Somewhere in Nov-Dec 2010, I joined the institute flute classes. It was a comeback. When I was in 5th standard, my parents forced me to learn karnatic music. It was a kind of private tuition. The teacher was sincere, but she did not know how to scold or punish. So the class ended up to her benefit only, not mine.. She used to get lot of practice by singing the basic alankaras, tharasthayi varishas, geethas, varnas etc for me to hear, and kindly wrote the notes for me to read. She asked me to remember the names of different ragas and the arohan and avarohan of notes which belongs to them, which I never did. My father was disappointed with the lack of interest I was showing to the music classes. He, being a good singer, wanted me to be great musician. Whenever he was home, (he was in army) he used to wake me up at 5 in the morning to do the 'sadhana' which I hated like anything. But I was happy that he is not home most of the time. Finally, after 3 years of entertainment (in my point of view, torture for my teacher), my teacher gave up on me, and I got relieved from the classes. I ran away far from the music world from that day. No singing, no listening.
A decade passed. After the rebellion teenage, after settling the anxieties regarding my future (dangerously assuming the future of an IITian is safe), I started liking my father very much. When I lay down to sleep, I remember the good old childhood days when he sang old melodious malayalam songs to make us (me and my lil brother) sleep. I get surprised thinking how he could sing so well without any training! He used to listen to radio (later tape recorder, and now computer) and simply practice the songs that he like. There is no platform for him to perform. He just sings for himself. I felt ashamed the way I treated the wonderful opportunity I'd got. I felt ashamed to hurt my father's hopes on me. Thats why I put my attention on the mail which announced the commencement of the music classes in IIT. I decided to join the flute classes. I always liked the divine atmosphere created by the soothing sound of the flute.
Thats how I came back to the musical world. It was (or it is) not easy for me. Making some sound out of the flute itself is difficult. Next difficult thing is to cover all the holes in the flute and still able to produce sound of 'panjamam'. The instructor, Shri. Himanshu Nanda (disciple of shri. Hariprasad Churasya), insisted us to keep practicing. Easy to say. Kind of easy to do also. But it didn't go very easily with my poor roommate, and even the neighbors. They got very irritated with the noisy, totally irregular sound coming out of my beloved flute. It worried me. Thats when I started going to the music room. I dont want anybody to hear me practicing. So I chose the morning time. A global safe time in IIT in which you are sure that all the facilities in the campus are available. I made it a regular habit. And one fine day, during breakfast time, Vijayakumar, a good senior guy from our hostel came to me and asked: "You are Mithun, right?" I happily said "yes" wondering how he knew my name. "Can you stand for the hostel music secretary post?"..!!!!
* * *
In the hostel key register, I've issued the music room key more than any other student in the recent past. So the council got a misconception that I am either very good or very enthusiastic in music. I had no idea what are the things a music secy have to do. Leave that, I didn't even have any prior experience of bearing any sort of responsibilities before. I never was a part of any council, nor I was interested in even knowing who all are in the council. But everyone were luring me with different thoughts. The malayali friends here said they need someone from our group in the council so that they get to celebrate onam in a proper way. Vijayakumar told me this music secy is an easy post in which you juast have to take care of the musical instruments in the music room and setup the amplifiers for some functions that take place in the hostel. Then music secretory Russel assured me that he will help me out if I face some problems and my job will be just inspiring the students to participate in the musical events that take place here. There were mails coming from HCU saying that the 2010 admission students have to shift to H14 to get a single room. Vergese told me that if I join the council, you might be able to have a single room in H1 itself. I didn't actually need these many persuations because I also thought this could be a golden opportunity for me to learn how to organize events and manage a responsible position, and thus getting rid of the 'Irresponsible fellow' tag which hold on to me from the childhood. Needless to say, I readily agreed to be the next music secy of H1.
The action began in May. Abhishek Shankaran (naam toh suna hi hoga) and Vikram Vishal suggested me that we could have a music program in our hostel. I took it seriously and got very excited - first serious stuff I'm going to do as a music secy. I started planning the event. It was the occasion when the final year students finish their defence and doing the formalities to vacate the campus. So I thought that the event could be the last chance for the passing out students to perform in our hostel. Also the event should be conducted before the rainy season begins. I named the event as "BVefore the Rains" and a google spreadsheet was circulated in the H1 forum, asking for the interesting inmates to register. Unexpectedly, I got a wonderful response - only one entry after one week..!! He was none other than the ex cult co Jai Narayan Tripathi. I started getting an idea about the beautiful trend of our hostel. I lost the hope that inmates will come to me and plead for a slot for them to perform in the program, and started contacting everyone whome I know were good in music and plead them to spare some time and perform in the program. That included Jai, Vishal, Karthik, Kashi, Iman, Russell, Sanjay, Rajat, Alok, Harshad, Ashok, and Firoz from our hostel and Kalesh, Alice, Bhuvaneswari (she said she will bring her brother Rakesh also, who can play tabala solo), Amit Prabhakar, Rahul Chaudhury, and John from outside the hostel. How I got hold of them is a different story. Actually I tried to bring many more but they said they were not available. I thought I've already got enough number of artists, so why should I worry to get more? hmm.. then I started working on the other issues. The council was weak. Yatin was out for a field visit, Raju was home. Me, Surendar, and Naveen were there. Naveen was the library secy, I did not know what should I ask him to do. I asked Surendar to take care of the refreshments for the audience. Neither of us had any idea how many audience should we expect. We roughly assumed, without any justification, that aroud 60 people will be there. Next thing was to make the posters. I took good time and made a nice black and white poster. Two days before the event, me and Surendar went around the campus and pasted the posters in all the hostel notice boards, SOM tum-tum stop, EE dept., the Juice centre, and central library. That day was fine.. but the next day, the day zero (stole this jargon from the B.Tech fellows, it means the previous day of the event), wasn't. In the morning itself I started calling the 'artists' to remind them about the program. I got very enthusiastic responses from almost all of them. Amit Prabhakar said he had forgotten about the event totally and hence didn't practice. He also have to attend an important meeting whose timing is close to the event. Kalesh got cold, Rahul Choudhury was unavailable, Harshad said he did not practice so wouln't come, Sanjay said he is doubtful as he is down with fever, Rajath said he wont perform alone without Sanjay, Ashok and Firoz said they were joking and no way they are going to sing in the program..!!! Russey never told me he would perform and he kept his stand. Then, adding to the disappointment, I came to know that Jai also was out of station due to an urgent call from the company in Bangalore..!! I became mad. I called them again and