Eight year old answer

When I look back into time, the first vivid memory of her was that eight years back, sitting in the college gallery. It was first year of my college education and I was sitting with my gang of four, including me. I was fidgeting with something, which irritated my friends. It is no great mystery that what was in my hand, broke in two. "Rahul!!! I wonder what would happen if you got a girl in your hands.", she said. An offensive statement that I took in humorously. "You will have to check with my girl friend," was my riposte.

Eight years later, she has become the apt person who can reply to her own statement, made in the past. Interesting, how life can change over time. And how, you have to eat your own words, but of course in a good way :)

TMS - the journey II

i was standing at THEKKINKAD MAIDAN, the venue of the show and saw all my dreams and aspirations breaking into a zillion pieces. the time was about4pm in the evening and the show was to begin the next day at11am. why my dreams shattered?? the structure was not ready yet. there was to be a tent of 20,000 sq feet and 2 dome structures of 5,000 sq feet each. and what did i have then? 1dome structure partially made, and the patch work of tent still in motion. if i could have afford to cry, i would have. but what i saw around simply instilled in me all the confidence i needed. my friends were all over the place, working in hundreds, helping the so called builders to finish the work in time. a bunch of us were rolling the carpet on the floor(aint an easy task as we had to cover more than 20,000 sq feet), few others were working on the partition for various stalls. the vehicles started coming in by 6pm and we could not let them in at that point of time. so we started pleading to them to wait for some more time outside the tent. that when i heard a shout saying that the cloth for the partition work is over and we needed more of that, and by the time a person was sent to fetch cloth came the next shout demanding for more carpets. so we decided to confront the building contractor and ask for explanation and we had to give up for he made it sure that he cant keep his word. the carpets would arrive within an hour he said, ans so we had to wait. the hour stretched to two long hours before we got angry. the partition work was going smoothly and i was damn happy to see my friends helping out where ever they could. by this time the work for the second dome had commenced and it was our gang that showed more vigour and zeal than the workers. we helped them fix the structure, we dug holes, we cleared the ground, we helped them mount the structures, there were five of them of which two were up, when again the shout for more carpets came. finally few of us set about for the next haggling session with the dumb contractor, who clearly was not so good at communicating for his tongue was a little too big for his mouth(no offense) and we could only understand half the things he said. finally he asked for an hours time and he gave it to him, had no other option.

by this time the vehicles that had come by were all ushered in, and few of them were taken to their respective stalls. there was a small rift around that time among us itself. aravind and team was give the charge of getting all the dealers and they had done a great job at that. having said that they gave away a free stall to one particular company. had it happened when we were trying to fill the stalls for the sake of filling, we would not have mind it, but the situation was so that people were coming to us asking for space and we did not have any. a little later it was time for us to raise the next set of structures and were in the process of raising the third one when it snapped. now looking back it certainly seems funny, at that instance it was pure horror. we did not know what to do and we turned around to face the contractor with rage so unpredictable, when he said he would fix it nonchalantly, that our anger subsided for a minute. we had to trust him again. on the other side, the interior of the other dome was being worked on. just one guy doing all the work, hanging on to ropes and wooden blocks like spider man. even he was taking his time at what he was doing. seems like i was in a place where time did not have any value.
it was on this day, around the time of sunset, that we decided that we need a board up front stating the name THRISSUR MOTOR SHOW. we sent few students to take care of that(you gotto know that in about 15hours tha show would begin). the carpets finally arrived and we again resumed the work on the floor. few dealers had come and decorated their stalls the way they liked it. at around 12 in the night i asked maxi to sleep for he had to be on stage in the morning during inauguration.

