Of Uncle Pai, IIT-B and BQC Open

As a little girl, seated at my study table, pretending to solve the much yawn-inducing Math worksheets assigned from school, I used to squeeze Tinkle comics under the damn thing and read them when nobody noticed. Yes. Stealthily. Like a mouse crouching in a corner nibbling on cheese. And I used to try my best to not show any of the myriad of emotions the comic took me through. Not to glow in the face when I solved one of those Tinkle Treats and Tricks; not to ‘eww’ when Chamataka gets bathed in a bucket full of coal-tar as a result of a failed plan to kill Kalia; not to facepalm when Suppandi makes a fool of himself (yet again). I had to be very careful; always keep a grim, this-Trigonometry-problem-is-so-tough-I-need-to-concentrate look on my face with my forehead pointed. Lest my mom notices and comes to investigate.

Among all the characters that Uncle Pai left behind, my favourite was Suppandi. His elongated half-head, long jaw and huge nose amused me. Coupled with his loose shorts (called ‘Senthil shorts’ in the South film industry), his red t-shirt and the way he changed his masters by the dozen, Suppandi was a sight to see. His clumsiness, stubbornness and uncanny ability to do EVERYTHING wrong were things that made Suppandi an epic comic character. I adored him.

Now imagine a room full of Suppandis, who are not even funny. On Sunday, 6th March’11, I attended a full-day event at IIT-Bombay – The BQC Open Quiz. And I couldn’t help but chuckle as the students of IIT-Bombay reminded me of the village simpleton. The clumsiness of the student organizers and their unparalleled ability in getting almost everything wrong. Except that Suppandi was innocent, genuinely ignorant and naive. He just couldn’t get a single task right. And genuinely so. But the IIT-B junta aren’t even innocent. For years now, I have noticed their casual approach towards organizing an event.

From what I gather, the BQC team had sent them detailed mails of instructions for the event. Availability of the auditorium, the mic systems, sound, buzzers, and other logistical requirements. And still, the last minute ‘jugaad’ for the buzzers, a lecture hall instead of the promised auditorium as the venue and absence of mics.

This is not the first time. Each time a quiz event happens at IIT-B, I have been witness to this kind of technological mismanagement. Why they failed to deliver was beyond me. Maybe, now I know why. Suppandi as a character was entertaining because of his ignorance at comprehending his own foolishness. Imagine another layer to him now. What if he knew what he is doing and still continued to do it? Its not ‘ignorance’ anymore, but ‘arrogance’. And you feel nothing but disgust and anger at such a character. That’s exactly what IIT-B student organizers come across as. Unbelievably clumsy with almost a ‘ok, chill da…why care?’ written on their faces. Year after year. (Link)

What irks me most is that in spite of the BQC team putting up such a fantastic show with high quality research, entertaining questions, and interesting formats, this review is overshadowed by the dismal arrangements made by the IIT-B students.

Coming to the quizzes, the BQC team put up an awesome event with a students-only general, an open sports and an open general quiz. The students general quiz conducted by Vikram Joshi and Pradeep Ramarathnam was thoroughly entertaining with questions ranging from Bunga Bunga to Kanga League. I felt the level of questions for students was just right with most of them being cracked by either the teams or audience members. It’s a good thing to keep the quiz on the easier side for students. They like to go home happy and entertained. Pradeep and Vikram did a good job of the hosting bit taking turns round wise.

The Sports quiz conducted by Atul Mathew, Anannya Deb and Anand Sivasankar was a decent show. (Note: I’m not too much into sports). What I liked most about it was their intention to make it an all-inclusive sports quiz. From styles of table-tennis grips to Kenenisa Bekele’s personal tragedy to Parvez Musharraf’s quote on Jahangir Khan, this was one informative quiz. However, I felt it could have been more entertaining with Cricket fundas. ‘Coz lets face it. In India, sport means Cricket. And it is essential to cater to the audience that’s there to just have some fun on a Sunday afternoon. In addition, the questions could have been shorter with more audio-visuals peppered in and a bit of coordination between the quizmasters would have helped. Hard core stuff deserves accolades.

