believe me, there is nothing else that is as irritating. With all sorts of people having all sorts of request and people getting senti over their songs not being played...even angry at my not having their favorite songs in my playlist, it was a tad difficult...but somehow I endured it all. The best part was when I was already sick of the music and the fundas that Neel and Aaditya were busy giving Mayank and Prashant in one corner of the hall, but there were still a handful of dancers boogeying away with the music...what that translates into was that I could not leave till they had had their fill.
When we did finally wind up for the day at about 4:30 in the morning, it was still early by party standards for some and Madhok was all willing to dance some more but with no one for company, he saw the light and let me see the bed :-(.
All said and done and with all due cribbing about the DJing over, the party was good fun actually. I don't know how far the rest of the junior gang enjoyed it but with the enthusiastic snap sessions and the once-in-every-ten minutes hugging that was going on, I am sure that the seniors had a gala time (probably not as much due to the party as due to the occasion).
The highlight of course was Mayank stalking Richard like there was no tomorrow and insisting that he dance on 'Babuji zara dheere chalo" with a bottle of beer in his hand...do not know for certain but just got a feeling that Mayank had some ideas about what was to follow once Richard started the dancing (which he never really did, of course, apart from shaking a leg here and there) :-)
Posted at 06:12 pm by Nitai
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Friday, February 11, 2005
There are so many things that one takes for granted in life and yet there are so many otheres that we do not wish to believe in despite the apparent authenticity of the same. In the initial stages, Backwaters for me was such an absolute farce that I had no hopes of long term associations or any other such freebie that one would normally associate with any sustained group effort of such proportions. Fortunately, I am now able to say that not only have I proved myself wrong over and over again, I have actually started forming a kind of strong (or what Reddy likes to call 'senti') bond with each one...ok, perhaps not each one, but the majority at least :-)... of sTrEAM BACKWATERS.
The upsTrEAM
Deepa "The Designer" Mohan
Right from the T-shirts to the banners to even the stage backdrop and the certificates, she was behind it all. After all, the NIFT training had to come good some day ;-). Deepa was amongst the quiet ones in the sTrEAM, but at the same time quietly effective. Not one to spare too many words...not even when she was angry (if ever), she used to listen us all out and in her subdued voice, berate someone (most often Vikhyat) for some mischief or the other. The fructification of the "reddy" idea, and of course the sTrEAM BACKWATERS t-shirts will always be memorable for the rest of us. With her soon-to-be hubby, Prashant visiting the insti during Backwaters, the event would certainly have been doubly joyous for her.
At a personal level, I had very little interaction with her right upto backwaters. It was only during the last few days that I actually got to speak to her and I must say that I found in her, a close resemblance to my project seniors at Infy, especially Gomathi and Ramya...she is just the same...from Chennai, the elder sister-esque attitude towards most of us, and of course a lot of fun to be with (most of the times, the fun would be at her expense).
Deepak "The Party" Chowdhry
This one belongs to the 'stud' group. Arguably one of the best dancers in the insti, having achieved quite a lot including a PPO from Asian Paints, and having really worked hard at the hospitality of Backwaters 2004, DC (as we know him) was the experience sharing guy this time. With names, addresses of the hostels, guest houses and numerous tips and tricks up his sleeve to get things done, he was a welcome participant at the Backwaters meetings (that is, whenever he could find time to come :-)).
On the personal front, once again I must say that I have not really formed a friendship with DC though I am sure that if I see him five years hence, I will say Hi to him (and hope that the vice-versa would also be true). In fact, for some reasons or the other, even before I came into Backwaters, I had expected him to be the person in charge and had actually looked up to him in the initial few days. However, with his interest waning (for whatever reasons), I was a bit skeptical about his involvement and the Backwaters in totality, as well.
Harman "The Mess" Sachdeva
Another one of the silent types (at least in relation to Backwaters), Harman wanted to do quite a lot for the fest but could not contribute as much because of his own reasons. He did take care of the proceedings from the Mess and in his own way, came up with substantial help by putting up signs, posters all over the place. Not really a party to the fun that we had in the sTrEAM, he played his part well as far the work was concerned.