pleaded. They said they will try their best. I also hoped for the best. I tested the amplifier and made sure that the mics are working properly. Vishal wanted a practice with the Karaoke. When he came to the music room to try, he said he has a throat infection. When he sung, he was not happy. He couldn't catch the higher notes with the infected throat. He said he won't sing. Wonderful..!!! Why should all thsese problems have to come together exactly on that particular day?!! Settings were proper. But I couldn't sleep well. Except me, nobody was bothered about the event. I was not sure whether the program will happen or not..! All hopes lied on Shanki, Kashi, Bhuvana, Iman, and Alice. I assumed Kalesh, Amit, and John would also come, and bought six gift packs for the guest performers. My friend from lab, Rashmi Sharma insisted that we should decorate the room using ribbons and balloons. I appreciated her thought, but considering the fact that the majority of the artists backed off, what was the point in decorating the TV room? But still, since she bought ribbons and balloons, I went on with the decoration idea. So in the evening, Rashmi came and started decorating the TV room. Adersh, Jithin, Firoz, and Nevin also helped her out. I wore my favorite black Kurta and bought the amplifiers and stuff in the TV room. Vergese helped me with the stage arrangements and put carpets on the floor. Ok.. all set. Now? Where are the singers? I started calling one by one. Kalesh was not planning to come. I forced him to come here just for some time and sing only one song if possible. He agreed. Alice and Bhuvana were on the way. And then I saw Jai there..!! Thank God he came back.. I went to him, to express my happiness. But he said he just came, tired, and want to rest now. He said he is not going to sing :(.. I called up Amit Prabhakar, he said he was in total stress, and not in a position to sing. I couldn't force him, he is a very senior fellow. John said he is out for some program and will be back only at 8. I asked him to drop in however late he will be. I called Sanjay, he is not even picking up my phone..! Vishal and Russell came there and started reading news papers. Rashmi might have been wondering what was happening. the time is already 6.30 pm and the TV room is vacant, no artists came, and I am chatting in phone.. After finishing the phone calls, I put some songs in the amplifier to attract the audience. I went to the mess and asked the people to stay in the TV room after their tiffin. Then the savior appeared in the shape of Bhuvaneshwari. She brought her brother and sister with her, and her ten classmates also. I became very happy seeing my juniors. Alice and Kalesh also came shortly. When Shanki, Kashi, and Kartik also came, I decided it is time to start the program. I annonced in the PA system that the program is about to begin. Shanki made sme changes in the schedule, and started with a prayer. I did the anchoring for the first time in my life. I felt happy seeing the number of audiece in the room getting incresed with time. The artists also started getting inspired by seeing others singing. I feel surprised to see the audience force each other to sing. I didn't know many of them could sing. Most of them were passing out students and I still dont know their names. The crowd managed to force Jai and Russell also to perform. There were all verieties there. Bollywood songs, semiclassical songs, classical songs, and English songs. I didn't feel the absence of Amit Prabhakar, John, Alok, Sanjay and Rajat because there were such a flow of the songs there. Of course, if they were also there it would've been excellent. The classical music performance by Shanki and Kartik (Tabla) need to be mentioed. I went out of the words how to praise them. Anyway, the function continued without a break giving no indication to stop..!! finally at 9.15 pm, I had to take Russell's word and force stop the event pointing out that none of the artists had dinner. Me and Surender were very happy to see that the event beacame a grand success. That night I slept very peacefully.
The 'Before the Rains' incident revealed the piculior character of our hostel. There is no scarecity of talents here. There are many singers, and instrumentalists available, but they are not very much enthusiastic in participating in the activities. They can come and enjoy others performing, but will not spare a day for practicing themselves. If they practice, its for their fun, not for any particular event. I wanted to make a music club which includes these great talents, but could not come up with an idea how to persuade these seniors. Before I start thinking about it, new problems came with the monsoon. In the rain, the hostel started leaking. Two pools formed in the music room. I had no idea how to protect the instrument. I locked almost all the instruments in the cupboard. Nirbhay was trying hard to fetch the insti workers to cover the leaks on the upper TV room, gym, music room, computer room, and pool room. They came very late and the repair work they did was not sufficient. Finally we had to wait for the monsoon to finish to get rid of the leaking problems. It was that chaos time when the freshers arrived. Like in other hostels they started to issue the keys of the hostel facilities using their messcards. And one day I found that three tabalas have been torned as if someone had used a knife to tear it off...!! I could not belive it. Which insane student can do this sort of stuff?!! I pointed this incident to Kamath, the G. Sec. He also got pissed off. In the freshers orientation for the SOM and M.Sc junta, he shouted at them. It must be one of the most unpleasent orientation a batch would've had. I regret this incident later, when shanki examined the tabalas and found out that the damage to the tabalas were due to the increased moisture in the music room, not because of the students. We could've avoided the damage if we kept the tabalas in a safe, dry place. Anyway, shanki himself took the responsibility of repairing them.
Saaz is the Indian classical music and fusion music club in the Insti. They arranged a musical evening called 'Swarmilap' in our hostel on Aug 27. Whenever I came in contact with the saaz convenors like Uttam, Achyut etc., I feel very inferior. They talk about music with such an authority and use music and B. Tech jargons which I couldn't understand. I feel little ashamed to tell them I am a music secy, because I dont even know, for example, what is the name of different parts of the drums set. They ask me "What do you play?" I will say "Flute".. They say "Cool..!! then can you play something today?" I say "No, I am just a beginner". Then they will look at me, surprised. Since I am a Ph.D. student, they wont say anything, and stop the conversation there. They organize many events in this insti - all big big events. So I didn't try to help them any way. Just provided them the amplifiers and microphones. then I sat down and enjoyed the show. It wasn't too superior to the 'Before the Rains' program, but had more number of participants from outside the hostel.
One significant initiation I contributed was the hostel movie screening. It was shanki who suggested that we could have a movie screening on the day of 'Before the Rains' program. I couldn't arrange for it, but the next day itself we screened 'The Angrez' in lower TV room. It was a success, considering that 30 people were present for the screening. It continued, in irregular intervals, at a frequency of 2 movies per month. There were occasions in which only 4-5 people were there for the screening (when the movie 'The Christmas Carol' was screened on Chirtmas) and also occasions when there were more than 36 inmates were there (eg., 38 for 'Kung-Fu Panda 2'). To see how much popular this event was, I tried stopping the movie screening without putting a notice. Surprisingly, other than two mess workers, no inmates were bothered by this absence of movie screening in the hostel. That was disappointing. Anyway, I am, and will be ready to restart it at any moment someone demands it.
