TNite, RJM 1

The T-Nites are long over, but the excitement is as fresh !! And today we all got reminded of it again....Why ? I will come back to that later.....But first lemme continue from where I left !!! Yeah, the second half of the T-Nites

After the dismal performance on day 2, we were all charged up, thanks to the tuchchas also, to go out there and give a scintillating performance on the RJM nights. OK, our auditorium here is called the RJM is short and since the second half of the T-Nites takes place at the auditorium, its called the RJM nights.

Our classes got over on saturday afternoon and we knew we had very little time on our hands to get our act together for the first of the RJM nights that same night. We all quickly had our lunch and got back to the class to start off a marathon preperation session. Oh man ! One should have seent eh enthu and commitment. We were all working frantically with one single aim.....to rock RJM 1. A main hurdle was to decide upon a theme. It was critical that we have a theme for the night coz thats where we had lost points in the past 2 evenings. After much brainstorming, suddenly someone came up with an idea of 7 !!! Seven ?? What the heck is that.....was the initial reaction. But slowly it started making sense.....our class was CR 7...our fashion show had a theme of seven emotions/qualities/styles......our dances came from the seven seas.....and our music spanned seven continents !! yeah, not a bad idea.....And so it was decided....7 is the theme for the night. And voila !!! The poster team immediately got going and started work on a real real huge banner for the stage. What a fundoo modern design it was depicting 7....I tell u, these girls in our class are damn talented !!

The rest split into their own teams and started practicing....Before we knew it was time to go to RJM......The dress code was black for everyone. So there we were in a group moving towards the RJM.....a huge black group shouting slogans, a bit nervous thoug. Nervous coz the practice was not cmprehensive due to paucity of time....We were not sure if we would be able to pull it off well.

One good thing we did this time was that we had planned our entry and exit well coz there were points for that also. When we all enetered, a song started playing in the background..."Zindagi mil ke bitaayenge" from satte pe satta...Boy, the strategy was bang on target, it worked like magic with the crowd coz none of the sections had enetered on a song......which was also related to the theme. We all got on stage and spread oursleves out coz its a huge stage and we needed to cover the entire stage. Just imagine, nearly 60-70 guys on stage cheering, waving, dancing !!!

The show started with a yanni rendition by our ace pianist....Man...this guy is a genious when he plays the piano.....it was a perfect start and the audience couldnt help but bowing to his magic. Performances came one after the other, all brilliant i must say....Not just coz it was my section....genuinely it was a class show that we put up....The music band was great.....The dances were our strength with some fantastic dancers in our class.....One dance was performed by a guy and a girl on the song "oh humdum suniyo re"....the guy danced western and the girl classical.....It was beautiful indeed...And the last item was a solo western dance act by another girl.....One of the most brilliant acts I have ever seen.....The crowd got up from their seats and everyone bowed to her....

All the time someone was performing on stage, the rest were all behind on stage cheering, dancing along wioth the performer. When the final act got over, we were signalled we barely have a minute to get out of the auditorium....Oh boy....we collected all props as quickly as we could and ran like crazy to get out of the auditorium so that we dont exceed our time limit, which would in turn extract a penalty.

We all came out, took a breather and shouting and cheered at the top of our lungs....Coz we knew we had done an awesome job.....We could hear the audience screaming "Awesome Awesome" when we were performing......And this was ratified when our section seniors came out and told us that ours was by far the best performance of the night....They said we have surpassed all expectations and were clearly much better than the rest....What jubiliations....we knew we were back with a bang !!

BUT..................the fashion show was yet to be done.....When all sections had finished their performnaces, then the fashio parade for each section was to start....We had nearly a couple of hours to get ourselves ready for it. We came back to the class and started practicing.....And it was then I came to now that I was also there in the fash P. Ha ha ha....i somehow managed the attire ....got some practice abt what I was supposed to do.....the seniors and the class girls did the make up for all of us....And voila we were all ready....

