October 19, 2007
Fresher’s day
Who might have ever expected that one could become a celebrity of the college after the fresher’s day? ........Well, at least, I never thought so.
The weather was gloomy when I got up in the morning. But my mood was bright.......why? Because today was our college’s fresher’s day and I was a participant of Mr. and Ms. Fresher competition (…..now I don’t expect you to fall down laughing at that!). I got all dressed up in a traditional shervani top and black jeans to go with. As usual I was the first to reach the bus stop. I knew today’s bus journey would be a little different from every day and guess what?? ………it was!! All the juniors were allowed to sit at the rear of the bus and we all played dumb charades with the seniors. The raging enthusiasm got extinguished only when one of the juniors (vikas) was called by a lecturer to be given a disciplinary lecture for the rest of the bus ride. He was usually known for his hyper activism in the bus. He could be, what is called a world class a******, in the truest sense of the word (this is not just my version; this is what the whole bus thinks!!). Truly, he is such a creep. It was high time he needed such a treatment but I knew that would only slow him down for the morning. Any way, we were in the college in no time after that. I went straight to the auditorium after I found my class locked. The auditorium had a confusing environment, with the echoing hellos from the loudspeakers as the audio system was being checked. As I was groping desperately to find any of my friends, a deep voice called me from the behind. I was quite familiar with this voice; he was Kaushik, a tall lanky personality, who happened to be our senior. He was dressed in a purple kurtha and blue jeans. I was told that this guy was the last year’s runner up in the Mr. Fresher competition (no wonder!!). He was in the same group as I was (eee), so he gave me a little ‘pro-eee boost’ and pleaded me to get the title, at least for the sake of eee, to show to the college, that we, the ‘eee’ians were not inferior to any body ( this reminded me of Hitler’s pro-German ideologies !!). Later, I met some of my friends who just arrived. We all were seated together until I was called and was made to sit with the other participants of the Mr. Fresher contest. We were informed that this was the first event that was going to be held. “Alright!” I thought to myself. My excitement was getting the better of me.t-10 minutes……t-5minutes…….t-1…..then it all began. We were called one by one. As each participant stepped on to the stage, they were greeted with a roar of cheers from their respective groups. Ah!!......this is going to be awesome…I thought. But when I was called, no one from my group even clapped! I went on to the stage with silence accompanying me. Why? What was wrong with my friends? May be they were hesitant…….may be they chose to remain on the civilized side….I convinced myself with various reasons for the unreasoned composure of my friends. Then we were asked to go back to our seats and then one by one, every one presented what seemed like a ‘well prepared’ introductions when they were called again on to the stage. Oh god! Was I supposed to be prepared for this? I had no time even to give it a thought that my turn had come. I went on to the stage and started off with a line I picked up from the net last night which went this way-“some times it is so hard to introduce yourself coz you know u r self so well that u don’t know where to start with.” This fetched me back my lost confidence when one of the members in the jury smiled at me in a way that told me that every body were impressed. I continued with an introduction which seemed a little longer than what they expected of me. After I finished, I got a good amount of audible applause from the audience…”now that’s better!” I thought…then I went back to the place where there were other participants…but I wanted to be with my friends. I wanted to ask them why they chose to be dumb….by then…it was announced that there would be another round of the contest a little while later. I went back to the place where my friends were sitting…then I almost spontaneously asked them what I intended to ask them….and the reason was that they went for buying the coupons of a game called thambola. These coupons had some numbers in them. If all the numbers of a coupon matched the numbers that were announced the owner of the coupon would win money. How pathetic!!.....how can money be any nobler than a friend??...or is it?
I went out to have some snacks and take pictures of my new college. Then I was informed that I was selected to the next round of the contest. Well...not a bad start I thought…
There were 4 participants left in this round including me. This round was where would be given a topic to speak on. I was the last to be called on the stage after a not-so-good performance by the others. I thought the topic that would be given to me will be interesting but they chose to give me a topic which was rather related to one of the political debates in the country, the controversial ramsethu project. Huh! Was it legal for me to question the relevance of their asking me to speak on this topic? Well I couldn’t ask them on stage….so I started to blabber what I thought I knew about this topic and it went longer than they expected. Hmmm….well…after all I did not just stand there staring at the crowd or grope for the words…anyways it was over. Now only the results were to be announced. I went and sat along with my friends, among a screaming, cheering and an erupting young crowd. I sat at the very last of the auditorium.