October reached. That means our tenure was reaching halfway. I realized that there are lot of things pending in the music room. I wanted to decorate the music room with the pictures of the famous musicians. I wanted to make a music club. The broken guitar tuner was with me. Need to fix it. The connecting wires of the amplifiers were damaged. Need to solder them also. One microphone was used to replace the mic in PA system. So one extra mic need to be bought. Shanki suggested to buy one electronic Tabla also. Could be done. I slowly got involved in these random things. It was really slow. I finished those things in 4 months time..!! I wanted to tell everyone about this by sending mails, but forgot to do so. There was actually no need also. Why should a music secy spam the mailboxes of inmates if they dont need anything from him? There was not a single mail complaining about any music related issues. Everyone were possessed by the mess, maint, and lan port issues. There are no inmates in this hostel who has a good kalaahrudayam.. I mean artistic mindset.. :(
I donno how on earth I had an idea to have another music evening in the hostel during that peak academic time. It was Vikram Vishal who gave me the push this time. Considering the occasion, I named the event 'Welcome 2012'. There was a story smilar to the 'Before the Rains', here also. Just the change in names. Bhuvana and her classmates did not come this time to save me, but her junior class students, Shubha and Sandeep did. They also came with their friends to build up the crowd. I love my juniors. They always help me out when I am in trouble. Alice was still there, but Kalesh was too ill to sing. Vikram bought Madhumita and they both sang two three nice songs. Alok was there this time with his flute, Shanki and Kartik, obviously, was there to thrill the audience with a brilliant classical performance. Russell this time got persuaded without much effort. Sanjay and Rajat also was there. The freshies, Pahul, Mohak, Akash, and Dipankar also rocked the stage. The audience were not allowing Dipankar to stop singing. I got really really happy. I started believing that there wont be much difficulty in arranging a challenging participation in the upcoming high-profile GC event, Goonj. I even announced on the spot that Dipankar boro will be the incharge for Goonj. After that event I disussed with Dipankar about the possiblility of making a hostel team for participating in Goonj. He siad it is absolutely possible, he has contacts of a drummer and guitarist, and he even have some original compositions with him. Excellent. I asked Sanjay and Rajat to work with Dipankar for Goonj and moved all my concentration to the dangerously approaching Annual Progress Seminar.
After the APS on Jan 25, I had to run with Raju to arrange for the decorations and sweets for the republic day. It was a small repetition of Independence day except that Nishant made a beautiful flower carpet of the tricolour india, with the help of Nirbhay and me. Then Nirbhay and Nilesh arranged a tree plantation drive. I had asked shanki to sing a patriotic song after the flag hoisting. He said he needs to practice. I said "ok fine.. then you come by 8.20 or so, after parctice." But unexpectedly the function seemed to end very quickly. Warden and Anna gave two short speech, while hall manager said he wont speak. I thought Rahul Mishra and Akash will give a larger speech, but Rahul Mishra ditched. When I smelled the danger, I tried to call Shanki in between. We was not picking up the call..!! I was the one who is anchoring so I couldn't go and bring him also. So it ended helplessly just before 8.20 am. When Shanki came, everyone was having the sweets. I actually had enough time to gather everyone again for a patriotic song, but it didn't clicked me at the moment. After having the sweets, the crowd dispersed for the tree plantation drive in front of us. I, truly, am a tube light (not the electronic ones).
The previous cult council under Jai had organized three professional music concerts in the hostel. I started feeling inferior as I couldn't arrange even one. So, when my flute teacher Shri. Himanshu Nanda showed some interest in performing in the institute, and Shanki, around the same time, came up with the idea that we can have a solo tabala performance by Prasad Padhye, I thought it is the right time to do something. I first discussed with my guruji, Himanshuji. He said he is willing to come. He asked me to arrange a nice sound system, which is the life of a concert. "A signal processor with two monitors could be rented from outside. It will cost around 3000 rupees for a 2 hour program". I said there is not much budget available. Then he got suspicious. He asked "Humare liye bhi kuch to rakha hogana?" - the question I was afraid of. I lowered my voice and said reluctantly, "hmm... ye.. 1000 rupees me ho sakta hai kya?". He laughed aloud. "Arre koi kalakaar ke saath kabhi aisa mat karna.. ye 1000 rupees me mera travel charge bhi cover nahi kar paayega." I got embarassed. I assured him that I will do something about the fees. Later I asked shanki what was the response from Prasad Padhye.. He said Prasad sir is ready to perform for free, but his accompanying artist should be payed some amount. I discussed with Yatin about this budget issues. He said that the budget is less, we are saving it for the hostel picnic, however if you spend the money for the concert, council will find some way to find money for the picnic. So he asked me to spent 5000 for the event. I became happy. When enqired about the sound system, it turned out to be too costly - 5K. I thought there is no need to have that good a sound system for a small TV room like ours. Even without a sound system, the flute and tabala could be heard anywhere in the room. If I ditch the sound system, we could even pay the artists the amount they deserve. So finally I decided to pay 2000 to Himanshuje, 1000 for Prasad Padhye and 1500 for his accompanying artist. The remaining will be spent for the refreshments and stuff. When I talked to Akash, insti music secy, he said the amplifier-cum-speaker in the SAC music room could be provided for the event. I thought it is more than sufficient. The event was well publicised via colour posters and emails through various mail groups. There was not much pre-program confusions like it used to be. The artists arrived in time, I'd already prepared the stage, and sound setups. Three mics were provided. Then they had some refreshments and started the sound testing. Prasad sir played some note in the tabala and asked me to increase the reverb. I changed the knob. "skeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp..."..! a penetrating noise came out of the speaker. I reduced the gain, and tried again, same result. I called for expert help- Shanki came to help and started adjusting the knobs. No assuring results. Even if we keep the gain knob delta positive, the amplifier overamplifies the signal from the microphone. The speaker must be ment for some electric guitar or something. I cursed Akash inside my mind. Why didnt he tell that to me..!! Then me and Shanki started running around. We ran to SAC music room and took whatever amplifier-cum-speakers available there. After testing it turned out that nothing is working. What a prosperous insti music room..!! Himanshuji was smiling. When I looked at him, he said "I told you, this kind of speakers will put you in trouble. Now leave all this, we will perform without any mics." I was all sweating. People were waiting tehre for an hour or so. Shanki told "No sir, please last try.." He somehow managed to connect the two mics into our own old amplifier (which served me well for two great music evenings) and produce reasonable sound. I donno whether the artists were satisfied with the sound which came out of that, but they seemed to be more worried about the time. So they decided to begin, anyway. Once the program started, there was no looking back. The three great musicians created a devine environment in the music room that took everyone's minds into a whole new musical world. All of us forgot about the initial struggle and didnt realize how two and half hours passed. When the program got over at 10 pm, most of us had missed our dinner, which no one cared about. We didn't leave the artsts hungry, we (me and shanki) took them to Gulmohar and gave a nice treat. Kamath did not joined us, thinking what would he talk in front of these musicians. I smiled inside, what would 'I' talk in front of them? great comedy.
