The Final Lap - ….In Between Daysss IV !!!

Exam fever on..! Entire campus especially the TT room looks gloomy because everyone is glued to their chairs. I can see classes being conducted in rooms with gurus in respective subjects talking the lead as I stroll across the campus. Considering the keenness to write and urgency to study I’ll fast forward the things to an extent.

Scenario on 21^st:  Last night almost everyone was on the roads of Goa. Firstly it was Saturday night, second it was the most peaceful weekend ever with no assignments and lastly except for the organisers who had events on 21^st rest had all reason to party on the eve of long awaited success. Me, Joel and team of Alekh and Ranneeti (oh yes another offering for compering for the event. Look I am God’s child) were the only ones hanging around in the library.

It was the last day of Samriddhi. Alekh was to begin at 9 am. When people were returning back to campus after a fundu night out, I was decked up in business suit, ready to conduct alekh – The paper presentation competition. God had in store a nice way of waking me up or rather shaking me up on a Sunday morning. I go inside the cafeteria, talk to the team, only to realise that my so called co-comparer (not the one from the team selected but from the organising team) has bad throat and is in pain. And now I am expected to to do it alone with no sympathy. Words of cedric flashed in my mind. He had prepared us for all possible adverse situations that could happen with the comparers form the organising side. This was the extreme in that adversity.

The next moment, I call up a person. The conversation goes:

Komal : Hey ****! Are you sleeping?

****: No I am awake.

Komal: Ohk. I need your help and it’s urgent. I don’t have a co – comparer now and it’s impossible for me to do alone because it is a 3hr event. I can give you 20mins of time. Get ready and reach here at 8:45 am. Don’t worry. I shall explain you things and I believe you are the only who can manage and help me now. (HHhhhuuu. I said it all in one go without giving him a chance.)

*** - Are you sure?

Komal – Yes! I shall be waiting for you. See you at 8:45 sharp. Hung Up!!!

And that sweetheart is no other than Joel(Jo - L -) – My co – comparer of Ranneeti.  He was there sharp at 8:45am, with a cool head that time demanded. I handed him the scripts with a surety that he won’t need it except for the introduction of judges. He was my saviour and we performed excellently in the board room in front of the esteemed judges and enthusiastic participants. 


Ranneeti really required coherent articulation skills. It took half an hour for joel and me to understand the contest, elimination procedure and the rounds. Soon after Alekh we went to the MPH-Auditorium to check the status. Having understood the game, it was now a daunting task to explain the same in a coherent manner without creating excitement among participants, judges and the audience. Initially we were supposed to introduce the game and conduct the first round. Later the organisers had planned to take over. Impressed with the unfolding of event, we were impromptu asked to compere further rounds.  

There was not much gathering in the audience owing to many reasons. In spite of it we were proud to have conducted one of the most hyped events of Samriddhi 2011 in a way that left participants, organisers and judges satisfied. Finally we got the grand end to the last event of Samriddhi 2011 in a King style. Following this was the closing ceremony in the evening.

Autographs, photographs followed. Hehe…Kidding…We did lot of silly things post this. We were happy with the way the day had progressed and we made the compere team 2011 proud. In between compliments kept pouring in and we cherished with each one.

Compere team - 2011 L-R Cedic, Joel, Komal, DIsha, Chitra, Gunjan, Hitaishi, Shawn, Aran

Of the many, below is the one official compliment from the organising team:

The accolades just keep coming in J

HIP HIP HOORAY to JOEL and KOMAL !

Regards,

Cedric De Menezes

Goa Institute of Management

From: Aseem Sharma [mailto:aseem.sharma10@gim.ac.in]
Sent: 22 August 2011 10:47
To: Komal Laddha; Joel Dias
Cc: cedric.menezes10@gim.ac.in
Subject: Thanks a lot for the effort

Hi Komal/Joel,

We had a great show yesterday. Everyone right from the judges to the participants liked the way we had organised the event J.

I would like to thank both of you on behalf of the AALEKH team for the great effort you people had put in.

Komal, the effort put in by you to prepare the speech along with the handwritten write-ups is really commendable.

Please pardon us for the all the trouble we created for you L.

Joel, you were the saviour for us. The last minute back out by one of our teammates could easily have led to a disaster.

But you pitched in at the right time, keeping aside your preparations for the next event.

Thanks a ton for making the event such a big success and we look forward to share the same team with you in the future assignments as well.

Thanks and regards,

Aseem Sharma

On behalf of AALEKH team

Following this was the final meet of team to share experiences and thanks giving for the effort and the success. Remember the message of cedic. Yeah!!!

