My Nitte to-do List

Its been a hectic start to the new semester at College; my seventh. The Final Year of B.E. life, the final year to realise our dreams, the final year to live life, to have fun and the final year to complete “the Things You need to DO while at Nitte”. The Newest checked item on my list is Having Bun-Palti with Cheese at Shashi’s. I had to Wait for about a year after i heard about it to actually taste it.

This list is more or less made of stuff that you need to try atleast once while at Nitte. Everyone has their own interests and their lists should reflect this. Me being a foodie and fun loving guy , my list essentially consists of these interests. They may seem mundane but sometimes you realise that you haven’t done that. Its the experience that s required.

Some of the stuff on the list that i have done are :

1. Visit Parapady Falls.
2. Eat Bun Palti.
3. Take part in Fresher’s orientation.
4. Ride in Toofan.
5. Visit the “tribute to rock” murals at Shabari and have a bite to eat too.
6. Eat Awesome Puri Bhaji at hut ( although i did not end up in panaji)

Well there are also some that are more like a personal achievement. Like staying real late in college, starting a club in college, being backstage, practising for events, singing in the department library, hanging out at MBA forest, watching a movie at Forever, roaming in Manipal and Karkala, studying at Sanmathi and definitely eating out at all the nearby joints and riding the College buses.

While all these things do bring up fond memories there are still quite a lot of things that i have not been able to do. A visit to Kemmanu temple, The Hanging bridge, Gomateshwara statue at Karkala, Bhoot bungalow( Rajat suggested this place) and the most awaited one undoubtedly is “the middle finger” like monolith (only 23ers will make sense of this one)

So there goes. I hope am able to complete the list and maybe add some more stuff to it while am here this way.

Betting on ye old ways

People say that you need to try out everything at least once in life. Every experience teaches you something; may it be good or bad. With the second edition of the IPL, the craze of betting hit the class. These were low level bets made just for the fun of it, with the collected ‘pot’ funding a party eventually. There are 2 such clubs in class betting below 5 bucks per match thus making it quite affordable. Nope i didnt take part in it coz as it is i dont watch much cricket anyway and didnt want to be sucked into the chaos. Some of the guys however do foray into betting slightly bigger amounts and luck may court them at times but at the time of writing this post they are undergoing a loss. But its fun to observe this and yes its an en”rich”ing experience, provided its doesnt turn you into an addict and ruin your life.

My 21st

I never did finish that Tag from Advi. Sorry about that. The first question on that was to google the image of how old you’ll be on your next Birthday. Naturally i already knew that the Movie 21 would suit it right but what did really happen on my 21^st is something i could never imagine. This is a short write up on what happened and also a THANK YOU! to all those who planned and made it happen. You people are the Best friends that money cant buy. The Nuttiest Nmamitians am glad to have known. Also thank you to all the people who wished-right from the midnight calls to the last sms that night!

Okay so i had been predicting that something would be up for my birthday. So on Saturday when Rajat started to turn the wheels in to motion i got the hint and decided to trouble them a bit Lida got a bit stressed and tried to convince me into going for mass on Sunday morning but i was just playing with them because anticipating i had already gone for mass on Saturday. Rajat’s Yarn was also quite full of bullshit too; on why he wanted me to come to Pabbas. Anyway i wanted to know how much of a surprise this would be so i decided to play along with them.

Around 4:45 i reach Lalbagh. Megan and Rajat are outside Pabba’s waiting for me. There’s some time delaying done until things are set. We loaf around till then. Praahas apparently finds a locked gate too high to jump over hence the delay. He was supposed to ambush me and tie a blindfold and kidnap me. Finally after some hiccups this gets done. They take me to the car driven by Elias and put me in. The car started. The blindfold was set right. My camera starts rolling. To skip boredom we have a casual conversation during which Rajat inadvertently lets out that we are going to Sulthan Battery. Another goof up on their part Finally we reach Battery, blindfolded with a dupatta i become quite a spectacle on the river shore as we wait for the Ferry. Madhu comes and wishes me. She couldn’t wait longer as she was bit busy that day. Praahas and Rajat lead me on. Finally the Ferry appears. They had booked the entire ferry for this. Naman helps me guide down the steps into the Ferry. I Hear Raison say something. They remove my blindfold. All my close college mates are here! Sindhu takes over the Camera from Elias. The Birthday song is sung in the Middle of the River and the Cake is cut! I would never have imagined this!! We reach the other side and then there’s the gift giving ceremony, the chocolate facial and also the Birthday Bumps(ouch!). All firsts. Somehow the chocolate gets cleaned off my face. We go to the beach. After some time these guys catch me and drop me into the water. We drench Sindhu and i help drop Rajat and Naman into the water. Karthik gets spared as he’s got to travel back to Manipal. Elias and Praahas are too huge for us to carry We spare the rest. We play Dog and the Bone and also do the Sunset Wish before leaving for home! Thats how it ends.