Time passed. Mails regarding the goonj rules, its slot alottment etc., started circulating around in the google group of all music secys. I was comfortable, thinking that Dipankar would be taking care of it. I called him up, to check the status. He said he had mailed everyone the song he he is planning to perform. He said he was doing his part, but Rajat (SOM), the drummer, was so involved in the basket ball practice that he was not practicing enough for the song. But he said even if he practice for a week, it would be possible to put up a good show. I asked him about Sanjay and Rajat (EE). He said they are not responding to his mails. When I contacted Sanjay and Rajat, they said they got the mail, but Dipankar and team is not available for any kind of practice. They said it is not possible to do the practice individually. Moreover, Dipankar has a Guitarist, they said. So they dont feel like they need to force themselved into the team. I asked Dipankar about the guitarist. He said he has a guitarist from SOM, but presence of more guitarists will be better. I got confused a little, couldn't sort out what to do. I told Sanjay and Rajat that Deepankar want you also in the team, they didnt seem convinced though. But I was sure that we will have some participation for Goonj. It would be a big achievement compared to the no-participation last year. Two three days passed. Sanjay and Rajat officially declared they won't join the goonj team. Rajat was still worried about the drummer, who was still obsessed with the basketball. There were not much time remaining. Goonj was 4 days away. I asked Dipankar to forward the number of Rajat, so that I could talk to him. I called up rajat and pleaded him to practice with Dipankar. He got surprised. He asked me "Are we really going to have a participation for Goonj?". This time it was me who got surprised. I said "Of course..!!! what were you thinking? I thought Dipankar was always in touch with you..!!". "Ya Dipankar told me about it. But we did not take it seriously. Whenever a program come he will say we should participate. But he is involved in so many things that he wont get time to practice with us. Finally nothing will happen. Thats why we stopped believing him. If you say that there will be a serious practice, I would also be serious..". I assured him "This is really serious. You people should start practicing from today itself. I will call Dipankar now." I called up Dipankar and scolded. If he knew that his friends are not taking him seriously, he should've told me, instead of giving false hope that everything was going fine. They asked me permission for jamming in the music room even after 10 pm. I said they can do whatever they want, just make it happen. Next day was the slot alottment. Our hostel got the best slot possible. 8 to 8.20 pm. Dipankar said it was most suitable for them. I asked them how the practice was going. He said the sync is not coming, but in two days practice it should come. Next day, day zero of Goonj, I want them to practice from morning to night, or till they get the synchrony. I gave them the pulpy orange which was available in the council room. They said they need a good connecting cable to connect Guitar to amplifier. I ran around the insti to get a spare connector, but in vein. Finally I gave the damaged connectors to Hussain, the great tech secy, to solder and repair them. He did it beautifully, in an hour. When I finally went to music room to give the connector, Rajat (drummer) and Aditya (guitar) were in a give up mood. Dipankar was out. They were waiting for him. They said it might not happen, as Dipankar's throught is not good, and they all are out of practice. I asked them to try their best. I went back to the music room after lunch. It was locked..!! I called up Dipankar to know what the hell was happening. He said they have an 'exam' in the evening. They will practice after the exam, i.e., after the dinner. He said they are going to have a nightout so they could make up. What can I say to these SOM people? They always have their department as their first priority. And I could not ask them to skip the exam for Goonj.. :( my hopes started fading away. In between a funny (?) thing happened. Alice called me to ask whether our music room was free. If it was, they wanted to practice sometime there for goonj. Their music room do not have a Synth (keyboard). I felt ashamed. Hostels which dont even have a proper music room were able to participate in Goonj, and our hostel, with a fully equipped music room, was not sure whether it will have a participation in any insti musical event. I asked them to use our music room on the condition that they would've to leave when 'our' goonj team come there to practice. But 'our goonj team' didn't turn up. I almost got the feel what was going to come, when our Goonj 'team' slept peacefully that day also. next day morning Dipankar called me and said they will not be able to perform. I was not too surprised, but wanted to meet the whole team in person. I converyed my disappointment in whatever way i could express. They also were worried. They said "If you force us, we will participate. But for what? to get humiliated in front of that big crowd? if we dont turn up, nobody will remember about Hostel 1. But if we perform, everybody will make fun of H1. Tell us what to do".. I said nothing.
After the Goonj incident, I got low. When I was sadly sitting in mess and sipping the tea, Akash mehta, insti music secy, came to me. He bored me with the lecture of what swarsandhya is, how PGs are important in such event, and the lack of funding he has, etc etc. And then he asked me to become an OC (overall coordinator) for SwarSandhya 2012. Ha ha big comedy. I couldn't oragnize a goonj team from the hostel and he want me to arrange a high profile event in the insti-level? He said the artists and the songs are all ready, they are practicing so its fine, all he wanted me to do is to help him in the adverizement, food, money handling etc. I said I will think and tell. I discussed with Shanki.He said I should do it. I told Akash my willingness. And about the contribution from hostel, I asked him to discuss with the G. Sec. Abhishek decided to contgribute 4k for the evet. Something similar to Swarmilap happened out there. I came in contact with the saaz and staccatto convenors who make me feel inferior. I dont know why should I feel inferior to them, i am not going to do a music competition with them. May be when the discussion take place, I dont get good ideas as they come up with, coz they have a better experience with organizing the events. Convenors also didnot know what job should they give me. They cannot ask me to paste the posters like they ask the freshies, they cannot ask me to overlook the setup of the sound system as I dont have any prior experience with that. Finally I chose my job. I redesigned the swarsandhya website with the help of my brother who visited me at the same time. However, the site got uploaded very late, that also with some improper editing by Suhani. During the program, I managed the projector display and refreshments for the program and finished my job of a namesake OC.
The work for the hostel magazine was not picking up speed. I suggested naveen to conduct a writing competition in hostel offering good rewards for the winner. But that also didn't produce much responsed. Amit Agarwal gave Naveen 6-7 hindi poems, and one other freshie gave him come cartoon drawings, thats all. I also wanted to contribute something to him, but I was not getting any striking ideas for an article. Thats when a mail come saying that we (the council members) should inform the award committe what were our contribution to the hostel during our tenure. Then it struk me. I could write a small article (this, small article..!) regarding my life as a music secy here, which I am sure wont happen again. I really enjoyed being part of the council, being in touch with this music loving junta around. The only regret I have is that I could've used this chance to improve my level of music, which I didn't do, as I was too distracted. Everyone of us are so lucky to be here, in IIT. Whatever you need, its here, be it art, sports, science, literature, culture, politics, business, and more. You just need the mind to use it.