This was followed by the Open General quiz by the big daddies – Rajiv Rai, Sumant Srivatsan and Vibhendu Tiwari. For anyone who’s wondering, why big daddies? Well, the slides were flawless, the questions ranged from moderately easy to real hard core toughies. I loved the history and entertainment questions specifically. My favourites: Kanchipuram sari shade MS Blue (named after MS Subbulakshmi) and the connection between AR Rahman, Tuntun and Hemlata. For me though, the highlight of this quiz was Sumant’s hosting. It was heartening to see him actually make an effort to walk to each team with the mic and MAKE them speak into it. And coupled with his witty comments and leg-pulls here and there, Sumant brought in some life after a long day of quizzing. With the absence of mics for teams, most of the times the audience couldn’t hear them during the other two quizzes. So Sumant, I felt, made it rather delightful.

All in all, a good day of quizzing for those who followed Rajiv’s advice and turned up, rather than watching the sissy cricket match at home. I have given up on IIT-Bombay students with regards to their ability to conduct an event flawlessly. Its not that they cannot. They just don’t have the intention. So here’s hoping BQC Open grows from strength to strength, and adds rich value to the already existing quizzing culture for years to come. As for IIT-Bombay event organizers, their anthem will always be the famous bath-tub song from Veer Zaara, ‘Hum Toh Bhai Jaise Hain, Vaise Rahenge.’

(Results of the quiz and snaps here: Link)

IIFT, Kolkata – Open General Quiz Review

Sipping My Fair Lady at Moulin Rouge, Park Street, Kolkata with a bunch of students from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, I wished I could spend atleast one more day in the wonderful city. The open general quiz conducted by us (QuizMonks) had concluded an hour ago and it was celebration time. We huddled in one corner of the restaurant and spoke about the quiz, questions, Kolkata quizzers, films, music, Calvin & Hobbes, Facebook, MBA, jobs and much more.

Earlier during the day, casual conversations with the students brought out the perceived image of Kolkata being quite a lethargic city. Shops pull-down shutters in the afternoons for naps, auto-rickshaws ply only fixed routes and quizzes (usually) don’t begin on time. This was partly right as the participants started filing into the auditorium only by 4.30 pm, an hour after registrations began.

Much different from Mumbai and its chaotic lifestyle, Kolkata is really one of those cities where people are pretty much at-their-own-pace. They don’t seem hurried and certainly not hassled. But, the auditorium was soon buzzing with participants switching seats, shuffling around, greeting each other and planning local quizzes and quiz club meets like one big happy family.

Lethargy or not, what we witnessed was a high spirited bunch of quizzers – agile and enthusiastic. Much like Chennai and Bangalore, school kids, college students and 40 plus uncles and aunties all played an active part in the extravaganza. A sight that we rarely see in Mumbai. I can recollect only one ‘uncle’ in Mumbai who is a passionate and a regular quizzer. One hardly ever sees school students at open quizzes.

The prelims went off well with all the 30 questions getting cracked by some or the other team. With a highest score of 22.5 and a cut-off of 16, six teams joined the two college teams that had already qualified through the online prelims.

When three of the first four questions in the finals went unanswered, Dhananjay and me were a little concerned that the quiz might turn out to be ultra-tough. But when the likes of Jayashree Mohanka and Souvik Guha grace the stage, you can’t expect an ordinary quiz, can you? The lead changed hands quite regularly in the initial phases and with almost 1/3rd of the quiz done, it was Charanpreet Singh & partner who led, albeit by a slender margin. The duo seemed quite surprised and jocularly asked, “Can we stop the quiz at this stage?”, prompting peals of laughter from the teams and audience alike. Unfortunately for them, the show had to go on and the doyen of Indian quizzing, Souvik Guha, decided to join the party. With some intelligent guesses and some matter-of-fact answers, he and Dr. Soubhadra Chakraborthy steered clear of others and won in a canter followed by Jayashree Mohanka & Sounak Chakrabarti on second spot.