Inspite of all the goofups i absolutely loved this birthday surprise and i Love all these people who made it happen- Lida(Lidu), Rajat(Imp), Rishitha(Riz), Praahas(Mots), Elias(Goldberg), Mario(Mad), Karthik(Karth), Raison(Cow), Rathan(Rbk), Naman(Envy), Sindhu(Sin), Madhu (Madu), Akshatha (Aks). Also thank you to all those who couldn’t make it. This was one birthday that i could seriously never Forget!

The Video i made of it all is 30 minutes; too long. So wont be uploading it.

The Aisiri experience

The Aisiri Experience:

Aisiri, the 10^th VTU fest in its as yet grandest avatar was held during the 15-21^st of February at SBMJCE , Bangalore. Our College was one of the 93 colleges that took part. Our 46 member team was all geared up for what was to be our best VTU fest ever. We already had the feeling that this was perhaps our best chance to win a championship place and we were all ready to do our part and contribute to the team. Here’s a short summary of all the days and events that took place during that week.

Day -1: yeah we call this Day -1 because we were leaving for the fest a day early as we were required to report before 8pm the next day and we didn’t want to take any chances. Most of the 46 participants were going to stay for the whole week ahead while some others had decided to join us later. The Buses left College that Friday the 13^th but there weren’t any accidents or any other mishaps perhaps due to the prayers offered by Guru before we left. The night in the bus was a party with antakshari played until slowly everyone started to sleep. However couple of other friends and I was awake when we went through the Ghats and were treated to an awesome sight of a moonlight night and the clear sky.

Day 0: We reached Bangalore and were the first college on the campus of SBMJCE at around 7 in the morning. Breakfast was provided to us around 9 but then things were delayed. There was some delay regarding the registration and accommodation and we were stuck in a seminar hall till almost 4 in the evening. Tired and exhausted we hauled our luggages to our allotted hostel. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we were all very happy with the accommodation provided. Day 0 thus ended with us having Dinner at the huge dining hall set up opposite the HUGE main stage. The excitement was building up!

Day 1: The events started off today. First up was the Reporting and Photography, a newly introduced event which was all about covering the events of the entire fest. The harmonic Folk orchestra was one of the main events for our team that day. Creative writing and Clay modelling took place simultaneously that afternoon while Shadow play was later at around 4. We got a standing ovation for Shadow play-the evolution of man. Most of the facilities and the venues totally blew us away! They had state of the art theatres and music systems. What even surprised us was the college hangout- Munchies which was air-conditioned, had flat screen TV’s and wait for it…. the food was affordable and yummy!! Throughout the week we hogged a lot at the place. Even now if you ask any of my team mates about Munchies, they will wax eloquent. The other major catch phrase that we had was ‘Falun Dafa is good’. Falun Dafa was one of the stalls which were setup up at the technical exhibitions and you will still hear the vtu fest people speaking it in college. ISRO, TUV Rheinland and many more companies also had stalls. Layatharanga was the Fusion band which played as part of the evening entertainment for the Fest. I missed it but I heard good reviews about it.

Day 2: Rube Goldberg Contraption*, my main event for the day was to be held at 9 in the morning. After having slept late that last night preparing for it, we somehow managed to pull ourselves together. Skipping breakfast, Elias, Ashank and I made it to the venue and set up the contraption in the given time frame. After our first 2 chances to have a flawless execution failed we were all tensed. Most of the team members were present praying for the successful working during the third and final chance. And lo and behold! It worked with only 2 errors!! Everyone celebrated. It was truly glorious! Classical dance was another main event for us. Anupama took part and wowed the judges. Cartooning had the team Navrasa and Ranjeeth’s version was amazing! Raison and Karthik got through the prelims of Buccaneers- a management event easily. Shrikiran our mimic took part in the Mimicry competition and Semi classical vocal had Ramdas taking part. Debates were the other event that our college took part on that day. Stem dance and Kalaripayattu was that evening’s program which i missed again but I watched a bit of the fashion show event that took place later that night.