around the same time few of my junior batch students also called it a night, and took for themselves what ever space they could find. they slept peacefully, they deserved it. it was a tough days work. the working mens group was left with around 20 odd students now. the core group in our batch, and our support nitesh and gang. we kept working through the night, with countless number of teas and cigarettes shared among us. finally at around 6 in the morning , the skeleton of the 2nd dome was also ready. that when a friend of mine came shouting with a newspaper in his hand. today was the day when mathrubhumi said a page would be dedicated to TMS. we all looked at it eagerly, like this is what we have been working for. another cup of tea and another cigarette and we were ready for more work, when finally a branch mate came by in his car and looked up at the structure and commented "oh, it is not ready yet eh? i could not be here yesterday, i was on a tour." he was lucky that i was being addressed by him, had it been anyone else, he would have been a dead man. around 8am the covers were put over the second structure and interior of 1st dome was done. the name board was brought(only problem that we could not put it up for it was too big for just one dome). two of our professors came by to inspect the settings, and i told myself that i was a dead man. but i guess they were also in my shoes once for they understood and that gesture gave us immense impetus to go on. by 900 everything was set, we had decided to start of with one dome and all the attractions which were to be shared by the two domes were put in just one dome. then i was asked to freshen up and come, for i had to appear on stage for a brief period of time. i had not slept for over a 24 hours now and all the hard work had taken its toll. i did not think i could move on, but when i saw my friends of last night still working their arses off, i was given that extra energy to move on. finally after a shower and a decent attire, i was ready for my duty. by the time i returned my friends had made a makeshift ticket counter also. it was then that there was a ruckus about the order of names on the agenda, i was given a hearty dosage of one of my professor's mind and i almost succumbed to it, but fortunately i sent someone to fix it at the right time. the show was finally inaugurated after an hour's delay, and after all the speeches and photo session, i finally got out of the tent by 12pm. what i saw was the most memorable thing in my life. people were flocking like anything to witness the show. it was immaterial that we still had one dome to finish, it was immaterial that the stalls were yet to be filled, it was immaterial that i had to put up with the contractor, it was immaterial that i had not slept in 30 hours,...everything was immaterial. all that mattered was what i so, the eagerness on he hundreds of faces to be there. all the hardship that my friends and i had gone through to organize this had finally payed up. in simple words, i could not hold on, i welled up and broke down on my knees and cried my heart out. the first time i realized what tears of joy was. the best moment in my entire life till now.

i want to thank everyone associated with that event for giving me what nobody else could have given me. steents the amazing chap resposible for all the designs that rolled out, aravind and gang for their work, sandeep for taking care of the media, ajesh for the publicity, saji and gang for taking care of banks and schools, sandeep (psycho) for that air show, tarun for the website, cherian and gang for the attractions, anwar for all the documentation, manoj for canvasing and spreding mech spirit, niranjan for sponsorship and support, sam for the shear support he gave me, jess and team for taking care of momentum, jess for the support he gave me, maxi i cant thank you( you and i never did any work),ben for taking care of finance, sarath and gang for taking care of tickets, byju for the documents again, nitesh and gang for giving us a hand in everything, above all the day prior to the show, all my batch mates for chipping in at the right time, all my juniors for their help and support....my professors CP, KK, HOD and KKR and Samad for their support, to our principal(Prof Rani Thomas) for giving us an opportunity to prove her wrong and convince everyone that we still are the backbone of the college. also a special mention of subin who unfortunately broke his leg while working for the show and still wanted to remain at the site to enjoy and experience the show,....hats off to you mate.

i salute you all, with respect, happiness and joy.

Thrissur Motor Show 05- It's origin

it has been a year since i walked out of that wonderful world called college, and when i look back into those pages of my life, it's filled with memories that i know would never go away. people who have read my blogs may start thinking i was thinking about my first crush, my first real love and the likes, but as much as i loved all these things, the one thing that remains high in my heart and mind is MECH-SPIRIT. i do not know much about the origin of this term, or i do not know how well known the term is among other graduates, the only thing that i know is that it kept me going till the very end and the one event that will stay as the best in college days would be my Motor Show,..Oooooops, our Motor Show.
i was in my fourth semester, when for the first time i almost understood the meaning of Motor Show. it was much more that just an event for us. it's the continuation of a war that was waged long ago between mechanical engineering students and the rest of the college. i never really understood the cause or reason for this rift, and i never really saw it myself until later in my college life. unlike what the majority thought, we were never that different. we were also a part of the college, we were also from the same background as others, we also had dreams and aspiration while we enrolled in the college. what then is the difference that others see in us??? maybe it's the unity that we had in the class and the department, or may be it's our attitude and belief in ourselves that none could break, or maybe it's the mere fact that we would not fall into line out of compulsion and we had our own ideologies and cant really bow in front of anyone unless he has that special quality that ought be respected.
The Motor Show that year was not as big a hit as we had expected it, but it sure had one advantage. few like minded people came together, and stayed that way after that. few of them were my super seniors, dindu, anaz, krishnan, prakash, rahul and few of them were my juniors, nitesh and gang(as they're popularly known). it was in this comradeship that i understood mech-spirit, how we are always seen with loath full eyes, how everyone dreamt of dominating us. i came to know that we had to fight back with an unknown enemy, and my whole world changed in those few days. the one plus point of being a mechanical engineering student is that you really cant trust anyone, especially ones with mech-spirit is instilled in them. you start seeing everyone with suspicion, for anyone could stab you from behind. the only solace i found was in the company of other mechans, who also saw the world as i did, who also saw the invisible. Right after Motor Show 04. we decided to make the next edition to be bigger and better. for me, it was a tribute to dindu, rahul, anaz, krishnan and prakash. and also to vijay(kochu) and our gang(not that it had anything to do with mech, but that gang was something in front of which you would want to bow down).
being frank, we started planning for TMS05 like a year before the show. any event or organisation has its core group. we had to find that group first. we did not go for students who had contacts or money or anything, we went for a group which consisted of guys who believed in themselves, who believed in the spirit they carried, who wanted to make a difference, who wanted to be the beacon in that war i had mentioned earlier. we kept planning and planning and planning, but nothing happened. after 6months of careful planning we realized we had reached no where, and so went to our professors for help and guidance. we had to convince them about the plan and that the endeavor would not turn out to be a disaster. after having planned the thing for 6months, we knew that logic would ask us to quit the project.
we wanted our event to be the first in that academic year, but production guys already made plans for pinnacle and later came on the news that electrical engineers were planning to have their event before us. everyone had declared a war against us, and i am not kidding. while every department were having one project each, we were lobbying for three events, TMS, momentum (the techie thing) and Rithu (the cultural programme). as luck would have it, the college union was lobbying to conduct a cultural program inside campus(college union is our biggest well-wisher, of course after bashing us up every year, and we do have a very symbiotic relationship were we talk and smile freely with them and yet know that they want to stab us any day). they had blocked our every path to have Rithu, and they hit the right areas, for many of my fellow mechans wanted Rithu more than anything. when we finally faced the reality that Rithu is not happening, i was sure that the crowd i had with me was smaller than what it was. but when i looked to my left and right i saw those familiar faces which formed the core group. they knew what i was thinking, gave me the smile saying everything will be alright. i believed the faith they had in us. the unknown forces may have won the battle, but i knew we were there to win the war.