The fash P was based on the theme of 7 and displayed 7 emotions/styles ( like lust, greed, envy etc.) What a thoroughly professional performance.....Had u seen the fash P, u would have thought these guys r professionals practicing since weeks......It came out perfect, stylish, sauve, elegant......this class never ceases to surprise me with its talent and energy..

We came back to the class and knew we had aced the fash P as well......the seniors again told us this was the best fash P amongst all the sections.........

Within an hour the results for the day and the cumulative results so far of all the 3 nights were put up on our internal communication client......

Our class, Section A, were the top performers of the day by a huge margin. .....We were top in every category...entry, exit, events, music, dance, theme, enthu...everyhing. We were also the top in fash P, again by a big margin....

And since the weightage of RJM1 and RJM 2 is mucg greater than the mess nights, the cumulative standings said : "SECTION A at the top rank by a comfortable margin"..

Woowwwwwwwwwww......Our enthu knew no bounds.......We shouted till our throats started acihng......We had come back with a big bang...We knew we had the talent for the RJM nights and it was proved right...

The seniors treated us with a pizza treat.....Imagine treating 70 people with pizzas....But then this is IIMA and everything is so special here.....The pizzas came in the class and we all relished them while simultanouesly working for the next day...

One final hurdle to go....We knew we cant afford to relax.....Every section will raise their performnace on the last night and we cant be complacent.....We had loads of stuff to do...Decide another theme, another banner, get our class act going ( will explain later what this is) .....lots of stuff to worry abt...

But the tempo was high...Coz we were at the top.....We decided to pack for the day and come back the next day early to startf off the final leg of preps with a renewed josh....

What happened to Sectino A on the final night ? Did we win the trophy ? Or did we slip up ? How much masti we did on the final night ?

Stay tuned......Willl be back tomorrow !!!

We rocked T-Nites

Phew....
In the past 23 years of my existence, I have never seen and felt so much enthu, fun, talent,coordination,hard work,partying,planning,panic,strategy,contingency,bonding,unity and to sum it all.....PURE MAGIC !!!

Yes, I am indeed talking about T-Nite 2006. These words can only hint at what the T-Nites r all abt......U gotta feel it to understand its magic...I will describe each day of the event in installments in the next couple of days.....

First let me desrcibe the format of T-Nites. It lasts for 4 nights and is an inter-section contest among the 5 sections of first year students, A,B,C,D and X (X is of the PGP-executive course started this year). The first two take place at the mess which are very informal events with a small makeshift stage and all the tuchchas sitting on the floor and cheering/booing us,depending on how exciting perofrmance is. Each section is alloted a time slot of abt 20 min. The time included ur entry and exit in the mess and penalty points are deducted if u exceed the alloted time. There are points given on hosts of factors ranging from strength of class participation, posters, enthu level of the class and the actual performnaces. The Mess nights are such that you can not have any plays or something very formal and high class kinds stuff.....They r meant for lots of masti and thus u need great dances on catchy songs that can keep the boisterous audience rivetted.....the music must never stop !!! The last 2 nights take place at the auditorium about which I will write later.

On the first day, the T-Nite are officialy inaugarated by the PUB-RUN that take place in the afternoon. OK, before u get weird ideas, lemme explain what it is. It stands for "Publicity Run". Basically each section has tio put up posters in the mess complex for their publicity. IN order to decide which section gets which places on the mess complex walls, this run is held. Getting the ideal places for ur posters is super crucial. So what happens is that there are 10 runners from each section. The enitre batch (all sections) gathers at some distance away from the mess. When the whistle blows off, the first runner of each section runs off into the mess comlex, carrying newspapers/cloths marked with their section names on them. Its kind of a race who reaches first to get the best places. So when a guy pastes his newspaper on the wall, then that place is booked for that section. Once the pub run is over, the section can come, remove the paper and put its poster there. After 1 minute of the first runners, the second set of runners of each section dart off and so one till the last runner. The total time for pub run is 30 min.