Day 3: Our dance troupe performed a tribal dance with the ‘jingo baba’ prop for Folk and tribal Dance, Tabla maestro Narasimha took part in Classical instrumental percussion while Varun sang for western vocal solo. Elias took to the floor with his poster paints to present a very graffiti version of rangoli. Our main grievances were that the western vocal venue had echoes and the rangoli venue was on the open air balcony. Post western vocal solo, there was also an informal jamming session by all the participants. At the same time the JAM prelims were taking place but Rajat missed making it to the semis and beyond. Synaps headlined for Pentagram that night. The team had the most fun that night. We danced and danced to rock music. Everyone was exhausted by the end of it.

Day 4: We presented our one act play at the first slot. This is the first time that we had written an original script and had worked quite hard on it. Things however went better than plan even though we had some minor glitches. The first round of Group dance was held at the colossal Colloseum, on the spot Painting was where Ranjeeth was at work while at M-adventure Naman, Pramod and Ashank presented their political campaign. Group song Indian was where our Singers were at. Our orator Nikhil took part in Elocution. That night there were last minute additions made to our Launch Pad entry but before that, that night was the night when the ‘awesome foursome’ were performing. Siva mani, Balabhaskara , Keith Peters and Giridhar Udupa enthralled the audience with their music which stuck as impromptu but just brilliant especially Balabhaskar with his violin and their finale-their version of Hotel California.

Day 5: The dance troupe had to present the second dance which was a themed dance on AIDS prevention. The Launch pad event didn’t go too well. Quiz and Programming prelims were both uneventful, Installation kept me busy during the afternoon. Ramdas took part in the Light vocal Indian solo. Elias’s Collage entry also turned out pretty well. Kishore and group’s patriotic themed skit on Bhagat Singh was a hit. The Federation of International Students Association had a dance performance highlighting the various international dances. One of the We played Dumb charades with some of our newly made friends of SBMJCE till quite late that night. Fests after all are to promote camaraderie and healthy competition between colleges.

Day 6: Chaithra’s Creative Dance, Group song western and Mime had us running around to the different venues to cheer the respective teams. Nanditha’s classical vocal and Ranjeeth’s Poster making, Poetry recitation and Dumb charades all took place during the morning. The Evening’s program by Raghu Dixit project wasn’t as good as the other concerts. There were some sound system problems which kinda spoiled the mood every now and then. After dinner we left for our rooms. Somewhere around 12 at night we come to know that the first set of results has been announced and that we have won quite a few. I run all the way from our rooms and there’s a celebration at the main stage as we verify the prizes. We lead at that point of time with MSRIT next in place.

Day 7: The Only event that was scheduled for today was the Quiz finals. Sadly we had not made it through just missing it by one qualifying point. Charu Sharma hosted this event and our team won quite a few audience prizes. Raison won a Reebok t-shirt while Vigneshwar won a Reebok cap as well as a new cellular phone from Nokia. After the finals the second set of results were announced. We were still on top of the points table and everyone was cheering away! We had nothing to do for the rest of the day as the Valedictory was scheduled for the evening. There were performances by the Kathak group Abhinava and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. The valedictory was delayed and as a result of which we, the participants lost the chance of going on stage and accepting our prizes as our ‘dhol’ and ‘taase’ played on. As the leader board was named out backwards we had our hands crossed. But sadly we came third. The host college SBMJCE took the runner’s up and MSRIT were the Winners overall. This was kinda a dampener as everything looked as if we would have got a place. Nevertheless with 11 medals, this was the best standing NMAMIT had ever got till date. All this was possible only because of the incredible teamwork that everyone showed. We had not taken part in all the events and had a smaller team than most colleges, in spite of that we were able to come out 3^rd. This is definitely a great achievement which may perhaps inspire us to do better next year. This year will be the Last VTU fest for our Fourth years, who were alone responsible for 2 golds, and 3 silvers. We will miss them next year and hope that we will find someone to fit into their shoes. We also hope that this and many more events taking place all throughout the year inspire more students of NMAMIT to take part in more extracurricular activities. Here’s to the Future.

The Winners:

Golds in Shadow play, Classical Dance, Rube Goldberg contraption, On the spot painting, Skit and Poster Making.

Silvers in Western vocal solo, Cartooning, Mimicry and Creative Dance.

Bronze in M-adventure.