it was more of an open war now, and yet a battle of minds. civil students had their show a week prior to ours, with same magnanimity, at the same venue, with the same structure. we had to come to an alliance with them due to economical reasons, and also because either we both can have it or no one can have it. so we had to go for it. computer science students had their show on the same days as ours, and the union cultural program about two weeks before ours. what ever maybe said and done, ours was the most expensive show, the budget crossing the 6lacks mark, and the bank balance when we started off was a little more than zero. every student in the department was asked to chip in for us to start off, and most of them did, and thus we started rolling. every aspect of the show was delegated and i had to watch over every one off them(i was the chief coordinator). i was not a happy man, two weeks to go for the show and majority of the stalls were empty, we weren't getting any sponsorship, we could not reach our target. yet every one of us kept going. it was during this time that nitesh and gang joined us, they had their exams going on, and the were on the roll. they wanted to make up for the days they had missed. a new wave of energy and optimism filled the camp. yet nothing happened. we ever facing a dead end. that was when the miracle actually happened. we got a call from Malayala Manorama, asking if we want them to publish an article about TMS. we were trying for the same for a week now and now they were approaching us. nothing could take it's place as the best thing to happen. the day after the article was out Mathrubhumi decided to dedicate one full page for TMS and it would be out the day TMS was supposed to open for the public. The stalls were slowly filling up. Mathrubhumi also sponsored our posters(10,000 in nos). and we just had one more week to go. we got the flux sponsored by Tata Indicom and i remember the night when benjose, maxi, niranjan and i spent the whole night making sure it was seen at various points in the city. my fellow mechans were sweeping the city for banners and poster that could be hung in the tent. nitech and gang was still doing the job they were asked to. cherian was looking after the attractions, aravind was still working on the dealers, sakshi on modified bikes, sandeep(psycho) on the star attraction of air show, and every night we went out with posters to cover every nook and corner of the city. i remember one particular wall opposite Kalyan, where my fellow students would have stuck close to 300 posters side by side. it was one seen to be seen and cherished. not a soul passing by would have missed the view.finally the dream that everyone had was taking shape. did not know what kind of shape it was or anything, but it was taking shape. Manoj was still working on instilling the mech spirit in all the juniors and pushing them to work, ajesh still working on the publicity.
the civil already had their program, it was a huge hit. it bothered us. something to do with ego i guess. their program was good, really good in fact, but turned out to be a little on the boring side(no offense). the settings were good, and they sure made money like crazy. the union had their program, it was a disappointment, but as we were also a part of the college, we enjoyed ourselves during the show. the electrical guys' program had to be re-schedule. that was also good. we did not care about what computer guys were doing. the count down had begun and more day to go. everyone was having the sweet smile for reaching were we reached. we finally knew that everything would be alright. and i went to the venue. what i saw there actually pushed me back a month or so, when i was down and i wasn't sure if we could do it or not.i was standing at the place which was so near to our destination, and yet so far........