I dont feel like stopping this. I still have lot many stories to tell, about Kamath's teaching on how to give gaali and definition of L-L, Yatin's mysterious timetable of field trips which exactly matched with all of the important hostel events, Their all-time support which I am very grateful to, Raju's marriage, Surendar's clinically-cut-the-throat mails, Naveens worries about the abandoned-by-the-inmates library and his sincerity to his duties.. but I think if I write them also, I could have a novel of my own.. So I stop here. If you managed to read this article from starting to end, kudos to you - you got the real capacity to read up the junk, you should try to be TOI newspaper editor... :)
A decade passed. After the rebellion teenage, after settling the anxieties regarding my future (dangerously assuming the future of an IITian is safe), I started liking my father very much. When I lay down to sleep, I remember the good old childhood days when he sang old melodious malayalam songs to make us (me and my lil brother) sleep. I get surprised thinking how he could sing so well without any training! He used to listen to radio (later tape recorder, and now computer) and simply practice the songs that he like. There is no platform for him to perform. He just sings for himself. I felt ashamed the way I treated the wonderful opportunity I'd got. I felt ashamed to hurt my father's hopes on me. Thats why I put my attention on the mail which announced the commencement of the music classes in IIT. I decided to join the flute classes. I always liked the divine atmosphere created by the soothing sound of the flute.
Thats how I came back to the musical world. It was (or it is) not easy for me. Making some sound out of the flute itself is difficult. Next difficult thing is to cover all the holes in the flute and still able to produce sound of 'panjamam'. The instructor, Shri. Himanshu Nanda (disciple of shri. Hariprasad Churasya), insisted us to keep practicing. Easy to say. Kind of easy to do also. But it didn't go very easily with my poor roommate, and even the neighbors. They got very irritated with the noisy, totally irregular sound coming out of my beloved flute. It worried me. Thats when I started going to the music room. I dont want anybody to hear me practicing. So I chose the morning time. A global safe time in IIT in which you are sure that all the facilities in the campus are available. I made it a regular habit. And one fine day, during breakfast time, Vijayakumar, a good senior guy from our hostel came to me and asked: "You are Mithun, right?" I happily said "yes" wondering how he knew my name. "Can you stand for the hostel music secretary post?"..!!!!
* * *
In the hostel key register, I've issued the music room key more than any other student in the recent past. So the council got a misconception that I am either very good or very enthusiastic in music. I had no idea what are the things a music secy have to do. Leave that, I didn't even have any prior experience of bearing any sort of responsibilities before. I never was a part of any council, nor I was interested in even knowing who all are in the council. But everyone were luring me with different thoughts. The malayali friends here said they need someone from our group in the council so that they get to celebrate onam in a proper way. Vijayakumar told me this music secy is an easy post in which you juast have to take care of the musical instruments in the music room and setup the amplifiers for some functions that take place in the hostel. Then music secretory Russel assured me that he will help me out if I face some problems and my job will be just inspiring the students to participate in the musical events that take place here. There were mails coming from HCU saying that the 2010 admission students have to shift to H14 to get a single room. Vergese told me that if I join the council, you might be able to have a single room in H1 itself. I didn't actually need these many persuations because I also thought this could be a golden opportunity for me to learn how to organize events and manage a responsible position, and thus getting rid of the 'Irresponsible fellow' tag which hold on to me from the childhood. Needless to say, I readily agreed to be the next music secy of H1.
The action began in May. Abhishek Shankaran (naam toh suna hi hoga) and Vikram Vishal suggested me that we could have a music program in our hostel. I took it seriously and got very excited - first serious stuff I'm going to do as a music secy. I started planning the event. It was the occasion when the final year students finish their defence and doing the formalities to vacate the campus. So I thought that the event could be the last chance for the passing out students to perform in our hostel. Also the event should be conducted before the rainy season begins. I named the event as "BVefore the Rains" and a google spreadsheet was circulated in the H1 forum, asking for the interesting inmates to register. Unexpectedly, I got a wonderful response - only one entry after one week..!! He was none other than the ex cult co Jai Narayan Tripathi. I started getting an idea about the beautiful trend of our hostel. I lost the hope that inmates will come to me and plead for a slot for them to perform in the program, and started contacting everyone whome I know were good in music and plead them to spare some time and perform in the program. That included Jai, Vishal, Karthik, Kashi, Iman, Russell, Sanjay, Rajat, Alok, Harshad, Ashok, and Firoz from our hostel and Kalesh, Alice, Bhuvaneswari (she said she will bring her brother Rakesh also, who can play tabala solo), Amit Prabhakar, Rahul Chaudhury, and John from outside the hostel. How I got hold of them is a different story. Actually I tried to bring many more but they said they were not available. I thought I've already got enough number of artists, so why should I worry to get more? hmm.. then I started working on the other issues. The council was weak. Yatin was out for a field visit, Raju was home. Me, Surendar, and Naveen were there. Naveen was the library secy, I did not know what should I ask him to do. I asked Surendar to take care of the refreshments for the audience. Neither of us had any idea how many audience should we expect. We roughly assumed, without any justification, that aroud 60 people will be there. Next thing was to make the posters. I took good time and made a nice black and white poster. Two days before the event, me and Surendar went around the campus and pasted the posters in all the hostel notice boards, SOM tum-tum stop, EE dept., the Juice centre, and central library. That day was fine.. but the next day, the day zero (stole this jargon from the B.Tech fellows, it means the previous day of the event), wasn't. In the morning itself I started calling the 'artists' to remind them about the program. I got very enthusiastic responses from almost all of them. Amit Prabhakar said he had forgotten about the event totally and hence didn't practice. He also have to attend an important meeting whose timing is close to the event. Kalesh got cold, Rahul Choudhury was unavailable, Harshad said he did not practice so wouln't come, Sanjay said he is doubtful as he is down with fever, Rajath said he wont perform alone without Sanjay, Ashok and Firoz said they were joking and no way they are going to sing in the program..!!! Russey never told me he would perform and he kept his stand. Then, adding to the disappointment, I came to know that Jai also was out of station due to an urgent call from the company in Bangalore..!! I became mad. I called them again and pleaded. They said they will try their best. I also hoped for the best. I tested the amplifier and made sure that the mics are working properly. Vishal wanted a practice with the Karaoke. When he came to the music room to try, he said he