Personally, I thought that I had decent relations with him till that (un)fortunate night when in Gaurav's room, he gave me a blasting about practices being followed in the Backwaters committee. With that being sorted out soon however, things have been back to normal right till the present moment. In fact, he did use to approach me for finding out ways in which he could contribute to Backwaters without really making himself conspicuous.
Gaurav "The Planner" Gollerkeri
Most easily the brain behind Backwaters 2004, Gaurav had all good intentions to steer Backwaters 2005 to a decent, if not great fortune. That he was doomed right in the beginning was apparent in his mails that smelt of his frustration for our inaction despite being garbed in the best and the most neutral of words. He did most of the co-ordination in the initial stages and was actually responsible for providing the building block for the junior committee to get and gel together. Though he missed the fest because he had to go to Delhi for the University Challenge Finals, he was there at the backstage throughout the planning and most of the execution.
My interaction with him dates back to the good old BT Acumen debate when we went to Bangalore as a team (he went for the quiz and I for the debate). As per my perceptions, I found him a hard worker, sort of revolutionary in thoughts but not as much in action, and overall a "nice guy". Inspite of the ISB debate being another frontier of interaction with GG (as most of us call him), I never really got close to him as I am sure not many would have. Either he is not that kind of a guy who believes in frivolous associations or perhaps I did not understand him.
Nireeksha "The Exclusive T-shirt" Reddy
She will probably be remembered the most for two things: the registration, first and second, the exclusive t-shirts of the sTrEAM BACKWATERS. She was the one who kept putting up this question in almost every other meeting...after everything else was discussed and under the table, of course. She took up registrations during the fest and really took it up once and for all. With her own support staff in Divya, Tity and later Rahul Gandhi, she did the toiler's as well as the delegator's jobs equally well.
As far as I am concerned, I did have a few misgivings for most part of pre-event happenings in relation to her. She may not have meant it but the impression that I used to get in the meetings when I heard her talk was that either the seniors were not interested in Backwaters at all or even if they were interested, they were not really interested in letting us be interested in the fest. The meetings that we 'came to know' of, the "Is there anything else you guys want to talk about?" questions, did put me off but not for long...for I did realize, though much later, how much Nireeksha was both committed about Backwaters as well as accommodating with respect to the six of us.
Rahul "The Food Stall" Gandhi
Apart from managing MotherJane and being absent for most part of the pre-event happenings, Rahul Gandhi did not have any real time to spare for Backwaters. With studies not being his priority either, he was out of town for most of the one month that was to make or break Backwaters. Not really the one to make his presence felt at the sTrEAM meetings, he was a minor player as far as Backwaters was concerned this year. His core speciality of getting rock groups to tour IIMK and give a handful of people a taste of the rock medicine did not help either, with him not being available for confirmation till the last minute. He did make his presence felt, however, by single-handedly causing the sky-rocketing of the sales of the food stall at Backwaters.
Apart from the rock show at the IT Seminar, I did not really have much interaction with Rahul though I have had the chance to hear a lot about him from a lot of people. Admittedly, he is capable of a lot which he proved during the well conducted rock show at the IT Seminar, but to make him work would have always been a very tough nut to crack.
The downsTrEAM
Malini "The Team Kits" Pande
Always ready with a free laugh and doubly free flowing with her words, Malini had one of those brighten-the-dull-proceedings effect on the sTrEAM. On the work distribution front, she took up the backend work on Team Registrations and though she was not really in the limelight for long, she put up a great show as far as ensuring the lack of any pitfalls was concerned. She came out as one of those who take up their assigned responsibilities with a pinch of salt and a lot of enthu which is what she finally did, and which is what made it possible for her to smile through the work.
One of the first regular visitors to my blog (got to know that from a few referring webpages being the mail in her inbox, that I had sent to the batch and which had my blog's link), we never really hit it off till quite recently and I am still not sure of her. What I did realize after this Backwaters was that though she is a bit too high on the light side and perhaps not suited to the hot and cold moods of mine that my friends have to bear, at the same time, she is one of those who I can chill in front of, without thinking much about what the other person would be thinking of...a cool girl who knows what she is talking about but does not let the other person think too much about the reasons for which she has been talking thus.