Now I was the first runner from our section. It had started raining when all the sections had gathered outside just before the begining. The preps were frantic. All the runners were carrying huge newspapers (which had been prepared for the last few days) with their sectin names, cloth etc. Tapes of different shapes, types and sizes were pasted on our shirts, body and wherever there was space so that we dont have to struggle for tape inside the mess. Waise the papers already had the double sided tapes but still. So there we were, tapes all over our body and papers in our hands, all waiting for the whistle. The runners were in line for each section and all the other section people assembled behind cheering us up. The anxiety built up, so did the section tempo shouts....."Section A ka tempo high hai......." There were drum beatings, slogans, synchrionized claps and what not, each section sheering their runners. 3.....2.....1...the whistle went and all 4 fronts runners (me for Sec A) darted off amidst huge cheers. Wow......After a long time I was running so fast.....i was put as the first runner basically coz of my spped and it pasi dividends as I was the first one to reach inside and grab the place we had planned acc to our strategy. Othrs followed soon and then there was frenetic activity with people shouting for tapes, climbing on tables, and what not. Finally after half an hour, we all came out to be received by our section in style. It was raining outside and the entire sectin was standing and cheering for us.......Thas called bonding and that what T-Nites are al about.

So that ended the pub run. We got decent spaces and though we cud hv done better, it was a good show. We also put up a huge piece of cloth (sheet) at the entrance of the mess that hung from the roof to the ground. It contained a huge DNA shape with the dorm names of all the sectin people mentioned on it. It looks so majestic.


Then came the first mess night. Before I go ahead, lemme tell for all the 4 days, we spent most of our time in the classrooms preparing....went to the dorm only to sleep. We all reached in time for our slot at the mess in a huge group shouting new and innovative tempo shouts. There are also marks for tempo shouts and the junta enthu. Our time came, we entered shouting slogans, all of us surrounded the small stage and the events started. There were mostly dances and all we reamining people stood besides clapping, shouting, dancing etc...We have some of the best dancers in our class and that really helped us thorughout the 4 days of the T-Nites. Our performnace was indeed a hit and the tuchchas liked it I guess. We all came back to the class, celebrated among ourselves for giving a great performance and then went about preparing for the next night.

After that we completed out studies for the next days classes. Coz classes go on as usual. Its upto u to find time tostudy despite the crazily hectic T-Nite. I finally slept at 7 am and got up again at 8 for the classes. :)

After Day 1, the cumulative scores read : Section A ranked 2, ahead of Sec X, B and C. What great jubiliation for us. But we knew its just the begining. There r 3 more nights to go. And also the weightage for the mess nights is much less.....the weightage for the auditorium nights is much more and they can change ur fate easily.

The same sequence followed the next mess night. However, this time our performnace was not as good and we were a bit disappointed. The cumulative scores after day 2 said we went down to the 4th spot, and that hurt. But our section tuchchas lifted our spirits, motivated us to go all out next day. As it is now the audi nights would start and they carry much more weightsge than the mess nights. And we knew we have some amazingly super talent in our calss to give a classy show on the audi nights.

So we went about the prep with even more gusto with the sole aim of coming back with a bang !!! Post the mid term exams, we have classes even on saturdays,. That meant the even on sat we had to attend classes even when the audi night was on the same night...Nevertheless, after class got over, we all had lunch and came back to the class for prep. And when I say all it means abit 50-60 odd people :)

What happened at the auditorium nights ? Could Section A come back ? Did we please the seniors and judges this time ? Did all our high class talent pay dividends ???? How exciting the audi night was ? How as our enthu and prep ? What happened on stage ??

To find out, keep visitng this space. The second half of the T-Nites 2006 will be coming up shortly.

