Okay, I have to confess. When the idea of fete was first put forward, i was little skeptical so as to what purpose it would serve in strengthening our foundation in administration. I mean for crying out loud, cooking giant volumes of fast food and organizing some fun games with even funnier literal arabesques, what the hell was the point? But as the day ends, I find some sense in it. As Morpheus would say, "Fete, it seems, is not without a sense of irony".
The preparations had started long back actually and by that I only mean deciding the food menu and the game by each of the Counselor groups. They say that Engineers like to work only at the eleventh hour. But I rather see that as an unfortunate generalization to sabotage the sacred image of this quintessential community. I think that's common parlance and we all indulge in that. And the 90th Foundation Course is not untouched. Yesterday evening suddenly all the OTs realized that now there was no scope for procrastination and some work needed to be done. Like they say, a rocket goes up only when it's ass is set on fire.
So roles were given to people. Some went to the Mall road to buy some itsy-bitsy games. Some went to the Ganga Pooja duality to buy decoration stuff. Some were involved in the food preparations in coordination with the Mess workers. Some were given the task of designing posters for the stalls to attract more and more people. And the rest I tell you are the peace loving types. They were absent from all modes of communication and were not at all seen during the fete. As a defense, they claim that they are not on Whatsapp and hence the communication hiatus. अरे भाईलोग, अब तो नोकिआ ११०० का उपयोग बंद करो!
The night was going to be long it seemed. The decoration, the themes and posters had to be finalized and made by morning and this required midnight oil to be burnt. Of course, the girls had to show the light as we boys are generally creatively handicapped. Rather we like following orders in such scenarios and do not at all consider even for a second the application of mind. Kudos to all those innovative themes which transformed the Happy Valley ground into a culmination of beautiful and varied landscape. Large, colorful and calligraphic posters and pamphlets coupled by the vehemence of enthusiastic Officer Trainees. Perfect recipe for exuberance.
Although the curse of Polo ground is eclipsed on Saturdays and Sundays, still there was a lot of commotion in the early hours today morning. The cooking work had been going on since wee hours and in the early morning, Officer Trainees also joined the crusade. Although the mess workers were there to handle most of the work, the OTs showed extreme proclivity to the act of cooking and voluntarily agreed to be much more involved in the whole process. And boy, the batch has got talent when it comes to cooking. And this very intervention was very much required otherwise there wouldn't have been much difference between the Fete food and the Mess food. Just a better captioned version i guess.
Meanwhile the Happy Valley ground was buzzing with activity. People were trying to decorate their stalls with whatever they could find. In some case even the decoration stuff kept in the adjacent stall. Some stalls were happy that both the stalls adjacent to it are over decorating and from a distance it seems that the not decorated one is also decorated. And that my friends is called, esprit de corps. But then there were also stalls which started lethargically claiming that they were not at all in the mood for competing. But as others shifted to higher gears, they also had no option but to resort to same last minute enhancement tactics.
Finally upon the arrival of the Chief guest, the Fete was declared open and people started pouring into all the stalls. Firstly the food ones as we had not had breakfast. And post that the Game stalls started to get some audience. It was fun trying out all these games which made you do weird things. What is important is it was all for charity. We all had ample coupons to play all the games and eat all the stuff multiple times. But then came these kids from nearby places I guess. They hardly had any money with them to start with. Yes, all the fund raising here is being done for charity but it felt awkward asking coupons from these kids so that they can play the games and eat the food of their choice.
Many OTs offered their coupons to these children and let them play the game and win prizes without asking them for the coupons. It was sheer joy to see them enjoy the day. There were so many colorful stalls, myriad of games to be played and zillions of balloons to be punctured. It was like their fairyland. There was this cute little, very little kid who came to our basketball stall. Seeing his determination to score, I offered him a chocolate for merely trying with such zeal. He denied and said prize only when I score. Stunned by that infantile morality, I stood there waiting for him to come again and win. And he did.
Initially we felt that most crowd would dry up by noon and the show would end but we were so wrong. Post lunch school children started pouring in large number and kept the numbers high till evening. Overall a packed event I would say. Towards lunch, it became a bit of a challenge for OTs to walk along the food counters as someone would kidnap them and force them to buy their food items quoting that rhetoric "भाई, दोस्त को भूल गया तू तो !" On the other side, there were these people who had mastered a particular game and were going there again and again every 10 minutes. This very variety of people is responsible for revenue deficits of various stalls.
Towards the end, the whole ground transformed into this discotheque of sorts and all came running on to the floor. Overall i think, it felt joyous to be able to give some moments of fun and happiness to the children. It felt joyous to see our friends inviting us to their stalls with all the warmth. It felt joyous to work in groups and understand the dynamics of it. And lastly I extend a vote of thanks to all those who were involved in the preparation of all the delicious food items which were on the platter today.
From Fete we soon would be moving to Fatigue, as the Cross Country run awaits us.