Nitai "The good-for-nothing" Utkarsh
Considering the late stage that I came into Backwaters and the absolute lack of energy that two years of work experience has drilled inside me, I was always destined to be this no-gooder who can talk a lot but do little. The worst part was that after having isloated myself from the proceedings initially, I tried my hand in almost everything soon after and came a cropper, as can be expected. Whether it be called seeking attention (as some of my critical friends call it) or typical Gemini violent mood swings (which my close friends know of), I did all that I should not have done and very little of what I should have. The most important reason probably was that I did not know where to draw the line between working for the event and working the event (perhaps the working can also be read as living).
Qaynat "The Play" Sharma
The producer (and not the director, please remember...and remember too that she can not be under estimated) of the now-so-famous play, Qaynat did her part in style. Even in her zombie state past 11 in the night, she managed to catch hold of the responsibility assigned to her and not only succeeded in getting on the nerves of all involved (by pestering them into being present for the play practice, for learning their lines and what not), but also made a spectacle of a play in association with JC, Pakow, Neeta, and all others. She was also one of the creative inputs of the team and with Deepa leading the way and Vikhyat and Reddy learning the tricks fast, she could also be counted upon for the a-ha effect inducing work.
Honestly speaking, I had this prejudice against her from the very start of the first term about her being a nakchadi...probably because I have seen most of the girls, who have even the barest minimum of decent looks and even the barest minimum number of guys following them, get their airs up (Qaynat has quite a bit of both, I believe). That she not only turned out to be different but that I can also manage to speak to her and tease her as a friend (even on the lines of Richa, Sweta, et al) now, speaks volumes of what prejudices hold you against. The only thing that she still lacks is maybe that 293 gms (as Ashwarya says) of grey colored matter :-)...jokes apart, a fun person to be with who is also a tad sentimental, has those mood swings, and conks off after 11 PM.
Sandeep "The Stalls" Reddy
With his wavy locks almost about to make the record books and his fiery temper likely to end up in the sets for any Hollywood potboiler, Sandeep Reddy (or just Reddy, as we call him...the new name Laali (Laal=Red) suits too, I think) was one of those rare balances of planning and doing during Backwaters 2005. Not one to raise his voice but also someone who would almost always be heard, he made sure that the committee members stood up for the responsibility that the voters' mandate had put upon them. The deadly toiling away irrespective of what way the others contributed...with an amazing conviction showed us all the way till the very end as he took up the stalls work during the fest, getting the stage erected and making sure that he gets to shake a leg on it, as well.
Not much of a personal interaction in the past here, as well...Reddy and I have been on good acquaintance terms before Backwaters and there was always the customary hello that passed between us whenever we met (typical of guys studying in the same batch in the same school). After Backwaters, though I can not really say that Reddy is one of my closest chums but all the same, I have come to understand that he is a person who goes deeper than many of us, carries a lot of things in his heart and mind without letting much show, but at the same time, he is capable of making people around him very comfortable, in deed...a serious guy with a mature outlook on life and a fun interpretation of it.
Saurabh "The CWRDM" Goswami
Right from being nervous about things being done at the last moment to eating away words when he was frustrated but never really letting it out loud, Saurabh has been a colleague's delight in the sTrEAM. Starting off from the sponsorships, as we all did, he was really particular about the CWRDM hostel and was almost about to get rooms booked there when we realized that we might not need them at all. Absent (while on duty, of course) for most of the first day and thus missing out on all the wonderful snaps that we took, Saurabh was another of those sane voices that do not have to be shouted to be heard. The grass root worker himself, he had a lot to offer to the sTrEAM in terms of his commitment to work really hard without expecting much appreciation, forget returns.
With too many Bengalis already having cluttered my friend list, there was every possibility that Saurabh would have ended up in the same list, as well. But with more than a dozen Bengalis in the batch, I hardly knew him before the Backwaters work really kicked off. Earlier as in the case of Qaynat, I had formed this impression about him being a cock-sure guy from some freaky background who has his way with words and who believes in style rather than substance. After Backwaters, I would perhaps count him as one of those with whom I can share a bad news (perhaps not a personal news...not yet)...a counselor who is a little too confused to follow his own counsel.
