An Evening: Lighting up the Night

My cellphone woke me up. It was a text message from one of my friend. "Good Morning", it said. Who the f*** wishes good morning at 12 noon, I thought. It's still bed time for me. But as they say, once you lose the flow, it's hard to regain it. I woke up, only to see both of my room-mates fast asleep. First thing I did was to switch on my laptop. Drank water, and ate left-overs of the previous night's CS (Counter Strike) party.

After going through all those regular email and social networking sites, what caught my attention was my Google Calender. Light the Night - 18:00 - Phoenix Market City, it said. And then in a moment, all my Early Morning Blues evaded in no time. What I had been waiting for, had finally come. 

Light the Night - an event where you literally 'light the night'. Started off with the idea of breaking the world record for the most number of sky lanterns released at the same time. But this pre-event was just about creating a greener Diwali; Full of lights, but minus that discomfort to your ears. I was introduced to this by one of my senior, just out of chance. At the very moment I heard about this, something had caught my attention, and I just wanted to be a part of it. That was one day. And then, today, where I was just hours away from it.

I soon called up all other 7 people who were supposed to accompany me. I could reach all but one. I got ready, had the first meal of the day from the hostel canteen, and then finally everyone was ready. Head count. 6 it was, including me. One was missing. Shrey. 3 calls, no answer. Ran to the third floor, took the stairs. And what I see is him sleeping at 4:00 PM. A few word exchanges, a few kicks, and a few slaps were all that took me to wake him up. He was quick in getting ready for the day. 

Next thing was reaching the destination. Not sure of exactly how to reach, we took a chance, putting our luck to test. Thankfully we managed to reach the destination, safely and well in time. Reaching there, the sight was a treat to our eyes. The whole venue was decorated comparable to a bride on her wedding day.

Photo Credits - The Photowallas

Photo Credits - The PicSnapr's Photography

And the good thing was, this was just the beginning. Completing all the formalities, holding the lanterns in our hands, we were all excited for the moment. But before the main event, we got to see some spectacular b-boying moves along with that awesome beat-boxing, and not to forget that witty anchor. 

Photo Credits - The PicSnapr's Photography

Till finally, it was time to brighten up the sky, and light the lanterns. And what I saw next left me complete dumbstruck. It was an awe-inspiring moment. Literally, a heavenly feeling. You just didn't wanted all this to end. All I wished for at that moment, was to pause, lay back and enjoy the sight, forever. Those flickering lanterns, flying up into the skying, with no limits and no where to go, signifying all your sorrows and sadness in your life to let go, towards infinity, with no limits; to make space for happiness to come.

Photo Credits - The PicSnapr's Photography

My shoes were glued to the ground. 

I couldn't move, rather I didn't wanted to move,

for I-don't-know how long. 

I didn't cared. 

I was lost.

And I loved it.

Photo Credits - The Photowallas

But even in all this, it's hard to ignore the fact that all you had since morning was just a veg puff and a samosa. Without much torture to my tummy, we decided to have something at the adjoining food court. Trust me, we were all so hungry that we literally pounced on our food. Then in all this someone caught an eye on the watch. S***, we are late. We then had two options. Hurry up and run to hostel, or stay there and enjoy some more, cause anyway we are late. And I'm glad we chose the latter. With some more bakchodi to be done, we were finally out of the venue.

If getting there was not certain, how could coming back be? And then somebody yells, Bus stop is nearby, let's walk. No harm, we all thought. What was supposed to be nearby, turned out to be 3 Kms. I'm still not able to figure out who said it was nearby. But thanks to Shrey's useless ways of passing time, 3 Kms seemed like 300 Mts. 

Time to switch our bus at Silk Board bus junction. Another walk of 100 meters. Now imagine you are discussing something really serious on a walk with your friend, when another friend runs past you yelling on top of his voice, RUN, RUN RUN. All I could do was to run involuntary behind him. It didn't took long for me to realize this was all just to catch a bus. Inside the bus, I started searching for someone. Then I realized, he wasn't there. Where's Abhishek?, I said. Must be somewhere here only, he replied. Doing a head count and upon calling him I realized, it was 4 of us who had managed for catch the bus while the other 3 were left back there. This realization was followed by all sorts of frustrations that come through one's mouth, and the best thing to do in such a situation is to hand over the phone to someone else, and that's exactly what I did. We reached the college first, but waited for them outside since we had common gate passes. Since it was already late at night, the bus frequency was very low. Waiting for another half hour, three of them came. It looked like a scene from a C-grade remake of the male version of Charlie's Angels. After this, getting inside 10 people when you have made a gate pass for only 6, was a piece of cake. It's 11:40 PM, we're screwed, one said. Screw you, the other replied and went to the security guard to burst some crackers along with him. The guards were kind enough to give us a few, just like that. 