has a throat infection. When he sung, he was not happy. He couldn't catch the higher notes with the infected throat. He said he won't sing. Wonderful..!!! Why should all thsese problems have to come together exactly on that particular day?!! Settings were proper. But I couldn't sleep well. Except me, nobody was bothered about the event. I was not sure whether the program will happen or not..! All hopes lied on Shanki, Kashi, Bhuvana, Iman, and Alice. I assumed Kalesh, Amit, and John would also come, and bought six gift packs for the guest performers. My friend from lab, Rashmi Sharma insisted that we should decorate the room using ribbons and balloons. I appreciated her thought, but considering the fact that the majority of the artists backed off, what was the point in decorating the TV room? But still, since she bought ribbons and balloons, I went on with the decoration idea. So in the evening, Rashmi came and started decorating the TV room. Adersh, Jithin, Firoz, and Nevin also helped her out. I wore my favorite black Kurta and bought the amplifiers and stuff in the TV room. Vergese helped me with the stage arrangements and put carpets on the floor. Ok.. all set. Now? Where are the singers? I started calling one by one. Kalesh was not planning to come. I forced him to come here just for some time and sing only one song if possible. He agreed. Alice and Bhuvana were on the way. And then I saw Jai there..!! Thank God he came back.. I went to him, to express my happiness. But he said he just came, tired, and want to rest now. He said he is not going to sing :(.. I called up Amit Prabhakar, he said he was in total stress, and not in a position to sing. I couldn't force him, he is a very senior fellow. John said he is out for some program and will be back only at 8. I asked him to drop in however late he will be. I called Sanjay, he is not even picking up my phone..! Vishal and Russell came there and started reading news papers. Rashmi might have been wondering what was happening. the time is already 6.30 pm and the TV room is vacant, no artists came, and I am chatting in phone.. After finishing the phone calls, I put some songs in the amplifier to attract the audience. I went to the mess and asked the people to stay in the TV room after their tiffin. Then the savior appeared in the shape of Bhuvaneshwari. She brought her brother and sister with her, and her ten classmates also. I became very happy seeing my juniors. Alice and Kalesh also came shortly. When Shanki, Kashi, and Kartik also came, I decided it is time to start the program. I annonced in the PA system that the program is about to begin. Shanki made sme changes in the schedule, and started with a prayer. I did the anchoring for the first time in my life. I felt happy seeing the number of audiece in the room getting incresed with time. The artists also started getting inspired by seeing others singing. I feel surprised to see the audience force each other to sing. I didn't know many of them could sing. Most of them were passing out students and I still dont know their names. The crowd managed to force Jai and Russell also to perform. There were all verieties there. Bollywood songs, semiclassical songs, classical songs, and English songs. I didn't feel the absence of Amit Prabhakar, John, Alok, Sanjay and Rajat because there were such a flow of the songs there. Of course, if they were also there it would've been excellent. The classical music performance by Shanki and Kartik (Tabla) need to be mentioed. I went out of the words how to praise them. Anyway, the function continued without a break giving no indication to stop..!! finally at 9.15 pm, I had to take Russell's word and force stop the event pointing out that none of the artists had dinner. Me and Surender were very happy to see that the event beacame a grand success. That night I slept very peacefully.
The 'Before the Rains' incident revealed the piculior character of our hostel. There is no scarecity of talents here. There are many singers, and instrumentalists available, but they are not very much enthusiastic in participating in the activities. They can come and enjoy others performing, but will not spare a day for practicing themselves. If they practice, its for their fun, not for any particular event. I wanted to make a music club which includes these great talents, but could not come up with an idea how to persuade these seniors. Before I start thinking about it, new problems came with the monsoon. In the rain, the hostel started leaking. Two pools formed in the music room. I had no idea how to protect the instrument. I locked almost all the instruments in the cupboard. Nirbhay was trying hard to fetch the insti workers to cover the leaks on the upper TV room, gym, music room, computer room, and pool room. They came very late and the repair work they did was not sufficient. Finally we had to wait for the monsoon to finish to get rid of the leaking problems. It was that chaos time when the freshers arrived. Like in other hostels they started to issue the keys of the hostel facilities using their messcards. And one day I found that three tabalas have been torned as if someone had used a knife to tear it off...!! I could not belive it. Which insane student can do this sort of stuff?!! I pointed this incident to Kamath, the G. Sec. He also got pissed off. In the freshers orientation for the SOM and M.Sc junta, he shouted at them. It must be one of the most unpleasent orientation a batch would've had. I regret this incident later, when shanki examined the tabalas and found out that the damage to the tabalas were due to the increased moisture in the music room, not because of the students. We could've avoided the damage if we kept the tabalas in a safe, dry place. Anyway, shanki himself took the responsibility of repairing them.
Saaz is the Indian classical music and fusion music club in the Insti. They arranged a musical evening called 'Swarmilap' in our hostel on Aug 27. Whenever I came in contact with the saaz convenors like Uttam, Achyut etc., I feel very inferior. They talk about music with such an authority and use music and B. Tech jargons which I couldn't understand. I feel little ashamed to tell them I am a music secy, because I dont even know, for example, what is the name of different parts of the drums set. They ask me "What do you play?" I will say "Flute".. They say "Cool..!! then can you play something today?" I say "No, I am just a beginner". Then they will look at me, surprised. Since I am a Ph.D. student, they wont say anything, and stop the conversation there. They organize many events in this insti - all big big events. So I didn't try to help them any way. Just provided them the amplifiers and microphones. then I sat down and enjoyed the show. It wasn't too superior to the 'Before the Rains' program, but had more number of participants from outside the hostel.
One significant initiation I contributed was the hostel movie screening. It was shanki who suggested that we could have a movie screening on the day of 'Before the Rains' program. I couldn't arrange for it, but the next day itself we screened 'The Angrez' in lower TV room. It was a success, considering that 30 people were present for the screening. It continued, in irregular intervals, at a frequency of 2 movies per month. There were occasions in which only 4-5 people were there for the screening (when the movie 'The Christmas Carol' was screened on Chirtmas) and also occasions when there were more than 36 inmates were there (eg., 38 for 'Kung-Fu Panda 2'). To see how much popular this event was, I tried stopping the movie screening without putting a notice. Surprisingly, other than two mess workers, no inmates were bothered by this absence of movie screening in the hostel. That was disappointing. Anyway, I am, and will be ready to restart it at any moment someone demands it.