I personally look forward to ‘high adrenaline moments’ in a quiz – when a participant cracks a bloody tough one or when the crowd appreciates a good question. And the Kolkata quizzers gave us those ‘moments’ and more! What is most delightful is that people seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves like they were on a picnic. Bantering at a co-quizzer’s lame guess to helping us correct elims sheets; participating with the objective of having fun and not being desperate to win are some of the traits that distinguishes Kolkata quizzers. One could sense a certain purity in their love for quizzing, a richness in their knowledge base, a lightness of touch in their delivery of answers and a nimble energy raging within them.

The students of IIFT, Kolkata organized the event with utmost perfection. The venue, the screen, LCD projectors, sound systems, mics were all spot-on. No technical glitches, whatsoever.  Right from receiving us at the airport to conducting the event to dropping us back at the departure lounge, Jagadish Sahu and his team of students were meticulous to the final detail.

And then the dinner with Sukrit, Sandeep, Ankit, Chaitanya and Jagadish was the icing on the cake. Add to that the almost-celebrity treatment that Karan Rampal, our official ‘guide’ for the trip gave us. Aah, what a weekend! This was one satisfying quizzing experience (unlike this disaster). Here’s hoping the quizzing culture of Kolkata remains as energetic and vibrant as ever.

Tharoor and Karna

Yesterday, my good friend, Bharat sent me this brilliant article from Outlook India by Vinod Mehta. The article dissects, deliberates and drives a point about the mallu mud-hook who has had the media chugging after him time and again – Shashi Tharoor.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265175

The life and times of Shashi Tharoor resemble a morality tale. Here is a man who begins life with an extra-long silver spoon in his mouth. Clever, even brilliant, awesomely well-educated, lucky enough to land one of the most coveted jobs on the planet, author of several critically acclaimed books, he comes within a whisker of being elected Secretary General of the UN, manages to win a Lok Sabha seat, becomes a minister in the privileged foreign affairs ministry…

I cant help but notice the striking similarity between Shashi Tharoor and the character of Karna from The Mahabharata. And pardon me for using a few phrases from Mehta’s write-up – just to make the comparison more interesting. (Excerpts from the article are in a different font and italicized)

The life and times of Karna (too) resemble a morality tale. He too was a man who began life with a silver spoon, and also a golden kavachh and kundal. Remember he was really a Kaunteya – born to Kunti & the Son God. Clever as a fox, very well-educated and trained under the great, Guru Parashurama (who was also Bhishma’s guru), lucky enough to land one of the most coveted kingdoms to rule (Anga, one of the 16 greatest nations of the time – Solas Mahajanapadas), most acclaimed leader of the Kaurava sena during the Kurukshetra war (lead the side after Bhishma’s fall and no rules were broken under his leadership), the only one on the Kaurava side, who was most respected by Krishna, the Lord of Lords. During pandavas’ exile, Karna, in order to establish Duryodhana as the king of the world, conquered numerous kingdoms.

From a very early age, he was seen as the genius boy. Once, as he watched Drona teach the chakravyuha to Ashwathama (Drona’s son), Karna wisely pointed out to guru Drona, that Ashwathama was neither a kshatriya nor a rajputra (king’s son). This was a virtual slap on the face of Drona because he declined from teaching Karna, claiming that he would play guru only to either rajputras or kshatriyas. Karna went on to become the sarvashreshta dhanurdhar (supreme archer) albeit the protection Arjuna got from all sides to hold the title. Karna was also the only one, other than Arjuna, who could have struck through the marma matsya (moving fish) during the Draupadi swayamvar.

His fairy godmother had bestowed on him another curse: Karna was fearless and on-the-face when he spoke of his willingness or unwillingness of something. (Just as Mr Tharoor’s frank tweets or as Mehta points out – Vijay Hazare to single malt whisky to global finance to jehadi terrorism.) I wouldn’t say Karna was articulate in his speech but the clarity of thought and precise verbal message are two things that he displayed brazenly.