11:45 PM, it was, and we entered the hostel. Usually, I would have taken stairs directly to first floor, but this time it was different. We were forced to head to the warden's office. Trying all sorts hand actions, and all sorts of dialect variations, we tried to explain him where we had gone (He understood little Hindi and English). And, as expected, we were made to write an apology letter. And this was the part which I enjoyed the most. There is a saying, If you don't know what to write, then tie the goat to tree and explain about the tree. That's exactly what I did. It was less of an apology letter and more of an report of what all we did and about the event. I wrote everything, right from who the sponsors were, to the bus number we took, to what we ate, and even the amount of bill. Whoever reads it (I doubt anyone would even read it), will have a really tough time figuring out which part I am actually apologizing. 

One thing I've noticed, when you're in hostel, you're always a bhukkadd. My tummy was again trying to make his presence felt. Upon reaching the hostel canteen, what we find is that it just got closed. But thanks to the sweet canteen uncle, he understood our situation, rather our tummy's situation, and opened it again. Grabbing all that we'll be needing, we got back to our rooms, to do what we love doing, to do what we were doing all these days - Play CS!

Celebrations... Genuine Celebrations!

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 33; the thirty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be a part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is 'Celebrations'.

Rawalpindi, Pakistan: It was a time of happiness and enjoyment for Afzal was getting married. He was the eldest of all, and so the family witnessed a marriage after a very long time. Everyone was happy, including Afzal for he loved his soon-to-be, Nafiza,  like anything. They both knew each other since the days of their school. Their love bloomed when they were quite young and continued till the time they passed out their college. Soon, they talked to their parents about their love. And now, they were both getting married. Both their families had the atmosphere of complete blissfulness. Afzal was in the Pakistani military, and so he was back at home at the perfect moment. His presence at home did had an effect on everyone's face and heart. He was truly the most loved in his family.

Patiala, India: Everyone back there at Amanjeet's family was overjoyed when they heard that he's going to be a father very soon. Almost 6 months, he's not returned home for he served for the Indian Military. He was the youngest of all in his family and continued his family tradition to serve for the military which has been going on since past three generations. He had so wanted to be back home, with his family, his wife. But his professional life demanded something else.

There was a possibility that both the neighboring countries, India and Pakistan might soon come into a war. For this very reason he was asked to stay back at the military camp. But his heart and soul was back at his home. 
And so weeks after Afzal gets married, he is called back to the frontier to fight for his country. 

Finally, Amanjeet gets a letter from his home which also had a photograph of his new born baby. He family did miss him, and that too on a occasion like this. But he was helpless, for the war was decided. He can't leave the battlefield now. He'll have to stay there, fight, survive and then return back home.

Both Afzal and Amanjeet were into the same war. Sadly, on the opposite side, all prepared to destroy what may come in their way to defend their country. 

Two weeks later, Amanjeet returns home, while all that reaches Afzal's home is his corpse...

Amanjeet is really happy to be back home and so is everyone else in his home. Manpreet is what they named his son. Tears came out through their eyes when they saw their loved one come back to home in his uniform. The whole atmosphere in the house is full of joy and energy for Amanjeet has yet again returned back safely and for the fact that the family was now complete, with their latest addition. They couldn't have wished for anything else, anything better than this. It was a moment of utter blissfulness.

While at Afzal's home, sadness was all that was there. They had lost their most loved one. Sacrificing his life for the safety of others. The world has just been torn apart for Nafiza. Her love, her soulmate went away, far away. She could not be consoled. She along with all others in the family were shattered in the sorrow of the loss of their love one. His presence was irreplaceable. 

***

What we see here is two completely different consequences of an event, a war between two countries. While on one side, we have Amanjeet's family, who is enjoying every moment of their life, for their son returned, as a survivor and as a father.
On the other side, is Afzal's family, who are shattered for the immense loss they had to face. It's truly a sad moment for them.
To put it in other words,

What's a reason for celebration for one, is the reason for someone else's sorrow. 

Can this be called an actually celebration? Considering the fact, that the reason you are celebrating is actually a reason for loss of someone's life, someone who was newly married, who was the most loved in his family, someone who was so patriotic that he was all ready to fight for his country. 
In my view, celebrating something like this is completely absurd. Surely, there is a happiness of homecoming, but that shouldn't extend to celebrate others defeat. One should always realize the other side of the coin, of the path of your success, and appreciate their effort for what they did. This was one example, and there could be a thousand more examples, where knowingly or unknowingly, we enjoy the fact that the other is harmed. 