October reached. That means our tenure was reaching halfway. I realized that there are lot of things pending in the music room. I wanted to decorate the music room with the pictures of the famous musicians. I wanted to make a music club. The broken guitar tuner was with me. Need to fix it. The connecting wires of the amplifiers were damaged. Need to solder them also. One microphone was used to replace the mic in PA system. So one extra mic need to be bought. Shanki suggested to buy one electronic Tabla also. Could be done. I slowly got involved in these random things. It was really slow. I finished those things in 4 months time..!! I wanted to tell everyone about this by sending mails, but forgot to do so. There was actually no need also. Why should a music secy spam the mailboxes of inmates if they dont need anything from him? There was not a single mail complaining about any music related issues. Everyone were possessed by the mess, maint, and lan port issues. There are no inmates in this hostel who has a good kalaahrudayam.. I mean artistic mindset.. :(
I donno how on earth I had an idea to have another music evening in the hostel during that peak academic time. It was Vikram Vishal who gave me the push this time. Considering the occasion, I named the event 'Welcome 2012'. There was a story smilar to the 'Before the Rains', here also. Just the change in names. Bhuvana and her classmates did not come this time to save me, but her junior class students, Shubha and Sandeep did. They also came with their friends to build up the crowd. I love my juniors. They always help me out when I am in trouble. Alice was still there, but Kalesh was too ill to sing. Vikram bought Madhumita and they both sang two three nice songs. Alok was there this time with his flute, Shanki and Kartik, obviously, was there to thrill the audience with a brilliant classical performance. Russell this time got persuaded without much effort. Sanjay and Rajat also was there. The freshies, Pahul, Mohak, Akash, and Dipankar also rocked the stage. The audience were not allowing Dipankar to stop singing. I got really really happy. I started believing that there wont be much difficulty in arranging a challenging participation in the upcoming high-profile GC event, Goonj. I even announced on the spot that Dipankar boro will be the incharge for Goonj. After that event I disussed with Dipankar about the possiblility of making a hostel team for participating in Goonj. He siad it is absolutely possible, he has contacts of a drummer and guitarist, and he even have some original compositions with him. Excellent. I asked Sanjay and Rajat to work with Dipankar for Goonj and moved all my concentration to the dangerously approaching Annual Progress Seminar.
After the APS on Jan 25, I had to run with Raju to arrange for the decorations and sweets for the republic day. It was a small repetition of Independence day except that Nishant made a beautiful flower carpet of the tricolour india, with the help of Nirbhay and me. Then Nirbhay and Nilesh arranged a tree plantation drive. I had asked shanki to sing a patriotic song after the flag hoisting. He said he needs to practice. I said "ok fine.. then you come by 8.20 or so, after parctice." But unexpectedly the function seemed to end very quickly. Warden and Anna gave two short speech, while hall manager said he wont speak. I thought Rahul Mishra and Akash will give a larger speech, but Rahul Mishra ditched. When I smelled the danger, I tried to call Shanki in between. We was not picking up the call..!! I was the one who is anchoring so I couldn't go and bring him also. So it ended helplessly just before 8.20 am. When Shanki came, everyone was having the sweets. I actually had enough time to gather everyone again for a patriotic song, but it didn't clicked me at the moment. After having the sweets, the crowd dispersed for the tree plantation drive in front of us. I, truly, am a tube light (not the electronic ones).
The previous cult council under Jai had organized three professional music concerts in the hostel. I started feeling inferior as I couldn't arrange even one. So, when my flute teacher Shri. Himanshu Nanda showed some interest in performing in the institute, and Shanki, around the same time, came up with the idea that we can have a solo tabala performance by Prasad Padhye, I thought it is the right time to do something. I first discussed with my guruji, Himanshuji. He said he is willing to come. He asked me to arrange a nice sound system, which is the life of a concert. "A signal processor with two monitors could be rented from outside. It will cost around 3000 rupees for a 2 hour program". I said there is not much budget available. Then he got suspicious. He asked "Humare liye bhi kuch to rakha hogana?" - the question I was afraid of. I lowered my voice and said reluctantly, "hmm... ye.. 1000 rupees me ho sakta hai kya?". He laughed aloud. "Arre koi kalakaar ke saath kabhi aisa mat karna.. ye 1000 rupees me mera travel charge bhi cover nahi kar paayega." I got embarassed. I assured him that I will do something about the fees. Later I asked shanki what was the response from Prasad Padhye.. He said Prasad sir is ready to perform for free, but his accompanying artist should be payed some amount. I discussed with Yatin about this budget issues. He said that the budget is less, we are saving it for the hostel picnic, however if you spend the money for the concert, council will find some way to find money for the picnic. So he asked me to spent 5000 for the event. I became happy. When enqired about the sound system, it turned out to be too costly - 5K. I thought there is no need to have that good a sound system for a small TV room like ours. Even without a sound system, the flute and tabala could be heard anywhere in the room. If I ditch the sound system, we could even pay the artists the amount they deserve. So finally I decided to pay 2000 to Himanshuje, 1000 for Prasad Padhye and 1500 for his accompanying artist. The remaining will be spent for the refreshments and stuff. When I talked to Akash, insti music secy, he said the amplifier-cum-speaker in the SAC music room could be provided for the event. I thought it is more than sufficient. The event was well publicised via colour posters and emails through various mail groups. There was not much pre-program confusions like it used to be. The artists arrived in time, I'd already prepared the stage, and sound setups. Three mics were provided. Then they had some refreshments and started the sound testing. Prasad sir played some note in the tabala and asked me to increase the reverb. I changed the knob. "skeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp..."..! a penetrating noise came out of the speaker. I reduced the gain, and tried again, same result. I called for expert help- Shanki came to help and started adjusting the knobs. No assuring results. Even if we keep the gain knob delta positive, the amplifier overamplifies the signal from the microphone. The speaker must be ment for some electric guitar or something. I cursed Akash inside my mind. Why didnt he tell that to me..!! Then me and Shanki started running around. We ran to SAC music room and took whatever amplifier-cum-speakers available there. After testing it turned out that nothing is working. What a prosperous insti music room..!! Himanshuji was smiling. When I looked at him, he said "I told you, this kind of speakers will put you in trouble. Now leave all this, we will perform without any mics." I was all sweating. People were waiting tehre for an hour or so. Shanki told "No sir, please last try.." He somehow managed to connect the two mics into our own old amplifier (which served me well for two great music evenings) and produce reasonable sound. I donno whether the artists were satisfied with the sound which came out of that, but they seemed to be more worried about the time. So they decided to begin, anyway. Once the program started, there was no looking back. The three great musicians created a devine environment in the music room that took everyone's minds into a whole new musical world. All of us forgot about the initial struggle and didnt realize how two and half hours passed. When the program got over at 10 pm, most of us had missed our dinner, which no one cared about. We didn't leave the artsts hungry, we (me and shanki) took them to Gulmohar and gave a nice treat. Kamath did not joined us, thinking what would he talk in front of these musicians. I smiled inside, what would 'I' talk in front of them? great comedy.