Karna openly opposed to all of Shakuni mama’s flimflams ranging from lakshagrah (palace of wax designed to kill pandavas) to Draupadi vastraharan to the rigged dice game. Karna drove in his point to guru Kripacharya’s accusations of him being a shudra and could not consequently compete with Arjuna. He asked Krishna to mind his own business when the later told him of his birth origins thereby asking him to join the pandavas in the war. He didn’t hesitate to give away his only protection (from Arjuna’s wrath) – kavachh and kundal stating that he was the daan-veer. Such clarity with words and thoughts…

Self-doubt, is a phrase Karna had never heard. If he ever got into trouble; if the itihaas (history) questioned him about his blunders, he was sure his well-formed arguments and verbal valour would see him through. And Karna did get into trouble because albeit he opposed the lakshagrah, vastraharan, chausar ka khel, etc. he always stood by Duryodhana owing to his obligation/friendship to the latter. Karna was the symbol of dharma residing in the house of adharma. He was the ‘other’ Vikarna.

So, where is the morality tale? What is it that the mahaveer Karna shouldn’t have forgotten? Albeit, he was the best, with the most aggressive and dazzling mind and talent, he was his own worst enemy. He placed the obligation-to-Duryodhana card higher up in life, than dharma. Yes, his conscience pricked and pierced at him, hard. His mind did a ‘Karna calling Karna’ several times, but the unfortunate, egoistic, jealous warrior never paid heed. Karna was brought down by Karna.

Quizzing Misadventures

This happened last week at a premium B-school:

We (QuizMonks; the research team) reach the venue of the quiz two hours before the scheduled time for a dry run.

1) The event head has flown off to Delhi to participate in some other quiz. (Bravo!)

2) The assistant in-charge takes us to the venue when there’s hardly 30 minutes left for the quiz to start.

3) The LCD switches off every 2 minutes; there is no mic; no sound cord for the laptop to test the audio questions.

4) A volunteer gets a cord from somewhere after much delay and the audio works fine. (Phew!)

5) The volunteer says, “Since the sound cord is put in the system, the mic wouldn’t work. Dhananjay, can you shout?” (It almost prompted Dhananjay to reply, “Yes. Can I start with you?”)

6) We realize the LCD is a pain. The assistant in-charge asks a corporate participant to stand on a chair and rectify the LCD that’s mounted on the ceiling. (You see, the organizers don’t believe in being formal. What the hell! In fact, they don’t believe in being courteous either.)

7) After much delay, they change the venue of the elims to a different classroom. All participants are asked to move there.

8) At the new venue, the LCD and mics are fine, but the audio doesn’t work fine. A random volunteer says, “Guys, please don’t delay anymore. We are late already. Let’s start the quiz.”

9) We start the elims and Dhananjay has to change two audio/video questions on the spot, as the organizers couldn’t get the audio glitches smoothened.

10) The screen at the main lawns (where the finals are to happen) is a tiny one mounted on a tripod. We ask the volunteers to change it. One of them tells us, “It will be visible. Don’t worry. Anyway, the quizmaster would read out, na?”

11) We threaten we wont do the quiz if they don’t get a bigger screen. They use a flex/banner on the backdrop and the finals that were to start at 6.30 pm gets postponed until 7 pm. And then, they realize that the director is on his way. So the quiz finally starts at around 7.45 pm. The Quizmaster had arrived at 5.15 pm. (Who cares about sticking to the schedule!)

12) The ultra smart sound guy keeps on fidgeting with the speakers and every time an audio is played, no one is able to hear it. Every single time, the host has to keep on announcing, “Someone please get the audio straight.” Every single time.

All these goof-ups, despite giving them clear instructions (in writing) a couple of weeks before the quiz about the exact requirements; including, the size of the screen.

Just a couple of weeks prior to the above-mentioned disaster, at another premium B-school, the organizers look unprepared for the event. A tiny screen for a massive auditorium; winners being given post-dated cheques without even informing them about it, etc. The cribber-event-head tells us in a high-handed tone, “Dhananjay, I thought you’d bring with you at least 50 corporate teams. Still, we get only 27 corporate teams. What ya?” We make it clear to him that it’s not the responsibility of the research team to get teams.