In a war like this, thousands and thousand of lives are lost. Families are destroyed, fathers are lost, sons are lost, husbands are lost. Why? Just over some petty issues which could have been solved otherwise. And what do we do after that? Celebrate over our win, not concerned with the amount of lives, the amount of homes that are destroyed in a event like this. 
Instead imagine a situation where you live in peacefully with your neighbors, when there is no war, no loss, and still people get to celebrate, for a genuine reason, for the right reason. That's what real celebration is all about, when you celebrate together!

***

"Believe nothing, merely because you have been told it, or because it is traditional or because you yourself have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect your teacher. But whatever after due consideration and analysis you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings, that doctrine, believe and cling to and take it as your guide."

--The Buddha

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective post can be checked here. To be a part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. 

Introduced By: Harshal Gupta, Participation Count: 01  

My Hat's Off to You!!

That usual boring mechanical class was going on, when we were interrupted by an announcement. 

"Everyone assemble in seminar hall. This is related to 'Maaya'"

Instantly the whole class was filled with puzzled questions, "What is Maaya?", "Who is Maaya?"... "Should we use 'what' or 'who'?"

In a few moments, the whole seminar hall was jam packed, and then the 'lady' introduced us to 'Maaya'.
Maaya turned out to be our college fest, actually more than a mere fest, much much more than that!

It was then I realized, it doesn't matter whether Maaya is a 'who' or a 'what', all it means is two days full of enjoyment, fun and bliss at it's peak. Two days, when our college takes a swap from 'school' to an actual 'college'. 

A previous year Maaya video was shown, which already gave me goosebumps. I don't know why, but the whole atmosphere in that hall was different. Totally different from what had been there a month before that, different from those monotonous classes.

The next thing was volunteers. Anything big, such as this, isn't possible without volunteers. I was actually so excited to work for this, that I gave my name for 8 different departments. 

Believe me, after everyone came out of that hall, there was a totally different energy among my classmates. It was completely at a different level. 

In a few days, we were all called up at hostel to explain what and how campaigning and security is done. Both of these were something new and exciting for me. Going to different colleges, representing your own college to talk about your own fest was something new for me.
And as soon as I listened 'You will surely be given a Maaya t-shirt for security', this clinged to me. A Maaya t-shirt, what a feeling, nothing can be better than that. That was my state of mind at that time. Almost instantly I was up for both these things and gave my name.

But no experience is fruitful until you gain something out of it. It was the time of the EMCEE auditions which I screwed up. Everything can't be your forte, and you need to accept that fact with the broadest of smile. Entertaining crowd is something that doesn't comes to me naturally. But no harm in trying, right? :)

In about the same time, I was chilling out at my hostel room when my phone notified me for a message! It was the 'man' 's message. I didn't knew him before this. He messaged me as CC (Core Committee) member for the publicity department. All he told me was to meet him tomorrow in the college. And then came the shocking surprise, when he suddenly said I'll make you an OC (Organizing Committee) member. This was something which was completely unexpected. But I was all up for a new experience, a chance to learn!

And then, finally it was our day for campaigning. CMRIT was the college we were given. One of my team mates had really good friends there, so selling tickets there wasn't a problem for us... or that's what WE THOUGHT. We were greeted with a surprise, that was - their internal test. We weren't allowed to campaigning there. But after roaming back and forth places we were finally able to complete the formalities. Above that, was going to streets, stopping the most random people and persuading them; probably one of the most difficult job! But you always learn something with an experience; lesson learned here - Respect a salesman, you have no idea what he's going through and he would surely curse you if you don't buy his stuff!

Simultaneously, publicity thing was going on with me. Honestly I had a great time working there, for two reasons. Working with machines, I wouldn't mind even at 2 in the morning. The second reason is surely the 'man'!
When you're working, you actually end up getting into troubles, and then getting out of it in the best possible way! You actually don't have to worry about anything when you have people who can say the most aggressive things in the most politest way! I just can't say how amazing that night was. Only a pack of popcorn was missing! (Only few would get this, don't scratch your head too much! )

And who could forget those bunking periods to sit in the control room! And listening to those all sorts of conversations going there. I actually remember someone was asking everyone whether they have seen '2 girls 1 cup' video. (Don't go search this on Google  you might end up watching you don't want to, trust me!) That was the best part!

And then finally the day came, for which a lot of people were putting up efforts for weeks.

Day 1:
I slept late, but for a change, I managed to wake up early. That was how excited I was for this. First thing they did was to send us to the gates for security. Many around me were actually cribbing out this. That they are made to do a work of a security personnel. 
No one told you to volunteer for this, you yourself volunteered for this!
Leaving this apart, doing this was actually quite good, a lot better than what it seems. You actually have a lot of authority when you do this. And probably the only time when you can question even your seniors to show their ID's. 