Vikhyat "The Financier" Srivastava
Easily the most important driving force behind Backwaters 2005, Vikhyat was there right from the beginning till the very end (whenever and if it is ever going to be). When all others had given up on the festival and almost moved out of the involvement in the event, it was Vikhyat who kept trying to keep the team together and more importantly, committed to the fest. Apart from Reddy, perhaps he was the only other person from the junior committee who really had a vision for this year's Backwaters. With promises of getting Yana Gupta and foreign participants for the fest, he did follow his convictions to the tee and actually went ahead with communications in the regard. During and after Backwaters, he has taken up the Fin Manager's role and performed it to perfection (the GE Consumer Finance summers must have certainly helped!).
Perhaps the only member of sTrEAM BACKWATERS I knew (and knew quite well, I think) before the event started, Vikhyat has been two doors next to me for about seven months now. Apart from the freshers' syndrome (taking every little thing too seriously) and the erstwhile spirited displays, there are hardly any other problems (aren't these enough???) with this guy. I have had quite a few fights with him on quite a few issues and non-issues, too but somehow we have always made up for it later. I am not sure but all this nonk-jhok must have created some friction that might remain for a long time to come but as for now, we are chums (or that is what I believe)...one of those guys who does not mind speaking his mind out loud but only when he can't get the message across earlier, by subtle hints or otherwise.
All things said and done, a great team that I had the fortune to be a part of and I am saying this not just for the sake of it but because it is a fact and that I really think that a team, with not even a single instance of even remotely major ego clashes over one whole month of frantic, frenzied activities spanning all hours of the day and night, must be appreciated.
With the elections over (Qaynat, why did you have to stand for the PlaceCom elections, they did you in...) and Prashant 'Pakow' Kaushik being the addition to the sTrEAM BACKWATERS above, and quite a few others expected to join in once our juniors arrive on campus, things are getting hot for Backwaters 2006. Given the team we have, this show is going to be the SHOW OF THE CENTURY.
As for Backwaters 2005, there have been so many whose efforts went unappreciated. I committed a farce when I first sent them mails saying (though it was said in jest...truly!) that though we can't promise t-shirts, we will try our best. I continued the farce when I made a Thanks list but waited for just too long to send it to enable someone else to send a generic thanks message to both the batches.
I don't really know how many of you would see this but if at all you are readin this, I just want to say Thank You and that had it not been for you guys (and for all others that I have missed, thereby committing my third farce), Backwaters 2005 would not have been possible.
Aaditya S
Roohafza, the BCA play
4L, the marketing game
Sponsorship
Abhijeet S
KonfuZION, the informals
Abhijit C
Brand Killing, the marketing paper
Sponsorship
Abhinav G
Sponsorship
Konsultant, the systems game
Aditya C
Online Games
4L, the marketing game
Amarpreet S
KonfuZION, the informals
Media Coverage
Movie Marathon
Amit D
Get RocKin!, the party
Amit M
Sponsorship
Mess coordination
Anirudh J
Konsultant, the systems game
Anshu P
Roohafza, the BCA play
Anudeep N
Opium, the operations game
Anuj M
Roohafza, the BCA play
Anupam KS
Opium, the operations game
Sponsorship
Anurag P
Online Games
4L, the marketing game
IT infrastructure
Archana V
Cultural Nite
Ashwarya S
Hospitality
Balpreet S
Media Coverage
Debojyoti G
Online Games
Deepak M
Hospitality
Paper presentations
Deepak N
Web Site Development
Devroop D
Publicity
Dhananjay M
Roohafza, the BCA play
Dheeraj B
Sponsorship
Divya I
Registration Desk
Cultural Nite
Gaurav V
Roohafza, the BCA play
Harish V
Online Games
Opium, the operations game
Harsh B
Pitbulls, the finance game
Hemant K
Online Games
Roohafza, the BCA play
Jasleen K
Paper presentations
