Prologue:
I last posted ten months ago, on August 1st, 2008. I cannot really put my finger on why I have not posted since then. Feels odd, not writing anything for ten months.
And then, suddenly, for the first time in ten months, I was forced to write, with a sudden 'assignment' given to us on our first day at SIMC. The brief was only this much - "Write your thoughts about the first day of orientation, in your own words. Be free, do not attempt to be politically correct. If you want to write a poem, then write one. If you want to write a letter of grievances to your granny, do so by all means. Write whatever you want, about the orientation."
This is generally not something that I would have written, and would certainly never have posted as a blog. The reasons for that would be numerous, with the prime reasons being the boring nature of the topic itself, as well as the sheer (lack of) quality of what I eventually wrote. But since I wrote something after so long, I felt that I might as well post it.
One of my friends described my last post as 'the smallest epic in the history of forever' - a compliment that I am yet to digest, and feel humbled by, in spite of not really feeling the same way. This one here, shows my true level.
And here we go...
Boring! Mind-numbing! Great excuse to sleep in an air-conditioned, dark auditorium! Before I actually attended the SIMC Batch of 2011 Orientation, these were some of the few descriptions that I heard flying about, in the boys hostel, about the first day of the orientation session, scheduled for us new SIMCians. In many ways, I am glad that I got to hear all of those descriptions before attending it, simply because the first day of orientation was something that cannot be described in just those few words.
The first day of any new phase of life is always filled with nervousness, trepidation, and of course, a heightened sense of excitement and expectation. And so it was with my first day, the prospect of a grilling orientation session looming large. There were too many things swimming in my head, for me to be hungry. So after a farcical breakfast (which in retrospect seems like a king's feast, considering I'm about as hungry as a starving bison right now), I trooped, along with my future classmates into the auditorium, awaiting the start of the orientation.
The first surprise came right at the start, when the stage curtains lifted at 10:00 AM - the scheduled start time. I have seen two years of pre-primary education, four years of primary education, six years of secondary education, two years of higher secondary education, four years of professional engineering education, and nearly two years of professional work experience, and I have NEVER known anything to start BANG on time. (If this is how I can expect the adherence of timings to be at SIMC, then the prospect of missing every single deadline suddenly seems like a distinct possibility. They don't call me Mr. Procrastination for nothing!)
The programme started with a short film about SIMC, followed by a brief talk from the Director, Mr Ujjwal K Chowdhury, on the proceedings of the day. I was fairly excited when I heard that Nandita Das's directorial debut, 'Firaaq' was about to be screened. It was a film which I had really wanted to watch, but had missed due to various time constraints (and of course, the film's blink-and-I-miss-it run at the cinema halls). I had no doubt that 'Firaaq' would be a fine first attempt by Nandita Das. However, I had not expected to be so moved, and so profoundly impressed with the film.
As someone who follows the news keenly, I had watched a lot of the post-Godhra riots covered on the various news channels, and was deeply affected by it. Das's taut story-telling, the moving performances, and the sheer nature of the story being told, brought back all those memories to me, and had me completely silent for a long time after the film. I have watched all kinds of cinema, with language and genre being no barrier at all, and this one will certainly be a film that I will remember for a while.
But what I had truly, genuinely not expected, was that Nandita Das herself would turn out to be so down-to-earth, so intelligent, and so sensitive at the same time. In fact, the interactive session that we had with Nandita immediately after the screening, was as interesting and impactful as the movie itself. Never have I known someone to speak so much sense, someone whose thoughts ooze so much meaning, and so much sensitivity, as Ms Das. It is just now, while writing all of this, that I suddenly remembered that I have always thought of Nandita Das as a very beautiful woman. The fact that this thought never struck me while she was on stage speaks volumes about her personality. Her session was truly, one of the most illuminating experiences of my life, one that is sure to have its own little impact on my own method of story-telling.
Immediately following the interactive session with Nandita Das, was the lighting of the lamp, (which, many say, symbolizes that once the course starts, the lights will always be on in our hostel room. Considering that I am writing this in the middle of the night, I am sure that is exactly what it symbolizes!) The lamp-lighting ceremony took place with some of the heads of the Symbiosis family, including the esteemed Dr. Mujumdar present. Another point which really caught my attention was how simple a person Dr Mujumdar is. I tried to crunch some numbers in my head, and thought that the top boss, head honcho of a group of 36 institutes, comprising a total of over 25,000 students, each paying many lacs in fees, would really move around in style. However, his simplicity and demeanor really made me feel that there is hope for this world yet.
Once all the dignitaries had spoken, we broke for lunch, which was again a mere formality, because we had a lot more to expect in the post lunch session.
The post-lunch session was kicked off by a few drab presentations, which started reminding me of the first few words that I used right at the start of what I am writing.
I was then shaken right out of my drowsy stupor once Mr. Anupam Siddhartha, the Deputy Director of SIMC, made his way to the stage. I recounted all the phases of my educational and professional life earlier, and in all of those phases, here again I faced another 'first'. This was the first time ever, that I have seen a faculty member of a college of which I am a student, orate and speak the way Mr Siddhartha does. He is confident, knowledgeable, lucid, funny, impactful, and, well, I could go on. The most important thing about the way he speaks is that he makes his point well. Which, of course, means that I am absolutely petrified with the sheer expectation of what I am going to go through, over the next few years. Summed up in the least possible words, I can probably say - I am doomed!
With thoughts about what I would be going through till May 2011 playing a frantic game of water polo in my head, we also got to see who would accompany us on our trying journey ahead, with Mr UKC proceeding to introduce the entire SIMC staff to us. It was nice to see all of them together on stage, and I couldn't help hoping that they were a nice, helpful bunch.
What followed after that were a few last words of wisdom, which basically were those words which most people don't listen to anyway.
At the end, as I walked back to the hostel room, along with my new classmates, I was nowhere closer to being more comfortable with this new phase of life than I was in the morning. My mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts about how life here would be. I've always dreamt of owning a God-gifted device which would answer every question I throw at it, including questions about my future. Never have I wanted that device more than I did when the first day of orientation was over. However, as I sit with my buddy, my MacBook, typing all this out, reminiscing about my day and thinking about my future, I cannot help confessing that if I had such a machine, then life would be no fun at all!
Epilogue:
I had to submit this before 10:00 AM on June 2. I eventually submitted this a few minutes before 10:00 AM, after a lot of struggle. (Read: Viruses and Windows). I later got to know that those who attempted to submit their assignment after 10:00 AM, were not allowed to do so.