Following this was an event I had been waiting for since a long time. Counter Strike. We have been practicing for this since a few weeks, I got back into touch with this game just because of this. Right since the morning till the evening, I was helping everyone there in their struggle with the dabba computers in the lab! Though with a few glitches, we finally ended up pulling a successful and enjoying show up there, and managed to reach the semi's! 
Not much was left after this for the day, as I had missed most of the events outside the web of that room! 

Even after being refused by the warden (MC) for not letting us go out for dinner, we finally managed to have a nice dinner - Dominos to the rescue! 

So mesmerized with all the event happenings throughout the day, we were in no mood to sleep that night, irrelevant it was that we were dead tired! And what happened was this...

Day 2:
*Sleeping, when suddenly ringtone rings...*
'Man' calling... 
Yeah..
Meet me near the main gate right away
Fine...
*Disconnected*

First of all, thank you for waking me up that day! Within few mins I had a quick shower, and headed towards the gate. What a lovely weather! As soon as I reached there, I was back at the security job! Two hours and I ran like anything, far away from the gate. 
Then was something which was quite interesting, Treasure Hunt. Finally, after doing 5 sit-ups, 5 push ups, eating a chilly and running a half marathon, we finally managed to get at the second position! All I hate about getting a second position, is that you end up with a sweaty t-shirt. 

Another session with security, and then I had the best time since a long time, the highlight of the two day event! Crossroads. Aurko - was the band, you got everyone in the crowd on their feet, even those who weren't supposed to. It was like you were completely disconnected from the stage there. I was lost into another world. I didn't cared who was on my right or left. I didn't cared what was that person doing outside there. I didn't cared what happened. All I wanted was to live that moment, the moment of utter bliss. Forget everything, let free and enjoy that moment! 

Being lost in that live concert, you don't realize how time passes by. And it takes a while for you to dissolve the fact that all this has now come to an end! All that fun, all that madness. Everything, no more! 
For the first time, these two days made me feel this is actually a college, and what I come to know is that all this is going to end very soon! 

But in all this, there were actually few people, without whom this wouldn't have been possible. The whole team who worked behind the stage to get this where it is! Truly, amazing amount of effort has been put up by every single on them! Seriously, thank you to all the seniors for such a wonderful time I had all this time. You guys are actually wonderful! Thank you so much! 

Though all of them might not know me, but I actually know quite a few of them! And there are somethings which I have observed in the past few days! 

Sapna (lady): Every time I see her, she looks so calm and composed as if it's a park she's walking in. But I can imagine the headache she carries with herself, and still managing to keep a smile on her face,  that's truly commendable! 

Ayush: Every time I see him, he's super busy. Every time someone talks to him, it's like I have exactly 35 seconds, say what you wanna say, I have a train to catch! Haha, but on a serious note, all through the 2 days, he looked to me the most busiest person. Every part of the campus I went, he was there! 

Sandy: The cyber guy. I've seen him almost everywhere. Working on the website, working for the stage, hosting an event. And with the same amount of energy everytime. (And yeah, someone from the team wants you dead :P )

RK: He's someone who knows when to work and when to have fun. And when it comes to work, he's dead serious about it! 

Saurabh: I've come to know him in the past few days. All I feel like is to smile when I look at him. And yeah, he gave a really tough time to his opponents for the Fifa tournament. 

Neha: Someone told me you're a photographer. I saw your photos, and trust me, they look straight out of National Geographic's archives. They're my next postcards! I'm your fan! :D

Prasraban (THE MAN): I don't know what to say about him. From all of them, I know him the most. He's a man whom I admire now, for the way he works. Knows exactly what to be like in what situation. I've seen him in the most decent and sweet looking manner infront of his HOD's, seen him crack jokes with his friends and have seen him dead serious when it comes to work. He would assign you work in such a way that you won't be able to say no. (He made me write his record books! :P ) No matter what time is it, he's always full of energy and with that smile! Would give you a piece of advice every now and then, which are quite helpful (Like APU is a nice hideout place to make your teammates believe that you're working while you're actually attending your class :P )

and many more, who have put in an equal amount of effort. To all of you, 

Thank you so much for all the efforts you've put in to give us all an amazing time! You guys are truly amazing! :D

As soon as this was over, I was going through mixed emotions. Happy after such an exuberant performance, sad because all this was ending. But hey, there is still something which suppresses that feeling of sadness - the thought of Maaya '13.

It only gets better...