Jaspreet C
Ten Little Indians, the play
Jena P
Tent & stalls
coordination
Kalyan A
Music Concert
Kanav RK
Auditorium Coordination
Ten Little Indians, the play
Hospitality
Karan B
Media Coverage
Karan S
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sponsorship
Kaushik S
Web Site Development
KNS Srinivas
Online Games
Roohafza, the BCA play
Kulasekhar P
Online Games
Kunal B
Brand Killing, the marketing paper
Lijo JM
Sponsorship
Tent & Stalls Coordination
Manish M
Roohafza, the BCA play
Mayank MA
Online Games
4L, the marketing game
Neel K
Roohafza, the BCA play
4L, the marketing game
Neeta S
Ten Little Indians, the play
T-shirts
Nikhil K
4L, the marketing game
Paper Presentations
Pavan V
4L, the marketing game
Paper Presentations
Pawan P
Sponsorship
Prajakt ND
Hospitality
Pralay KC
Paper Presentations
Puneet P
Ten Little Indians, the play
Rajat K
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sponsorship
Sangita N
Cultural Nite
Sathish VM
Sinking Dollar, the finance paper
Shweta N
Cultural Nite
Sreekanth V
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sundesh SS
Hospitality
Movie Marathon
Tushar C
Roohafza, the BCA play
Nilanjan K
Online Games
Video Coverage
Nitin M
Kautilya, the strategy game
Publicity
Pankhuri J
Roohafza, the BCA play
Music Concert
Pavithra BP
Ten Little Indians, the play
Sponsorship
Pranay HR
Flash Animation
Publicity
Prashant D
Roohafza, the BCA play
Prashant J
Web Site Development
Prashant JK
Online Games
Ten Little Indians, the play
KonfuZION, the informals
Music Concert
Sponsorships
Prashant K
Audio Coordination
Music Concert
Praveen T
Cultural Nite
Priya TS
Media Coverage
R Viswanathan
Konsultant, the systems game
Rahul R
Sinking Dollar, the finance paper
Rahul RA
Get RocKin!, the party
Raul S
Sponsorship
Ravi G
Online Games
Hospitality
Sponsorship
Tent & stalls coordination
Reuben A
Get RocKin!, the party
Richard D
Web Site Development
MBT Live Case Study
Rohit B
Events Coordination
Rohit G
Sponsorship
Publicity
Sandeep G
Cultural Nite
Sharika M
Auditorium Coordination
Sinking dollar, the finance paper
Shounak R
Ten Little Indians, the play
Kautilya, the strategy game
Siddharth RS
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sivaranjani
T-shirts
Srijenani S
T-shirts
Surabhi BP
Online Games
Sponsorship
Suryanarayanan
Ten Little Indians, the play
Swapna S
Ten Little Indians, the play
Tarun S
Web Site Development
Tity ML
Registration Desk
Vidhyut S
Ten Little Indians, the play
Kautilya, the strategy game
Vijay VR
Konsultant, the systems game
Integrated Outsourcing, the systems paper
Media Coverage
Vikram J
Kautilya, the strategy game
Vinay M
Mess coordination
Vipul P
Roohafza, the BCA play
Vishak JH
Web Site Development
Online Games
Saurabh S
Kautliya, the strategy game
Yash S
Cultural Nite
Posted at 12:04 am by Nitai
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Monday, February 07, 2005
Real fiction or fictitous reality
tumhe samajh me nahi aaya hoga
wo tumhaare bina jee nahi sakega
kyunki main likh chuka hoon...
Indian film making industry has been making advances by leaps and bounds and Shabd is no exception. Infact, the very different nature of the movie's theme and the fact that it was handled in a decent enough manner speaks volumes of the conviction with which the movie was made. However, the fact of the matter still remains that the audience for which the new age Indian film makers churn out their novel ideas have not really arrived yet. We still look forward to the masala three-songs-four-dances-five-fight-sequences-six-tear-jerking-scenes movie. Entertainment has been so restrained and stereotypical so far that it is pretty difficult to break the mould. Shabd, however, is an honest attempt at that.
Shaukat Vishishtha is a celebrated writer who takes his work very seriously and is almost psychotic about it. He goes into a frenzy when his last book is rejected by the critics and the readers as being too detached from reality and reeking of inexperience. Shaukat takes this to heart and two years after his failure, starts writing another story. This time, he wants his story to be as real as possible and for this, he needs the help of his wife, Antara who loves him unconditionally and with all good faith.