Personally, I feel that most of these people conduct events to add bullet points on their CV. Everything boils down to that. What a farce! Quite a few organizers speak with us as if we are their slaves. I think they take this liberty with us, because we aren’t like the other quizmasters who strut around with attitude up their sleeves, stay on campus and yet arrive late for quizzes, order food at odd hours, ask people to postpone their flights since the quiz would run late and conduct the quiz according to their whims and fancies. Surprisingly (or, maybe not), they are the ones who are respected; students address them as ‘sir’ and talk to them like they were the bosses. These are men of honour!

When Dhananjay and I conceived the idea of a quizzing research company, we were very clear about what we wanted. Dhananjay loved quizzing and I always wanted to do something on my own. We approached two of our friends who also shared similar interests and just like that, we got started. Our motto was clear – to offer quality research that’s unmatched in the country and conduct quizzes where the focus is on the questions and not, the accompanying shenanigans. We would slog our asses; stay overnight at each others’ places, work and re-work on questions, re-frame them to make them look sleeker and yet informative; think about 100 odd things to make the quiz a good mix of easy/tough questions, keep on racking our brains to cover questions on varied topics, etc.

Some unsaid rules we follow (or, try our best to) religiously are –

1) No compromise on research no matter how ‘commercial’ the event/quiz might have to be.

2) We will never be late for our quizzes because, we value our and everybody else’s time. We reach the venue at least an hour and a half prior to the scheduled time and do a dry run.

3) Complete the quiz a week before the event, so that we can review it over the next few days and make it better.

4) A post-event review and take necessary steps to make it better next time.

5) We ask participants for their suggestions after every quiz and if they make sense (and they generally do), earnestly work towards them.

Maybe, we should throw some attitude. Maybe, we should arrive late. We should perhaps ask the organizers to serve us spicy Chinese food and Kiwi-fruit juice next time. We must insist on a chauffer driven car. We must repeat questions from previous quizzes. I think all this will make QuizMonks more coveted in the eyes of the organizers.

Sigh!

Ya Jhakkas!

Am taking a bow.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Armageddon 2006

Sinister shadows shroud the World,
Death-knell signal doom,
No magic shall shield thee,
Sheer knowledge be thy saviour.
The war begins….

Introduced in the year 2001, ARMAGEDDON is a Business Quiz organised by the BMS students of Mulund College of Commerce, Mumbai.
Armageddon-2005 witnessed a congregation of the best business quizzing brains from across the country. The onstage finale saw Amit Pandeya (QuestaSoft) and Kiran K (Qualteam) vanquishing the likes of Mitesh Agarwal and Ajay Kasargod (Sun Microsystems / WYSE Technologies), Rohan Khanna and Gajendra Kothari (Accenture / UTI AMC), Gururaj and Vijay (JWT / JP Morgan), G Sreekanth and Sabyasachi (TCS) and Arvind Khusape and Aniruddh (SBI / SIES) to clinch the coveted title.

The torchbearers of hardcore biz quizzing are back with Armageddon 2006, and promise to unleash a whole new world of knowledge excellence.

The quiz will comprise of a Written Elims from which the Top 6 teams will go through to the Finals.

Following are the details:
Date & Time:
10th September at 12 noon

Team Members:
Two per team
(A Team can comprise of participants from two different institutions / organisations)

Entry Fee:
Free for students and Rs. 150 per team for corporates

Venue:
Mulund College of Commerce
Sarojini Naidu Road,
Mulund (W), Bombay – 400080

Prizes:
First – Rs. 25000
Second – Rs. 15000
Third – Rs. 10000

For further details:

Samruddhi – 09833524561
armareturns@gmail.com or dhanu80@rediffmail.com

Here are a few questions from Armageddon-2005

1. It was unveiled on Oct 12, 1988 in a packed Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco, by demonstrating its ability to run four stopwatches at once and give a synthetic rendition of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. What?

2. Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and author, in his utopian book “Looking Backward: 2000-1887” described a society where transactions would essentially be conducted between the consumer and the Government and every citizen would have a share of the annual product of the nation. What term did he coin as a result?

3. Its roots can be traced back to 1979 when William Bernbach got the inspiration from banks who were offering toasters and electric blankets to their best customers and to new customers for opening accounts. It was launched on May 1, 1981 under the name ‘AAdvantage’. What?