...In Between Dayyzzz...III

Childhood Rockstar - Always a Roxstar!!!

It’s my birthday today. I swear. This is how I said to everyone a few years back. I even made it a point to wear new dress every year without everyone’s notice. My orkut profile(the mania those days), had my birthday as sept,9. Without any price for the guess, it is Akshay Kumar – The Funjabi guy’s birthday. I was and m still a fan of him. He’s a ROCKSTAR. After listening to his all - time cherishing songs I went for the classes with all optimism. I wished my buddy, whose blog updated on the same eve and again no pea nuts for the guess. I treated myself with pastry from “Monginis” the “new rescuer” on GIM campus. After a well done day I sit update my blog further.

Scenario on 19^th Aug (night) - 20^th Aug’201(day and night)-21st Aug(day): Ahh!!! I edited the title 3 times. With only 7hrs of sleep in these 3days I got confused which day had what events..:)These were the most valuable days and nights of my stay in GIM so far. Starting from where I left - on the eventful night, listening to the song “Because Karma is a” made me realise “I was acting selfish” and then I returned back to set things right. Its lyrics are meaningful and worth listening every time you get immersed in this materialistic world.

The first day of Samriddhi doesn’t hold much significance to get involved in. In a nut shell I was sitting in the audience just to listen how the drafted scripts are being delivered. The loneliness made me go down and sit alone in the backyard of hostel. And the only time I returned back to the room was next day morning. Astonishing!!! It happens frequently with many here. It was for the first time with me. One thing good here is you are never let alone on the campus. If you want to, stay in the room. And that’s true only for girls. Hehe. Students of GIM can understand that better.  Coming back to the point, one of them joined and 2 of us were sitting. After sometime 1more, now it became 3. And followed 1 more and 1 more and many more. Within minutes i forgot what for i had come there.

The Spotlight at Night!

With music aloud, everyone was singing away to glory. With no near deadlines, people were” high” otherwise. Who says people booze more when they merry. Here we find lot many better ways to celebrate our good times and the time people booze majorly is when deadlines are near. So here’s a point to ponder on.  We played happy songs, we played romantic songs, and we played and fought over the choice of songs. This reminded me of my old days with friends.  Few walked away in the darkness, few came and went, and few slept and came back again. Before we asked for the time, it was 2 am in the morning. Now was the time to go on a walk on campus to make sure no one slept in the veranda. Dancing the learnt steps of “Jive”, discussing the most happening talk of couple’s formation on campus and an amazing live case study(sshhh that’s a secret), we related all concepts of Organisational behaviour(OB) and marketing management so enthusiastically and perfectly. It was the awesomest time and my cheeks were hurting laughing aloud.

Oh yes. In the midst of this, we had participants from various colleges on campus. We had to lend or share rooms with them on a voluntary basis. So we could see them preparing for the next day long lined up competitions and expressions of surprise to the “GIM way of fun”. At 6 in the morning, everyone decided to go back to sleep. But I had other plans in mind. I wanted to witness “The Udhyog – The B-pan competition”, “Graam shaala – The B-Plan workshop”, “Vibhakti – The case study competiion”, “Pracaar - The advertising competition” . Then I had to prepare for compeering “Alekh – The paper presentation competition” I was allotted. Sleeping was the last priority for the sleeping beauty because the opportunity cost of missing sleep was too low. So I thought I would be awake throughout. I came back to room at around 7 am. That’s the last that I can remember. When I fell asleep I don’t remember. It was 11:30am, when I woke up.

 Having missed the B-Plan competition, I got ready and rushed. I managed to see some of the finest presentations, talks and competitions. Without a break in between, I walked out from the workshop, attended the “Vibhakti”, went for the enriching talk of “Raman Madhok” followed by “advertising competition”. In between calls kept pouring for the need of few volunteers to attend competitions, be a part of audience and encourage participants. Also, calls from “Alekh” team co-ordinator kept coming in to plan for the compering script. I kept the latter one on hold, because I was confident of making it right on time. I liked being the “dummy honourable guest” of various events. I was bribed with “few vouchers and chocolates”. At the end, it was my benefit. I drove back with many memories of Samriddhi and a bunch of learning’s that shall help me helpful when we shoulder this responsibility of holding “National level B-school meet – Samriddhi 2012” next year.  Finally at the end of long and sleepless day, I sipped a coffee before sitting down with the “Aalekh” team for the event next morning.

P.S: Every time the clock ticks mid night 12, I smile if I am awake, because I get a day closer to going back home:) First time, each day closer to exam, increases my happiness!!!