Another character that gets introduced into this reality influenced story (which fast turns into a story influenced reality) is Yash, a professor of photography and a colleague of Antara. Shaukat encourages Antara to let Yash get close to her and let go of her inhibitions as far as her relations with Yash are concerned. Story gets woven into reality and soon enough, the two get so intertwined that it becomes difficult for Shaukat, the writer to control or even appreciate the problems of Shaukat, the husband.
The story and direction by debutante Leena Yadav are good, especially the shooting of sequences where the protagonist of Shaukat's story is shown in black and white. With the cinematography tastefully done (reminded me of Moksha), and the characters flowing with the imagination of the novelist, the sequences are good but one-too-many perhaps for the general audience. Initially, Shaukat's remonstrations with himself and his conversations with his characters seem appealing but as the story progresses, these things turn out to be rather an overkill.
However, the screenplay's pace notwithstanding, some of the dialogues of the movie are worth listening to twice for their sheer poetry, if not for anything else. The songs are on the right side of the average and the music soothing to the ears. The lyrics, like the dialogues, are great but somehow despite all this, the songs fail to capture viewers' attention, probably because of their incorrect positioning in the story line and their not so strong picturisation (apart from the first song shot on Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya which is mind blowing).
The actors have played their role to the tee...well, all of them except perhaps Zayed Khan. He is wasted in this role or perhaps the role has been wasted on him. A more accomplished actor would certainly have given another dimension to the character and the movie. Sanjay Dutt, despite his gait which always conveys his murderous tendencies, is a class act and impresses with his laugh-cry acting display. Even the character artists (the servants at Sanjay and Aishwarya's house) are good and engage in some lively and well acted out sequences.
And above all...if looks could kill, there would have been corpses-a-plenty at the cimena theatres...and all this just because of Aishwarya Rai. The lady really kills with her beauty, style, and grace in this movie, especially in the black and white sequences (reminds you a lot of the Nakshatra Ad campaign) where she just fills up the entire screen with her persona and the viewer is held spellbound, staring open-mouthed at the screen, trying to grasp and hold as much of beauty as possible and yet letting it go...not being able to prevent it from slipping away.
I will fail in my duties as a critic if I don't say anything about her acting skills but not having noticed much apart from her lovely eyes, I can just say that she was adequate for the role...nothing too great but then again, not bad either.
The moral of the entire story of this movie is that life and reality are as different from each other as they are alike and probably that is true for the movie too. Shabd, like any David Dhawan movie, is far from what reality is, but it is as different from a David Dhawan movie as is water from fire. However, to really appreciate the movie, you probably need the same mindset, as required for a David Dhawan movie, of letting things go without really rationalising the issues and instead of using a magnifying glass over the sequences and story line, be more appreciative of the effort put in by the film crew and the actors.
Posted at 12:22 am by Nitai
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Is it the end...or the beginning?
If they ever tell my story
Let them say
that I walked with giants
IIM Kozhikode
Backwaters 2005
i was there!
Two days of frantic activity preceded by three weeks of hope-despair, action-inaction, love-hate, brightness-gloom, success-failure, evolution-apocalypse...Backwaters 2005 has come and gone and left me all drained. There was a time when we had been thinking of scrapping the event altogether and there is now, when we can't help gloating over the congratulatory mails coming in from different quarters about the professionalism of it all.
If some one asks me, I will have a different opinion about it probably because I saw it from such close quarters. My own personal involvement in Backwaters began only this January after the term break. Before that, I had firmly decided to be just a bystander and let things take their own course. I was not feeling a part of the process at all and the enthusiasm with which I had joined the committee was lost truly and completely...partly because of some misunderstandings...partly because the job was being done in a way I am not accustomed to. After the term break, the other feeling somehow caught on and seeing Vikhyat, Reddy, et al really willing to put in effort, and considering the team dynamics for the next year's festival, I thought it prudent to be a part of things as much as I could, without sacrificing my own ideals and beliefs on the altar of the fest.
It was difficult, no doubt and we did fail in a lot of things. As I wrote in my previous post, we may have been able to end the fest in some semblance of style, after all but the way I see it...we have failed in meeting our own expectations...No Yana Gupta...no Singaporean participants...no super-grand performances...no slew of participating teams...so much more to be desired...so much more to be accomplished.
