Saturday, November 13, 2004

IIlu Kiske Bap Ki RK RK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi!!!!!! guys just celebrated the best diwali of my life. Eversince my childhood i have got great craze for this festival. It's most prominent festival there in our part of the country and being from a business family it's most celebrating moment of our year. Its having a great pomp and show unlike the other indian festival and best part of the festival is ofcourse the tradition of bursting crackers which i use to enjoy emmensely in my childhood days, But As i grew up my fantasy of crackers got away instead i begun to like diwali for the tradition of lighting diyas which i found best thing to do while celebrating. But two & a half year back when i landed at this sleepy rural town of kharagpur & got aquainted of the tradition of illu here. I was completely aghast to find out how grand and exuberant tradition of illu is keeping in view of all other mediocre and below standard practices being followed here so i decided to wait and watch what happens. When illu time came i worked a lot in making it a success, but inspite of best effort of our hall president and tireless effort from many guys we were not able to mach the expectations. I was very much upset What a nice diwali it was!!!!! nothing in your belly and ur wandering to see the ruins of other halls which were giving the same feeling as if inspecting a ruined city after a nasty devastation. But when we reached Rk where by chance it was about to begun and judges had just entered the erena i was quiet amajed by the twenty foot chatai which was placed 10 feet above the ground depicting krishna and arjun on there rath with 7 horses it was really awesome
the whole theme based on various incidents in mahabharat with central high chatai dipicting the epitome of whole theme it was really worth appreciating. After watching the view i got just a single want i wan't to be in this hall . I don't know what lead to the thought but i was completely aghast by the effort they have put to do that and i am sure the same would be the case with any guy having same traditional sense like me it was really awesome. May be god heard my prayers and i was alloted rk hall and there came the time i was waiting for. I found that illu work here was highly organised each and every thing done was well planed and done in best possible way. It was also very motivating to see the tempo of final years who worked whole heartedly to ensure that work get completed as planned and with all the perfection. I was alotted a chatai with two final years and four of us working on it. The chatai was depicting draupdi chir haran with lord krishna rescuing her reputation.We did our work very well and our grand structure was placed on time every thing was going on with perfectly.
The fateful day arrived when we were about to get fruit of all hard work being put on by us . But our luck bluffed for the first time in my life i experienced rain on a diwali day and illu was postponed to the next day.Next day also weather was not clearly but illu started amid a lot of uncertainity. It started with rp and they put up an excellent show but when it came to our turn it started dizzing & to our distress wind started blowing we were not able to lite our diyas even lited ones were blown off by the wind. Our loss was decided and we can't do anything other than waiting for humiliating roars of the rival winner hall. That was the worst thing to have especially when u were expecting gold and u have done ur best for it that was the worst thing luck can do.On that day after hearing the winning roars of rp hall ( traditional rival of rk) i decided not to work in any illu ever. Time passed and we came to third year all the grey experience of last illu were eroded but the decision not to work again was still as fresh as it was a year before. This year illu was very close to endterm examination that furthur lead to my disinterest in the whole affair. But as the work begun i began to remember the good experience of last illu. How we use to do a lot of masti the whole nite and was there for the class at 7.30 morning. Then i began to think that it has given m e enough memories enough good moments which were a lot compared to unglorious defeat. I found that illu was worth it & inspite of the defeat it had given a lot to the social life of the hall. Then i also remembered the rk illu two year before which had made me to crave to be part of such a glorious show. In the end my decision changed and i started working in the illu. We were alloted a chatai this time it was depicting meditating buddha under the famous tree. this time i will not say that i worked to the same extent as i did in my 2nd year but atleast i put on some effort in it. again the envitable Dday came, I were againt enthuthiastic but this time i were well aware of the luck factor and its role on the outcome but there was definitely a thought that every day is not sunday. And our prayers not remain unheard this time luck factor appeared to be with us.We were able to lite our whole structure & it was looking damn sexy man especially the center 20 feet high chatai depicting lord vishnu in sheshnagsayiya with laxmi. The moment i saw it i got in love with the scene and the same time i knew we will win it this time we will do it. Inspection by the judges was over & it was time to celebrate ur hardwork & to wish ur friends a very happy diwali which was indeed a very special one with thousands of diyas lighting ur garden and mighty figures depicting the grand tradition of iit kgp and saying in loud
illu is worth it !!!!!!! illu is worth it!!!!!!!!!! Finally time for result came traditional rivals rk rp were congregating opposite each other hopoing for the best. Also there were 10 rasgulla pots which were meant to be distributed to the winners & runnerups. among the pots there were some unlucky ones who were about to be given to the runner ups ( Damn loosers in kgp context) Unlucky because no one will savour a single of them and will we fetched to mess workers the next day. Other were the fateful few who were meant for the winners & will be eaten amid a very jubiliant & apetiting atmosphere.Finally the judges came for the thing that matter's the most. For the first time i was watching a typical college scene in kgp all guys shouting and passing on comments with authorities unable to control the mob. Then there came a wining smile from the RP's gsec gymkhana who was having a look at the result taking advantage of his position and our all hopes were shattered. Some of us returned back but i stayed as if i was saying it could not happen again this time. Then the result announcement started and in sequence announcement came 2nd prize for illuminition goes to rp and whole rk was shouting like anything .We were hugging each other and were about to attack our share of rosgulla. It was time for celebration, time for avenging the last years hard defeat. It was one of the most ecstatic moment in my life. We were all over the kgp with traditional tempo shouts of "illu kiske baap ki rk rk . Rp ke Ch...e hakke bakke . Rp ki le li zig zag zig zag" etc etc.
IT was really amazing i wondered what better a diwali can be celebrated.
Long live the Tradition of illu............... Long live the Win of rKThis tradition rocks man and i am sure we will repeat the same win next year when we will be there to defend the trophy and will have very sweet & everlasting memories of this years illu deep embedded in our heart with a deep longing from within to repeat the same glorious win & celebrate the tradition of illu at its best.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