4. Introduced in the 1870s, there are currently four in number and are operated simultaneously. Measuring 18 inches in diameter, they were manufactured by the G S Edwards Company of Connecticut. In the late 1980s, it was decided to refurbish them and add another one as a back-up. However, it was discovered that such of its kind were no longer being made by any company. Hence, G S Edwards Co. agreed to make a special replica and brought employees out of retirement to handle the job. While this was being done, an older one was discovered, which was polished and is now used as a spare one. What am I referring to?

5. A short film titled ‘True’, directed by Charles Stone III featured his childhood friends Fred Thomas, Paul Williams and Scott Brooks who would sit around using the catch-phrase ‘_______’. It caught the attention of copywriter Vinny Warren who signed Stone to direct television commercials for a brand based on the film. Identify the brand / catch-phrase.

Quiz till thou dropeth dead

Hafta 5 is out and rocking!

And so is my Inbox. Received some well written articles for the City column. Great going! Keep em’ coming 🙂

Late Lateef!

Yes, thats me. Late by chaar Hafta. Hafta opened on the 5th of June. Here I am posting about it now after its fourth issue is out. Anyways, better late than never I guess!

No, I shall not tell you what sort of a magazine it is, who are the other writers and what you must read (that, you must read me without fail :-), etc Coz’ that’s for you to find out.

Yours truly is part of the Metropolis team in the Hafta mag. This is a call to all bloggers, non-bloggers and will-be-soon-bloggers. If you have something to say about Mumbai city, your musings and meanderings, about locales and local trains, Monsoon, Marine drive or market (mayhem!), Shanghai or slum-bai, awe-inspiring or appalling features, your feelings, fantasies and frustrations……..just anything at all of this grand city mail me at surya[at]haftamag[dot]com.
If ‘Call of the mystic’ is not enough, here’s our clarion call. Now there, dont be late!!

The Blind Man’s Buff

Come twilight, a handkerchief is tied around your eyes to blind-fold, some ten odd hands touch your shoulders helping you swivel several times. Fingers rise up randomly before you with questions like, “is this one?…or two?…how much is this?…etc”, this being the test to make sure that you cannot see through the smallest puncture in the cloth, if any. The next thing, you are ushered to the center of the playground and so begins this amusement game. One, that we all played as 8-year-olds in the backyard, as 15-year-olds in school and even as 21-year-olds in sociable get-togethers. Some call it ‘The Blind man’s buff’ others name it just ‘blind-fold.’ The excitement of the sport is the anxiety in the minds of the players as to who would get caught or for a start, will someone get caught at all or not. This excitement may eventually die down and the game may transpire into a rather boring one given the fact that monotony continues minute after minute, hour after hour. Then, its time to call the shots for a change of sport or to call it a day.

But imagine a situation where you were given a choice to play it for a lifetime. Would you play on? Now, let me rephrase that and say – suppose, there isn’t a choice at all, and it is imposed on you, then what would you do?

I know of a certain girl (one of my closest friend) who has played this game for 21 years now. She has to play it each day and every night. She’s still playing and perhaps will continue for a lifetime. But mark some aspects here. There is no handkerchief tied around her eyes. There are no playmates, no playgrounds, and no get-togethers. There is no excitement, no fun. Most of all, its no game for her, it’s a way of life.

Yes, you have figured it just right! She is visually impaired and not minutely, acutely, or partially. She’s entirely sightless right since the day she was out from her mother’s womb. This means she cannot see a thing. She cannot see the blue sky that blankets the earth. She can neither view the rising Sun nor soothe her eyes to a full moon’s night. She cannot (like the other girls) look at herself in the mirror and admire her beauty while getting decked up for a party. She cannot awe at the guy in her college who happens to be her latest or next crush. She cannot admire the flowers with which her mother adorns her drawing room’s center table. She cannot for once, look at the gossamer dress she wears and feel proud about how she looks. No, she cannot see colours, rainbows, shadows, meadows, rivers….and all those beautiful beings and their belongings that exist in this mortal world. She lives in a world of her own where every other being/thing is yet another imagination of her mind. Put in simple words, she does not know what it means TO SEE.
The first time I met her was back in the year 2002, when I was in standard 12th and she, a junior was one of the many participants in a popular show, which I was hosting at the English Literary Association (ELA) of our college. To cut a long story short, she won some prize (I don’t clearly remember what) and after the show, I met her amongst other participants back stage. What ensued was a rather brief conversation:

Me: hi, am surya….congrats! You did well on stage. Hope to see you again sometime.
She: hey, surya. Thanks!