After all the performances, when I thought I had enough and when I least expected it the squeaky girl anchor voice announced,” it is the time everyone have been eagerly expecting” and her male counterpart continued, “yes…people it is time for the results of the Mr. and ms fresher events…” then the crowd roared a smile creped up on my face but I tried to suppress it. “Well…”, started the voice of the anchor as she held a piece of paper in front of her” the Ms. Fresher of the year 2007 is………shwetha from I.T.” the crowd in I.T. went crazy. As the cheers faded away gradually the other speaker peeped into the paper held by his partner and announced”…and the Mr. Fresher of the year 2007 is…..Sri Charan of EEE” I felt butterflies in my stomach as I herd this. It was really me!
And the crowd…well you could have guessed it by now! It was a long walk to the stage as I had to push aside all the chairs and walk by people who were wishing me….This is fame! Strikes you when you least expect.
As I walked towards the dice I and shwetha exchanged congrats. After I received my memento from the guest of honor, as I was coming back, i was congratulated by one of my class girls who shook hands with me while doing so…this was the first time any girl had shook hands with me as far as I could remember! As I went out, there was just another task left I had to give a rose to some girl… the rose was still in my bag…I was asked by Kaushik to give the rose to one of their classmates…a senior…well…it was fun…then it all ended as we had our lunch, boarded the buses and headed home
The day stood out as a wholesome package of an experience for me….good start for the better days to come!
Fresher’s day
Who might have ever expected that one could become a celebrity of the college after the fresher’s day? ........Well, at least, I never thought so.
The weather was gloomy when I got up in the morning. But my mood was bright.......why? Because today was our college’s fresher’s day and I was a participant of Mr. and Ms. Fresher competition (…..now I don’t expect you to fall down laughing at that!). I got all dressed up in a traditional shervani top and black jeans to go with. As usual I was the first to reach the bus stop. I knew today’s bus journey would be a little different from every day and guess what?? ………it was!! All the juniors were allowed to sit at the rear of the bus and we all played dumb charades with the seniors. The raging enthusiasm got extinguished only when one of the juniors (vikas) was called by a lecturer to be given a disciplinary lecture for the rest of the bus ride. He was usually known for his hyper activism in the bus. He could be, what is called a world class a******, in the truest sense of the word (this is not just my version; this is what the whole bus thinks!!). Truly, he is such a creep. It was high time he needed such a treatment but I knew that would only slow him down for the morning. Any way, we were in the college in no time after that. I went straight to the auditorium after I found my class locked. The auditorium had a confusing environment, with the echoing hellos from the loudspeakers as the audio system was being checked. As I was groping desperately to find any of my friends, a deep voice called me from the behind. I was quite familiar with this voice; he was Kaushik, a tall lanky personality, who happened to be our senior. He was dressed in a purple kurtha and blue jeans. I was told that this guy was the last year’s runner up in the Mr. Fresher competition (no wonder!!). He was in the same group as I was (eee), so he gave me a little ‘pro-eee boost’ and pleaded me to get the title, at least for the sake of eee, to show to the college, that we, the ‘eee’ians were not inferior to any body ( this reminded me of Hitler’s pro-German ideologies !!). Later, I met some of my friends who just arrived. We all were seated together until I was called and was made to sit with the other participants of the Mr. Fresher contest. We were informed that this was the first event that was going to be held. “Alright!” I thought to myself. My excitement was getting the better of me.t-10 minutes……t-5minutes…….t-1…..then it all began. We were called one by one. As each participant stepped on to the stage, they were greeted with a roar of cheers from their respective groups. Ah!!......this is going to be awesome…I thought. But when I was called, no one from my group even clapped! I went on to the stage with silence accompanying me. Why? What was wrong with my friends? May be they were hesitant…….may be they chose to remain on the civilized side….I convinced myself with various reasons for the unreasoned composure of my friends. Then we were asked to go back to our seats and then one by one, every one presented what seemed like a ‘well prepared’ introductions when they were called again