It's Nothing Personal, It's all about business

Hi guys a long time away which infused a lot of changes like weather has changed to somewhat cold and end semester timetable is out giving out a loud message "it's time to study.....so on your table and get started"................ But man!!!!!!!......... who is listening????????? As i see no one ...... all are in a strong grips of grand & exuberant kgp mania called ilu. Hey don't be confused by the abbreviated love proposal from the movie saudagar.It's nothing about romance but it's all about tempo & masti. It's kgp's unique way of celebrating the festival of deepawali. Right now i don't have enough time to describe it but it will be explained in my next post.
For the first time in my life i have got a thought to go abroad .It happened after watching the complete series of Apprentice on Lan.Watching it I was amazed by the exuberant living of the west. I also appreciated their way of managing business & follow the well selected principles being practised there. Apprentice is a reality tv show being aired in America which is nothing but a 15 week job interview for a high profile executive job with Donald Trump's company. Trump is a very rich and one of the most successful businessman in america who deals mostly in real state. He has numerous enterprises like golfcourses,casinos,hotels etc which are extensively shown during the course of the show. Initially there are 16 candidates in the game, who are the selected among total of two lakh applications.This are the people from all walks of successful people ie ranging from those who have very renowned educational & professional qualification from best B-schools to those who have barely passed high school but had lead & grown successful enterprises of their own. Participants are divided among two teams with eight participants each. Both the teams are given a task to perform each week, acording to there performance in the task winning team wins a reward and loosing team has to go to boardroom where one of them(who is considered to be the weakest link in the team & cause of defeat) has to be fired. Actually for each task a project leader is forwarded by the team who is always considered to be partially responsible for the lose.After preliminary discussion he is asked to select two members of the team whom he consider to be most responsible for the defeat.After it there is a fierce session of accusation and explanation among the three and the weakest one is fired by the trump himself.
This was for the first time that i had seen how politics play an important role in a successful manager's life. And for a smart manager he should know how to turn the wrong attention from himself & how to fight all odds before even they had arrived ie how to plan for the odds in advance.