Little did I know then, that what I said would actually come true one fine day as it happened two years later in 2004, during my second year in BMS. It was the eve of the fresher’s party and like all second year students we had hosted a not-so-great-party for the new comers (first years). That’s when I spotted her amongst the crowd, walked upto her, addressed her to say, “hey, guess who?” Confident that she wouldn’t guess, I took fun in the usual suspense that one creates in a friendly banter. She sure took a minute, but replied with crystal confidence, “Surya from ELA, right?” I would have pinched my self a dozen times before I realized that I wasn’t dreaming. I was left speechless.

What commenced with the shortest conversation has transpired into an intimate friendship over the years. Now that I have known her so well, I know what it means when they say – ‘life is a struggle’ because for her, life is indeed a struggle in the true sense of the word and in its complete version. But the same word – STRUGGLE is the one that’s actually almost invisible while one gets to know/see her. The reason being, she may seem like any other ordinary individual and from her conduct or mannerisms nobody on this earth would guess of her visual impairment. She does all her work right from making her morning breakfast to her classroom power-point presentations, by herself. She knows for sure what coloured dupatta would go with her salwar suit, or which shade of lipstick goes with her t-shirt. She would seem like just another girl amongst the crowd (and one cannot know of her sightlessness) unless one observes her vigilantly. Cheerful, confident and shrewd are some of the best adjectives that I can possibly use for her. A consistent topper in college, an excellent orator, an M.A in classical music, at the age of 21….she comes to me as one of those people who symbolizes power and ecstasy.

One thing that I infer after knowing her inside out is that, for people like her, Self-confidence perhaps is the most integral part of their personalities. While she ignores people who take uninvited pity at her plight and extend a helping hand, some incidents in life may take a toll on her confidence level. One such event occurred last week that shook the very foundations of her self-confidence. It was this camp called ‘training for the visually impaired’ conducted by an NGO of some sort in Mumbai. Though she has always been reluctant to attending such camps, she had to succumb to the pressure of her parents this time and ultimately attend it. The training was rather depressing as for the first time, she was asked to hold a cane as support to walk, she was being directed for every petty movement of hers (in spite of assuring the volunteers several times that she can do her work all by herself) and those compassionate words with a seemingly sugar-coated accent of the instructors/volunteers at the camp, are still torturing her just as a nightmare. For a girl who has always walked on the streets with the support of her friends, and for one who has never been to a blind school or college in her entire life, this camp came as a de-motivating one – One that has a long, wicked index finger constantly pointing out to the hard reality of her life. The questions that she threw at me after her return from the four-day traumatic camp left me stumped. “What is the primary purpose of an NGO? Don’t they exist to make lives of the likes of me, better? Why then do they conduct such camps at all, when it’s so depressing?” I don’t know how to respond to this, because whilst these NGOs are correct (in a way) by training them to perform day-to-day chores, they also either avoid the psychological part of their lives or indulge into extensive motivational speeches a la ‘You can win’ by Shiv Khera, which is even more disheartening to listen to. I guess the only way out is – DO NOT term them ‘special’, DO NOT take unwanted pity, treat them as one amongst the rest. According to me, if given the right kind of exposure, then blind schools/camps can be completely done with. Am not implying an anti-NGOs-for-the-blind kind of an opinion. But if they can be avoided, the Blind Man’s Buff becomes a not-so-rough game to play, until life ceases.

HOppy New Year!

I will always cherish 2005, as the year that brought with it blossoms of the blogger in me…
Thanks one & all for lending an ear to the ‘Call of the mystic’
Hope we all ‘hOp’ into days which turn to be merrier than ever before…..
here’s to 2006
cheers!!
(ps: My new year song – “lose control….be a Rebel….apni toh paathshala…” – Rang de Basanti)