Oh Those Ten! - 4

KRIYA!

This is one moment wherein I have to take a cautious look at the previous word typed lest it hurts anyone concerned.I wish to attempt a piece of writing which entertains within those short boundaries of diplomatic sweet-talk.I remember those heady times in my first year when Jimmy Wales was at the Quadrangle and Kriya (A National Level Techno Management Fest,for the first-timers) was,well,everywhere.A separate book can be written on those sweaty nights of 2008 but this is Moment No:4.So let me restrict myself in recounting the remarkable tale of how a guy who was arranging chairs in the dais of Kriya 2008 ended up sitting in the dais of Kriya 2011.

In my third year,I worked under a fantastic chairman Krishna Kumar for more than two months but ended up missing the Main Event-Kriya' X owing to a body not catching up with the mind.Thus when Kriya 2011 was mine to be conducted,there were real apprehensions in me.Carrying chairs was one thing,being chairman was another.But I was gifted with Ajay Krishnan who kept reassuring me of solving all problems,the first of which started with fixing the dates itself.

The first weekend of February usually reserved for Kriya was taken up this time for CEG's Tour De Force-Kurukshetra.It is not prudent to have a musical concert at Chennai when a world cup final is going on at Chepauk-even if it is A.R.Rahman's.The second weekend was a busy time for many students opening GATEs to new avenues.Third weekend of February was always reserved for NIT's Pragyan and I preferred not to disturb.

March was too late ("Machi!Kriya is going on","Forget it.Let's study for lab exam da.ila na cup dhan.")January was too early (Even Ajay would have turned lean running hither and thither.)So,we decided to seal the last weekend of February.But first year students had their internal exams then.After assurances from the higher echelons that internals will be postponed by 3 days,we went ahead only to realise at the end that in PSG Tech,even 1000 Chernobyl-like disasters cannot postpone an exam by a minute.

Sponsorship got us into even deeper waters.Cognizant which always allotted funds for Kriya backed out because of extraneous reasons irrelevant to Students Union.Our placement officer told me that TCS and Wipro were worth a try.But P.O was too busy a person and I had to visit him more than 11 times to know the simple fact that TCS and Wipro can be approached.Another 11 visits followed before we got confirmation from TCS.I started visiting the Placement Cell during Christmas holidays and got the amount when Kriya was few days away.

In other out-of-college sponsorship attempts,many drew a blank.We approached Mafoi which had contributed to the 2008 edition.But it's head Pandiyarajan had ventured into politics and he was in the position of asking everyone else financial assistance so that he could contest on a Captain's ticket.(He won in Virudhunagar and is a MLA now.)Most of the firms we approached opted out on grounds that we were not worth it.

We were gifted with a new Dean-a remarkable person of impeccable integrity who thought twice before doing anything.This act of thinking twice suddenly became a liability burdening us with extra work.We were given a never-heard-before restriction of an outside strength of less than 500 during Kriya.We had to develop a mechanism to make it happen but the Dean could never understand that such a thing cannot be even dreamed of for an event with such pedigree and history.

Workshops which always pulled a lots of people towards Kriya also faced bureaucratic hurdles explaining which will exhaust Umesh and prevent him from typing a word more.We cancelled all those pre-planned workshops to be conducted by external agencies and came up with new ideas for workshops to be conducted by our own enthusiastic juniors.

A week before Kriya,all our Students Union officebearers asked a kili josiyakaran (For the ignorant,a fortune teller) how will Kriya go.The parrot chose a card with Lord Venkateshwara which told us a loud and clear "Govinda!Govinda".It felt so prophetic considering the mess we were in with every possible factor against us.

At the 10:59th hour,all things started falling in place with a fantastic array of sponsors,an impressive workshop lineup and a superb team by my side.Thus on 25.2.2011,within 2 hours of opening the registrations,something fantastic had happened.I came out of D-conference hall after a soporific inauguration only to see an animated Ajay."Dai registration count reached 800 da".(The success of any event in India is measured in headcount."Anbe Sivam" was a "failure" because crowds did not turn up in theaters.)It reached 1000,1500 and 2000 soon.Prizewinners were given away the cash promptly.Even Shankar sir who praises cautiously was effervescent after Kriya : "Kalakitinga chairman!unga team kalakitanga!".

When Ajay told "800 da",I could not help mouthing a Sujatha character-like "அபத்தம்!அபத்தம்! ஒன்றும் புரியவில்லை!".I smiled at him and looked for that kili josiyakaran to give back a poetic repartee.But this was no Rajkumar Hirani (or even Vikraman) movie.So,I just got back to smiling with Ajay.A smile which told a thousand stories.Of pain,sweat,despair,tears and glory.