The first day of Backwaters 2005 was full of nightmarish thoughts for the team...the logistics were amazingly complex and the experience in handling them very little. I must say that Reddy and Ravi (I owe you one for this) did a brilliant job with it and had it not been for the work they put in by arranging the hostel, the mattresses, going out to receive participants, helping them settle in, it would have been absolutely impossible to take even the first step. There were issues despite all this effort and I must thank faculty from a particular business school for it...they did try their best to make our nightmares come true.
With the hospitality settled, the registrations desk started operating at 8 in the morning of January 29th, 2005. I tried to help Nireeksha till the C-hostel help in the form of Tity and Divya arrived. In the meanwhile, Kanav and Sharika were doing a great job, decking up the auditorium for the first of the formal events, the paper presentations. For the informals, the start was absolutely inauspicious and it was then that I realized that this was going to be one frontier where we were going to fail...and that is what happened. Right till the very end of the fest, we could not have a proper informal game and in the end, had to settle with only 4 games instead of the ten we had originally planned. The body art was fun, though (probably because I won :)).
The formal events went like a song throughout the two days and had absolutely no issues, thanks to Kanav and Sharika and to the event coordinators in Rahul, VV, Kunal, Abhijit, and so many others. As for the games, they were truly amongst the most innovative of the few that I have seen in management fests in different B-schools. The markeing and strategy games went on for two full days and it goes to the credit of the 4L and the Kautilya team that they were actually able to grab the attention of participants for so long. The Ops game was a huge hit as well. I don't know what Prof Haug gave Anudeep and team and what they finally made out of it...what I do know is a team asking me if they could have a look at how the game was designed as they were so impressed by it. The systems game by AbaKus and the finance game by Biyani proved their own mettle with teams actually letting go of fun events like informals to participate in these games.
The highlight of the festival, however, turned out to be the cultural nites that we had planned. From a stage where we did not know if we will have even one performance and were thinking of stop gap arrangements, we turned around to a time where the stop gaps actually became the stars of the show. With an excellent play by PGP1, a fun riot by PGP2, and some entertaining displays of talent by both the batches, the cul nite was amazing, to say the least. Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, despite all apprehensions, proved himself worthy of my trust. The day I asked Prashant to try to get him here, I knew that people will be skeptical about an artist they haven't really heard of...but then again, having listened to Pt. Bhatt play at BHU, I knew that his will be a popular and memorable performance.
As for the Ten Little Indians, what else can I say but that all you guys have done a great job and deserve a treat at the Taj (only if I could afford it :)). With Qaynat, the producer, making life difficult for the actors...Jaspreet and Pakow, the directors making people sweat over the finest of details...Neeta, Jaspreet and Pakow giving the desi touch to the script and even putting in the local masala...Jaspreet trying to fulfill his movie making ambitions and coming out with some mind-boggling graphics...and above all, the award winning performances of the cast (especially Shounak, Kanav and Neeta)...all these and much more went into making the play into what it came out as. When we were starting out with the concept of the play and having those initial discussions about what to do and how to go about doing it, I just had this idea that the play should not be a mere story telling, but more of a display of theatrical talent that we have, for all those who come to Backwaters...and by God, what superb talent have you guys displayed!
There are so many things that are still pending. There is this small matter of settling the bills, and trying to find out how much are we falling short by and doing something about it. I am sure that it is not going to be huge...given the hard work that Vikhyat has put in, in trying to hold the finances and accounting together. And then there is this thing of sending the reimbursement and prize money to participants from other colleges and of course, to our own prize winners.
There is so much more to write about , apart from this rather journalistic account of what happened. Probably in a later post, I would love to write about sTrEAM BACKWATERS, the team that made it all happen and about how I fit into the team or how I didn't...my own personal disagreements, my own assimilation into the team and how we took it on, sometimes united...sometimes not too much on the same side.
Posted at 08:50 pm by Nitai
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Saturday, January 22, 2005
Riding on the back of time
More than two fortnights since my last post. I know that this is now becoming more routine than incident and that every second post has almost the same starting line, but then again, I also know that it is not due to lack of motivation or inspiration. It has more to do with the time, as it usually has. Somehow, and probably for one of those rare occasions, time has given me a beating and a proper beating at that.
