Sunday, April 19, 2009

For Real?




It wasn't supposed to turn out this way, however we half hoped for it. Going in, none of us had predicted the impact it would have on each of us. Cliched, but true. We couldn't deny it, we couldn't verbalize it. The night before, we were struggling, in every sense of the word. Dances weren't set, ticket sales were frighteningly low, every possible quarrel was surfacing, I for one was ready to give up. It wasn't like me, but that was it. I couldn't take it anymore.

I went back home thinking about all the work that we had put in for Maitri 2009 to be a success- the publicity and sponsorships Mayuri and Ravi worked for, Saravanan going through what every President goes through handling an organization, Manny trying to keep up with us with our extravagant demands regarding videos and website updates, Karthik and I still in a conundrum on dances, Prashanth trying to figure out why half of us were screaming at each other, Shilpa going out of her mind handling all the events and then Vishal, poor Vishal handling all of us- who was handling him remains an unanswered question. Chaotic right? How we pulled it off, will remain in the enigmatic books of unknown history.

There was no pressure(all pun intended). Srinath's team had pulled off one the best Maitri's in GISO's history, we had to top it. We had to cut down performances cause there were so many of them emerging, it was hard to do that. It was our reputation on the line. Friday evening was do or die, for me-do and die .

And then it happened, everything fell in its place. A three hour event, all with its glitches, hidden carefully and professionally. New records surfacing, every participant in everything. We couldn't suppress too much talent, yours truly guilty of this as well. Dances were an instant hit, the UH band pulled off their spirits, fashion show living up to last year's side effect, Ram-Leela- hmm I am sure we can keep that off the list given the impact it had on us, phenomenal to say the least and then Sand Animation. That one event we were counting on to make our Maitri better than the rest, our savior from all possible criticism, our messiah. There was not one glitch when it took place- nostalgia filled up the air like never before. Omkar and his team pulled off something none of us had even dared to predict.

The aftermath of Maitri, like generations before had faced, still is the same. An oft heard phrase around the UH campus amongst the Indian crowd - "Let's go practice". Kranti teased me the following weekend, asking me if I had gotten out of the Maitri fever. The answer is a little too obvious. Its one of those things that leaves something on you- be it missing deadlines, be it not caring about homework, be it time management skills (that we dutifully forget later on), be it anything- it keeps us talking of the good times.

To all who helped us make Maitri 09 a success, a sincere Thank You from the Editor. I shall now stop writing since my labmates are wondering what I am doing and let you off the misery this write up has brought about.




~Shreyasee Das

1 comment:

thefuzzygirl said...

Sweet blog Shreyasee....ur a smooth writer..:)