The preparations had started long back actually and by that I only mean deciding the food menu and the game by each of the Counselor groups. They say that Engineers like to work only at the eleventh hour. But I rather see that as an unfortunate generalization to sabotage the sacred image of this quintessential community. I think that's common parlance and we all indulge in that. And the 90th Foundation Course is not untouched. Yesterday evening suddenly all the OTs realized that now there was no scope for procrastination and some work needed to be done. Like they say, a rocket goes up only when it's ass is set on fire.
So roles were given to people. Some went to the Mall road to buy some itsy-bitsy games. Some went to the Ganga Pooja duality to buy decoration stuff. Some were involved in the food preparations in coordination with the Mess workers. Some were given the task of designing posters for the stalls to attract more and more people. And the rest I tell you are the peace loving types. They were absent from all modes of communication and were not at all seen during the fete. As a defense, they claim that they are not on Whatsapp and hence the communication hiatus. अरे भाईलोग, अब तो नोकिआ ११०० का उपयोग बंद करो!
The night was going to be long it seemed. The decoration, the themes and posters had to be finalized and made by morning and this required midnight oil to be burnt. Of course, the girls had to show the light as we boys are generally creatively handicapped. Rather we like following orders in such scenarios and do not at all consider even for a second the application of mind. Kudos to all those innovative themes which transformed the Happy Valley ground into a culmination of beautiful and varied landscape. Large, colorful and calligraphic posters and pamphlets coupled by the vehemence of enthusiastic Officer Trainees. Perfect recipe for exuberance.
Although the curse of Polo ground is eclipsed on Saturdays and Sundays, still there was a lot of commotion in the early hours today morning. The cooking work had been going on since wee hours and in the early morning, Officer Trainees also joined the crusade. Although the mess workers were there to handle most of the work, the OTs showed extreme proclivity to the act of cooking and voluntarily agreed to be much more involved in the whole process. And boy, the batch has got talent when it comes to cooking. And this very intervention was very much required otherwise there wouldn't have been much difference between the Fete food and the Mess food. Just a better captioned version i guess.
Meanwhile the Happy Valley ground was buzzing with activity. People were trying to decorate their stalls with whatever they could find. In some case even the decoration stuff kept in the adjacent stall. Some stalls were happy that both the stalls adjacent to it are over decorating and from a distance it seems that the not decorated one is also decorated. And that my friends is called, esprit de corps. But then there were also stalls which started lethargically claiming that they were not at all in the mood for competing. But as others shifted to higher gears, they also had no option but to resort to same last minute enhancement tactics.
Finally upon the arrival of the Chief guest, the Fete was declared open and people started pouring into all the stalls. Firstly the food ones as we had not had breakfast. And post that the Game stalls started to get some audience. It was fun trying out all these games which made you do weird things. What is important is it was all for charity. We all had ample coupons to play all the games and eat all the stuff multiple times. But then came these kids from nearby places I guess. They hardly had any money with them to start with. Yes, all the fund raising here is being done for charity but it felt awkward asking coupons from these kids so that they can play the games and eat the food of their choice.
Many OTs offered their coupons to these children and let them play the game and win prizes without asking them for the coupons. It was sheer joy to see them enjoy the day. There were so many colorful stalls, myriad of games to be played and zillions of balloons to be punctured. It was like their fairyland. There was this cute little, very little kid who came to our basketball stall. Seeing his determination to score, I offered him a chocolate for merely trying with such zeal. He denied and said prize only when I score. Stunned by that infantile morality, I stood there waiting for him to come again and win. And he did.
Initially we felt that most crowd would dry up by noon and the show would end but we were so wrong. Post lunch school children started pouring in large number and kept the numbers high till evening. Overall a packed event I would say. Towards lunch, it became a bit of a challenge for OTs to walk along the food counters as someone would kidnap them and force them to buy their food items quoting that rhetoric "भाई, दोस्त को भूल गया तू तो !" On the other side, there were these people who had mastered a particular game and were going there again and again every 10 minutes. This very variety of people is responsible for revenue deficits of various stalls.
Towards the end, the whole ground transformed into this discotheque of sorts and all came running on to the floor. Overall i think, it felt joyous to be able to give some moments of fun and happiness to the children. It felt joyous to see our friends inviting us to their stalls with all the warmth. It felt joyous to work in groups and understand the dynamics of it. And lastly I extend a vote of thanks to all those who were involved in the preparation of all the delicious food items which were on the platter today.
From Fete we soon would be moving to Fatigue, as the Cross Country run awaits us.
2 comments:
It's been a pretty hectic week studying late night and rushing to attend classes in the morning, that your posts are proving to be such a relief! Thanks again for letting me get a sneak peak into the events that are coming along at the Academy!!! Thanks for the visual treat, as well.
Amazed at his zeal! By the way, how old is that kid?
Seven or eight i guess. Pretty amazing, yeah!
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