Backwaters is on in full flow and there has hardly been any day or any night when I, and the sTrEAM Backwaters, of course, have not been thinking of the event, its sponsorship, logistics. Issues are as myriad as they come. There is this need to get the maximum out of the sources of funds and at the same time, decide where you want to draw the line between going out for more funds and managing the operations with whatever you have. There is the task of talking to various college committees for funds, which is a bit of a pain despite the helpful initiatives by the people. It seems as if everyone is laughing at us behind our backs and we have become a pitiable stock with every gossip centered on the next level to which the Backwaters committee has fallen to get funds.
The elections to Placement committee, in fact, was one of those times that the members of the Backwaters committee got a good verbal thrashing. Everyone, who had the opportunity, made the most out of it and came out with explicit opinions as to the nature of affairs. Nilanjan said that he had come forward to get Backwaters out of the mess when asked about what he has done for the batch, and there was Mayank who seemed to know all the means that the committe has been adopting in getting the brand IIMK higher (including us supposedly asking for pathetically small amounts from local shopkeepers...did I hear anyone say 250 bucks from Mezbaan...comeon, we haven't fallen that much).
All this is frustrating, especially when I know that there is more than meets the eye in this case...and that it is not possible to tell all without destroying a few reputations, straining a few relationships...and I have had my fill of those...not any more, at least not for as long as I can avoid.
The other concerns are many, too. There is the need to keep the team together. Despite the excellent way in which the team has come together so far, and the way we keep smiling through the odds against us, there can be moments-a-dozen where the things might just be a little too much to handle. I must say that I am dreading the arrival of those moments but as of now, things are as well as they could have been.
Designing and maintaining the online games for Backwaters has given me more sleepless nights than any thing else that I have got myself into at any point in time. With a sleep debt (Pavan might not agree to this) of more than ten days, I had to miss six hours of classes one fine Monday. With a difficult deadline and an even more difficult sourcing of questions, we had to beat all standard practices by launching the games with the most minimal of testing, often causing blunders and technical problems that were, to put in a word, embarassing.
At the same time, there have been so many people who have volunteered and helped that it is hard to repay them for all that they have done in words. It has been because of them that we were able to meet the deadline and do a decent, if not a great job. More than the amount or level of work they might have done, what really touched me was their willingness to put in time and effort at something that they were not really duty bound to do. We, as part of the Backwaters Committee, however, were supposed to do all that and more, and I believe that even though we may succeed in carrying off Backwaters with some style finally, we would have failed...failed not in making Backwaters happen...but failed in meeting our own expectations.
Besides Backwaters, there have been a host of other things happening on campus. Yash, Raul and gang did a great job with Arthanomics, the finance seminar at IIMK. With the list of speakers reading like the Who's Who of the Indian finance industry, I am sure that the Fin enthusiasts would have had a great time. I really regret having to miss most of the sessions of the Arthanomics weekend (though I did try to attend as many as I could) due to the Backwaters work, especially the online events work which was going live on Monday.
Another event that came and went without much ado was the re-elections for the Student Council and for the Placement Committee. The last time I wrote about elections, it created such a big hue and cry that I had to actually take the post down. This time, I am sure that not many would even bother to read what I think of the elections, and thankfully so...not because I want to create a scandal or wanted to do that the first time, for that matter...for I still think that the situation has not changed much from what it was a few months ago.
It is actually sad to see that even in a supposedly intelligent society like an IIM, popularity and appeal get more prominence compared to real work, talent, and suitability for job. I know that many might not agree to me and that this is what makes democracy what it is, but I would still say that the reason people lose or win elections, even in a society representing the intelligentsia, is absolutely meaningless and has got nothing to do with what they are capable of doing or what they may have done in the past.
More than that, the King Makers continued to rule, though the nature of their rule and influence has undergone a major change. They no longer exert an overt influence but there is a more covert appeal that goes out, a canvassing that is more felt than heard...but that is how a democracy operates, I guess...no rights or wrongs, just going where the herd goes. The only thing that pinches a little is the future of the big talks that we keep throwing and accepting about the pathetic state of Indian democracy and the rampant corruption. If this is how we are going to deal with it ourselves, I am not really clear about what we might do on the road ahead for the society and country at large.
Posted at 10:11 pm by Nitai
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