PS: the final results are tom afternoon...Am super nervous, so is the whole class......Will keep u informed :)

My table clock says its 3.45 in the morning, my eyes are blurry, my mind is exhausted but my heart is at peace. Coz finally the our first big exam at WIMWI, the dreaded mid terms are over !!! The feeling is so amazing. After the tremendous amount of studies we have put in past week, now the regular prep for class and the everyday studies look no big deal. Though I know its not far that the same grind will start again day after tom, but the relief of getting thru the exams is still overwhelming......Dont ask me how they went, thats another question all together which I prefer not delving into :)

The past week was full of anxiety and tension as people didnt get enough time to study for the impending exams...the regular class study was itself consuming all our time. In the mess during meals, the topic of discussion veered always towards the mid terms.....its like the enitre campus was obsessed with it. I wont bore you with the details of the exams. I will just say that they were unlike any other exams I had ever given. Most of them were open book, but the papers were so damn application oriented that there wasn't much you could do with the books. You dont have to by heart anything for the exams. They purely test your concepts and application skills. There is no format for the exams, u never know if it will be objective or subjective or whatever.....u do not know how long the paper will be untill u actually get the question paper. So every subject has its own unique characteristic for the exams, very much unlike our engineering days. The only thing common to all is that they r all damn tough :) But then thats what makes the process even more exciting !!

Let me move away from the boring topic of exams !! If you are wondering what am I doing at this hour of the night (or the morning I should say) even when the exams got over today, its the T-Nite preparation. Yeah, the much awaited annual 4 night inter section event starts tomorrow and we have hardly enough time to prepare for it. So the entire class was sitting in the classroom and preparing for the same. And boy its great fun. So theres one group who is busy making posters, another practicing the skit, another the dance, another the fashion parade and the remianing not doing anything either click snaps or join in the poster making....Coz the number of posters u make are never enough....the more the better.
And then suddenly we all stop what we are doing, get together in the centre of the classroom, switch off the lights and play the music full blast and start dancing.....And its an awesome sight...everyone just letting sll their worries out and rocking to the beats.....knowing how to dance is immaterial, having fun is the essence. The class room are a completely different picture during the prep than what they are during lecturees. Therese paints all across, charts here and there, people sipping coffee while working, loud music blaring all along.......I have captured all the moments on the camera but can not post it till the T-Nites are over. The entire prep is a section secret and can not be leaked out of the boundaries of the class, lest the other sections take advantage of it.....So I will post the snaps this weekend.
Actually thats the purpose of the T-Nites, more than an inter section rivalry, the aim is for all the classmates to bond together and the friendships we make here go on for a lifetime. The sense of unity is developing and I can see that the enthu level is surely increasing. We also got our section T-shirts.....:)

It already past half of first term and I dont even realize it....another month and I will be off to home....boy how much I am looing forward for that. But persoanlly, I am pretty much settled here now. The tensions of studies have stopped bothering me so much and even the dreaded accounts subject has stopped coming in my nightmares. Its not that I have maxed the subjects. The truth is actually pretty contrary :) But the fact is that my attitude is relaxed and that gives me peace...thats my way of coping with the load and it sure is working.

Before I finally hit the sack, I can't resist sharing one tradition here.There are many small traditions at IIM-A which makes this place so special. U will slowly get to know them as my stay here progresses. Anyways, ya, what happens is that there is a thing called a "tempo shout".Its slogan which a big group shouts in chorus and which demonstrates the unity and strength of the group. The group can be ur dorm, ur section, anything. And though there is one standard tempo, each sectin does has its own variants. In fact, its very common to hear the tempo shout somewhere in the campus every day.
Ok so now that the T-Nites fever is on, the section bonding has grown. After class, each section heads for the mess for lunch. We arrives in hordes of 70 students. And when we enter the mess, we start the tempo shout....Imagine 70 people screaming at the top of their lungs....."Section A ka tempo high hai.......". And when we are inside the mess, there are others as well present there. Now why will they keep quiet and listen to the praises of some other section. So they all will start banging their steel glasses on the table continuously so that our tempo shout can not be heard in the din of the glasses.
So the entire scene is so cool. One group shouting the tempo shout, rest baging their glasses on the table....the end result is total chaos.....and we all love it :)

And then there will always be these tuchchas shouting in the groups to psyche all the poor fuchchas out....."Muggo fachcho muggo..." But they r the same ones whom u can wake at 4 in the morning to ask a doubt in a subject :)

I want to talk more but my fingers are giving up, so are my eyes. I will get back soon here in 2-3 days to give an update of the T-Nites......

Till then....."WIMWI ka tempo high hai....."