Kalam's Presence in CIT....Do you think it would have had any effect in our college??
Preparations for Pres. Kalam's visit
"Semester exams are postponed da" said one of my friends to me. I didn't really trust this guy, and said "Nice try, but you'll have to try harder to scare me"
"I'm not kidding, I'm serious, Kalam is visiting our college!"
"Really? When is he coming?"
"On the 18th, so exams are postponed!"
I didn't know how to react....on one hand, i was really excited that the president is going to visit our college and on the other hand, i was shocked as our tickets were already booked (one of the most memorable trips in my life...about which you will find in the next blog).
Well, I eventually turned out to be a blessing in disguise later. The exams were ending on the 22nd (for Mechanical students) so we rescheduled our departure to the 24th.
During the exams, one notable thing anyone would have seen in our college was, our college getting a much deserved face lift after a long duration....my guess is that this was the first time, they were repainting and relaying the roads in our college after its opening back in 1956, talk about golden jublee celebrations! Well, thats not it, The champion of most of the Indian students, The President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was going to be present in the celebrations....and later during the night there was a bigger surprise for those who longed for entertainment.
Arrival of the President
Come 18th of December,
I was not really excited when i woke up in the morning...it felt like just another day. I went to the college around 2 pm as the roads were going to be blocked to make sure, Kalam had a safe journey within the city. I was just languishing around in the college till we were allowed inside the makeshift tent. To my surprise, the temporary setup was pretty impressive with a lot of screens to aid everyone to have a closer look at whatever was going on, on the stage. The whole college was decorated with a lot of flashy lights to enhance its beauty (beauty of our college otherwise is almost zero, except for the trees) and was an eye candy to everyone (noone had seen our college like that before, we were rather familiar with a college that looked like a giant trashcan with a lot of weeds!)
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After an hour's waiting, we could see Kalam's chopper landing at the airport, after which we had to do another hour's waiting, while he attended some other function elsewhere at R.S. Puram.
Finally, the hour of arrival!
A Boring speech by the hosts
I could see a lot of excitement in everyone's faces, probably 3 hours of waiting was worth it. As soon as Kalam arrived, the national anthem was played. As usual you cannot expect the Chief guest to speak right away, the chairman and his brother started boasting that our college was built in accordance with the standards of Massachusettes Institute of technology! This was one joke, that made me laugh the whole night! CIT is nowhere in comparison with MIT (which is the best in the world for Engineering sciences), nevertheless, i should appreciate the guts that these two people had to say such a piece of crappy information right in front of the President!
An Enlightening speech on Deaf Ears
Kalam finally got his chance to speak (we were finally awakened from our slumber when we heard that The president was going to speak next). As usual, his speech was great. He started off with his trademark "Vanakkam". His speech was simply inspirational, and everyone nodded to whatever request he made to us. Little did Kalam know, that most of the students of CIT have a wind tunnel in their heads! What goes through one year, comes out through the other....simple! An attribute this fact is:
Kalam asked us to repeat a seven point affirmation...something like an oath...of which one of the points was on cleanliness, keeping the country clean.
In no time after Kalam's departure, everyone moved towards the food stall. All that one could see was a crazy crowd that looked like a mob revolting against something. There was total disorderliness and plates were just thrown here and there. Everyone was fighting for food and in the process, there was a huge dust cloud which affected a lot of people, one of the victims being me....I had to inhale a lot of dust! Talk about "Keeping the country clean!"
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Litter all over the place!!
Well, what can I say. Its only upto us to take whatever good one gives....(I'm happy i'm one of those who can do that!)
The surprise concert
After Kalam's short visit, we took our seats getting ready for the next event. After some boring songs by an orchestra, there was a surprise! Hariharan had come suddenly into the picture. Everyone had totally lost it now! There were whistles, cheers, claps all over the place. I too was excited.
This time, there was no stopping us. We sat in the front. My yearmates looked as though they were drunk...partying mood was really into them. As I didn't feel like dancing, i sneaked front, which was reserved for VIPs....later in the night, i got to sit on chairs with cushions.
Hariharan's renditions were good in their own point of view. Since I am aversed to "Dappanguthu" songs, I really didn't enjoy myself as i expected to. There were a few songs like Yaadein and Tu He Re which grabbed my attention. For most other songs, i had to plug my ears with my handkerchief. It was really nice to see everyone dance, especially the first years who had totally forgotten that they had an exam the day after! After a marathon of a concert, it finally ended at 1:30 in the morning...talk about concert timings!
Mission Escape
After the concert, obviously it was too late for me to go home by bus. Anticipating that this would happen, I was prepared to stay overnight at the hostel. Only when everything got over, did i realize that day-scholars were not allowed to stay at the hostel! Oh my God, what to do? Well, being my daring self, I took the chance of sneaking into the hostel without the watchman noticing me. This was the first part of the mission....and it was easy as the night watchman hardly knew anyone in the hostel.
Hariharan's concert though boring for me, was a blessing in disguise. Because of the late night concert, the attendance in the hostel was not taken on that night. I slept in Bino's room. He's one of my close friends back at CIT. He gave me his bed to sleep and another guy gave me his sweater (it was really cold and was hard to sleep without a blanket).
Next morning, i woke up pretty early just because of sheer nervousness. I was aware of what would happen if the watchman found out that I had stayed overnight...probably I'd be sued for life! I woke up Bino, and he orchestrated my exit. Every minute felt like an hour while planning the escape. It felt like movies wherein, the thieves escape the police by God's grace!
Bino- The guy who helped me escape
I followed whatever this guy told me to do, and finally I was out of the hostel! Haaaaaaaaa....a sigh of relief! I left the college and succesfully reached home.
That brings an end to a memorable night!