Time passed. Mails regarding the goonj rules, its slot alottment etc., started circulating around in the google group of all music secys. I was comfortable, thinking that Dipankar would be taking care of it. I called him up, to check the status. He said he had mailed everyone the song he he is planning to perform. He said he was doing his part, but Rajat (SOM), the drummer, was so involved in the basket ball practice that he was not practicing enough for the song. But he said even if he practice for a week, it would be possible to put up a good show. I asked him about Sanjay and Rajat (EE). He said they are not responding to his mails. When I contacted Sanjay and Rajat, they said they got the mail, but Dipankar and team is not available for any kind of practice. They said it is not possible to do the practice individually. Moreover, Dipankar has a Guitarist, they said. So they dont feel like they need to force themselved into the team. I asked Dipankar about the guitarist. He said he has a guitarist from SOM, but presence of more guitarists will be better. I got confused a little, couldn't sort out what to do. I told Sanjay and Rajat that Deepankar want you also in the team, they didnt seem convinced though. But I was sure that we will have some participation for Goonj. It would be a big achievement compared to the no-participation last year. Two three days passed. Sanjay and Rajat officially declared they won't join the goonj team. Rajat was still worried about the drummer, who was still obsessed with the basketball. There were not much time remaining. Goonj was 4 days away. I asked Dipankar to forward the number of Rajat, so that I could talk to him. I called up rajat and pleaded him to practice with Dipankar. He got surprised. He asked me "Are we really going to have a participation for Goonj?". This time it was me who got surprised. I said "Of course..!!! what were you thinking? I thought Dipankar was always in touch with you..!!". "Ya Dipankar told me about it. But we did not take it seriously. Whenever a program come he will say we should participate. But he is involved in so many things that he wont get time to practice with us. Finally nothing will happen. Thats why we stopped believing him. If you say that there will be a serious practice, I would also be serious..". I assured him "This is really serious. You people should start practicing from today itself. I will call Dipankar now." I called up Dipankar and scolded. If he knew that his friends are not taking him seriously, he should've told me, instead of giving false hope that everything was going fine. They asked me permission for jamming in the music room even after 10 pm. I said they can do whatever they want, just make it happen. Next day was the slot alottment. Our hostel got the best slot possible. 8 to 8.20 pm. Dipankar said it was most suitable for them. I asked them how the practice was going. He said the sync is not coming, but in two days practice it should come. Next day, day zero of Goonj, I want them to practice from morning to night, or till they get the synchrony. I gave them the pulpy orange which was available in the council room. They said they need a good connecting cable to connect Guitar to amplifier. I ran around the insti to get a spare connector, but in vein. Finally I gave the damaged connectors to Hussain, the great tech secy, to solder and repair them. He did it beautifully, in an hour. When I finally went to music room to give the connector, Rajat (drummer) and Aditya (guitar) were in a give up mood. Dipankar was out. They were waiting for him. They said it might not happen, as Dipankar's throught is not good, and they all are out of practice. I asked them to try their best. I went back to the music room after lunch. It was locked..!! I called up Dipankar to know what the hell was happening. He said they have an 'exam' in the evening. They will practice after the exam, i.e., after the dinner. He said they are going to have a nightout so they could make up. What can I say to these SOM people? They always have their department as their first priority. And I could not ask them to skip the exam for Goonj.. :( my hopes started fading away. In between a funny (?) thing happened. Alice called me to ask whether our music room was free. If it was, they wanted to practice sometime there for goonj. Their music room do not have a Synth (keyboard). I felt ashamed. Hostels which dont even have a proper music room were able to participate in Goonj, and our hostel, with a fully equipped music room, was not sure whether it will have a participation in any insti musical event. I asked them to use our music room on the condition that they would've to leave when 'our' goonj team come there to practice. But 'our goonj team' didn't turn up. I almost got the feel what was going to come, when our Goonj 'team' slept peacefully that day also. next day morning Dipankar called me and said they will not be able to perform. I was not too surprised, but wanted to meet the whole team in person. I converyed my disappointment in whatever way i could express. They also were worried. They said "If you force us, we will participate. But for what? to get humiliated in front of that big crowd? if we dont turn up, nobody will remember about Hostel 1. But if we perform, everybody will make fun of H1. Tell us what to do".. I said nothing.
After the Goonj incident, I got low. When I was sadly sitting in mess and sipping the tea, Akash mehta, insti music secy, came to me. He bored me with the lecture of what swarsandhya is, how PGs are important in such event, and the lack of funding he has, etc etc. And then he asked me to become an OC (overall coordinator) for SwarSandhya 2012. Ha ha big comedy. I couldn't oragnize a goonj team from the hostel and he want me to arrange a high profile event in the insti-level? He said the artists and the songs are all ready, they are practicing so its fine, all he wanted me to do is to help him in the adverizement, food, money handling etc. I said I will think and tell. I discussed with Shanki.He said I should do it. I told Akash my willingness. And about the contribution from hostel, I asked him to discuss with the G. Sec. Abhishek decided to contgribute 4k for the evet. Something similar to Swarmilap happened out there. I came in contact with the saaz and staccatto convenors who make me feel inferior. I dont know why should I feel inferior to them, i am not going to do a music competition with them. May be when the discussion take place, I dont get good ideas as they come up with, coz they have a better experience with organizing the events. Convenors also didnot know what job should they give me. They cannot ask me to paste the posters like they ask the freshies, they cannot ask me to overlook the setup of the sound system as I dont have any prior experience with that. Finally I chose my job. I redesigned the swarsandhya website with the help of my brother who visited me at the same time. However, the site got uploaded very late, that also with some improper editing by Suhani. During the program, I managed the projector display and refreshments for the program and finished my job of a namesake OC.
The work for the hostel magazine was not picking up speed. I suggested naveen to conduct a writing competition in hostel offering good rewards for the winner. But that also didn't produce much responsed. Amit Agarwal gave Naveen 6-7 hindi poems, and one other freshie gave him come cartoon drawings, thats all. I also wanted to contribute something to him, but I was not getting any striking ideas for an article. Thats when a mail come saying that we (the council members) should inform the award committe what were our contribution to the hostel during our tenure. Then it struk me. I could write a small article (this, small article..!) regarding my life as a music secy here, which I am sure wont happen again. I really enjoyed being part of the council, being in touch with this music loving junta around. The only regret I have is that I could've used this chance to improve my level of music, which I didn't do, as I was too distracted. Everyone of us are so lucky to be here, in IIT. Whatever you need, its here, be it art, sports, science, literature, culture, politics, business, and more. You just need the mind to use it.
I dont feel like stopping this. I still have lot many stories to tell, about Kamath's teaching on how to give gaali and definition of L-L, Yatin's mysterious timetable of field trips which exactly matched with all of the important hostel events, Their all-time support which I am very grateful to, Raju's marriage, Surendar's clinically-cut-the-throat mails, Naveens worries about the abandoned-by-the-inmates library and his sincerity to his duties.. but I think if I write them also, I could have a novel of my own.. So I stop here. If you managed to read this article from starting to end, kudos to you - you got the real capacity to read up the junk, you should try to be TOI newspaper editor... :)