on to the stage. Oh god! Was I supposed to be prepared for this? I had no time even to give it a thought that my turn had come. I went on to the stage and started off with a line I picked up from the net last night which went this way-“some times it is so hard to introduce yourself coz you know u r self so well that u don’t know where to start with.” This fetched me back my lost confidence when one of the members in the jury smiled at me in a way that told me that every body were impressed. I continued with an introduction which seemed a little longer than what they expected of me. After I finished, I got a good amount of audible applause from the audience…”now that’s better!” I thought…then I went back to the place where there were other participants…but I wanted to be with my friends. I wanted to ask them why they chose to be dumb….by then…it was announced that there would be another round of the contest a little while later. I went back to the place where my friends were sitting…then I almost spontaneously asked them what I intended to ask them….and the reason was that they went for buying the coupons of a game called thambola. These coupons had some numbers in them. If all the numbers of a coupon matched the numbers that were announced the owner of the coupon would win money. How pathetic!!.....how can money be any nobler than a friend??...or is it?
I went out to have some snacks and take pictures of my new college. Then I was informed that I was selected to the next round of the contest. Well...not a bad start I thought…
There were 4 participants left in this round including me. This round was where would be given a topic to speak on. I was the last to be called on the stage after a not-so-good performance by the others. I thought the topic that would be given to me will be interesting but they chose to give me a topic which was rather related to one of the political debates in the country, the controversial ramsethu project. Huh! Was it legal for me to question the relevance of their asking me to speak on this topic? Well I couldn’t ask them on stage….so I started to blabber what I thought I knew about this topic and it went longer than they expected. Hmmm….well…after all I did not just stand there staring at the crowd or grope for the words…anyways it was over. Now only the results were to be announced. I went and sat along with my friends, among a screaming, cheering and an erupting young crowd. I sat at the very last of the auditorium.
After all the performances, when I thought I had enough and when I least expected it the squeaky girl anchor voice announced,” it is the time everyone have been eagerly expecting” and her male counterpart continued, “yes…people it is time for the results of the Mr. and ms fresher events…” then the crowd roared a smile creped up on my face but I tried to suppress it. “Well…”, started the voice of the anchor as she held a piece of paper in front of her” the Ms. Fresher of the year 2007 is………shwetha from I.T.” the crowd in I.T. went crazy. As the cheers faded away gradually the other speaker peeped into the paper held by his partner and announced”…and the Mr. Fresher of the year 2007 is…..Sri Charan of EEE” I felt butterflies in my stomach as I herd this. It was really me!
And the crowd…well you could have guessed it by now! It was a long walk to the stage as I had to push aside all the chairs and walk by people who were wishing me….This is fame! Strikes you when you least expect.
As I walked towards the dice I and shwetha exchanged congrats. After I received my memento from the guest of honor, as I was coming back, i was congratulated by one of my class girls who shook hands with me while doing so…this was the first time any girl had shook hands with me as far as I could remember! As I went out, there was just another task left I had to give a rose to some girl… the rose was still in my bag…I was asked by Kaushik to give the rose to one of their classmates…a senior…well…it was fun…then it all ended as we had our lunch, boarded the buses and headed home
The day stood out as a wholesome package of an experience for me….good start for the better days to come!
2 comments:
hahhhh....wellehh....now i had something called tears---from my eyes and unusually from my nose too [now come on, this is not a FLU]...god...u really touched me...it had thrill,suspense,humor,frenship,feelings [all of them..ahh..romance too]and above all, a sense of what really fame is....i guess there would not be a better way to express joy in the form of a write-up so well...and so versatile....as u did in this one gr8 piece...man you r not fit for freelancing....believe me you r born for it....very well expressed dude!!!....keep it up...and expecting more of them from you!!!...ALL THE BEST RAA!
--SRIRAM
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