WHY THE HELL AM I DOING AN MBA ( part 5)

The true story of a poet who never gave up …. and perhaps that was his problem ….

Date – 7^TH of September .

Time – 1.50 p.m

Place – IISWBM Auditorium .

Teacher’s Day - The event and the goof ups …..

“ Prapti ….,” I shouted at the top my voice . “ What the hell is this boss ? We were supposed to start at 1.30 .”

She replied , “Listen , …don’t shout , OK ? There are a lot of problems . The dancers have got their clothes all messed up .”

We finally started the events at 2.00 pm . I was supposed to host the initial part of the event and then Prapti and Soumyasubha , were to take over .

“ We were supposed to start at 1.30 pm , “ I told the audience , “ but my watch says 2 , which means by Indian standards , we are perfectly on time .” People laughed . I heaved a sigh of relief and the show started .

THE CHOIR AND THE SINGING …..

The first event in which I found myself on the stage was the college choir performance . The girls and the boys arranged themselves in a semicircle . I hid myself behind Priyank ( one of the boys ) so that if I messed up , nobody would see my face. All the girls wore a T- shirt . Now let me tell you a fact ( and I know people will slang me for this ), I don’t prefer girls wearing T shirts on such occasions , specially with those revolting things written on them these days like “ Stop staring at my assets “ and yes , the latest one which shocked me “ These do not have silicon in them “. I had argued with Priyanka and Prantika regarding the dress , but as usual I had lost the argument . The boys were dressed in white . I wore a Kurta . Priyanka had arranged for me a super gaudy , ultra shiny red dupatta kind of thing that I wore around my neck. The performance of the choir was pretty good . Infact the girls did a really good job .

After this I took a seat in the front row . Since the play was to be the last event , I could watch the rest of the show in peace . But just like Harry Potter and Voldemort , Pranay and peace were always at loggerheads with one another . “ Neither can live while the other survives .”…………

THE ACCIDENTAL EMCEEING and the SMS

It was the dance . The girls were supposed to dance on a medley of songs . But the song could not be played on the laptop . There was some problem . As time passed , I knew that something needed to be done . The teachers were staring at the dancers crowding the laptop and the audience were getting restless . It was then that I very unwillingly went to Prapti ( she was one of the dancers herself ) and asked her , “ How much time is it going to take ? “ She didn’t answer . I then asked her a question that I dreaded asking , “ Do you want me talk shit as long as you are stuck .” She nodded and I again found myself on stage .

“ You see fortunately for me , the song that the dancers needed to be played is stuck …. And so I can share with you some stuff I badly want to .” While I was talking a part of my brain was working overtime in recollecting all the funny stuff that I could share with the audience . I first cracked a joke about misuse of Hindi language , then I shared with them some Bollywood songs whose meanings could be misinterpreted . As the crowd cheered , I started getting more nervous . I was running out of punchlines . I kept staring at the dancers for some signal , some ray of hope . Preity , one of the dancers , gestured me to continue . Easy for you to say , I was about to shout . As I was desperately trying to think funny , the cell phone in my Kurta pocket vibrated for a second . A SMS . I was so damn confused already and now a vibration to distract my attention . I cursed the person who send me the SMS . But then I realized , it was providence . Payback ….. because two days back I had done the same thing to a girl .

TWO DAYS BACK ……….

Date – 5^th of September , Saturday .

Time – 10.30 am

Place – IISWBM Auditorium .

Event – AIMA EASTERN REGION COMPETITION

Our practice for Teachers Day was slated at 11.00 am . It was the last day for practice since Monday was to be celebrated as Teachers Day . But I entered the IISWBM auditorium at 10.30 am because I wanted to see a person . I knew she would be hosting the AIMA event and I thought it would be nice if I was there . A boy and a girl were on stage giving a boring presentation on ‘CHALLENGES TO INDIA INC .”

I took a seat far away from the stage . I located the girl ( who was emceeing). She was sitting in the front row waiting for the presentation to end . It was then that her cell phone caught her attention . It was my message , ‘ yeh kya bakwaas ho ra ha hai . Apkaa part kab hoga ? ” The very next instant my cell phone vibrated to life . Her message , ‘ Mera wala part 12.30 baje hai . Tab aana .’

I left the auditorium for the practice . Unfortunately I could not see her emcee in the afternoon as I was ultra busy with the play rehearsals . Till date that remains one of my big regrets .

TEACHERS DAY …. THE TRAUMA AND THE DRAMA CONTINUES ….

I tried to ignore the SMS and blurted out another joke regarding poets . It had been 10 minutes . Finally the laptop was properly set and I found myself off stage , but yes ,from the audiences’ reaction I knew I had managed to keep them distracted . I felt relieved . As I descended down the steps , I opened the flap of my cell phone to see the message . The message was short and made perfect sense , “ Brilliant emceeing !” . I did not even have to look at the sender’s number . The girl who had send me the message was sitting at the far away corner of the auditorium ., and yes she was the same girl whom I had disturbed two days ago when she was emceeing . It took her two days but in the end Tuhina Agarwal did manage to have her revenge .

The play went on smoothly . The whole event was a success . Infact the Director of our college turned quite emotional in his concluding speech .

After the event , every body was in party mode , except me . For some strange reason I felt lost all alone . Amidst the praise and the triumph , amidst my HR teacher’s remark “ You are one heck of a talent .” to my microeconomics professor’s observation , “ The play looked like the work of a professional ”, I found myself lonely . I had enjoyed every moment of this event and now I would be missing all of it . Ofcourse INSIGHT was coming but still I felt strange , as if I had no friend that day , as if this was the last moment of happiness I was witnessing in my life . Suddenly I felt the cell phone ringing . It was a call from the Events team . I went to the fourth floor events room . Neha Jain ( first year events team ) beamed at me and said , “Pranay you were superb .” Dipro was his serious self as usual and said , “ Pranay , you have an appointment with the Director of Tea Board .” He further added , “ Pranay you need to shave . “

Next day , it rained in Kolkata as if the city had been starving for water for months . The streets were all water logged and the appointment had to be rescheduled for Thursday . On Thursday I accompanied Dolly Ghosh ( first year events team ) to give the invitation letter to Anindita Ray Lahiri , director of Tea Board , India . She welcomed us into her room . However a shock was in store for us .

“ I am really very sorry . I won’t be able to make it . On 17^th at 4.00 in the noon I have an EGM with my board . “

Another marketing panelist gone …… At that moment I xwas saying a silent prayer to God .

The making of THE PRS …..

It was Thursday 10^th September . Something happened on that day which caused me a lot of pain . I don’t remember feeling so hurt as I was that day . I cannot disclose the incident but it showed me that sometimes people tend to work with so much of their brains that they forget that others have a heart .

In the weekend I, Prantika and Priyanka were gtalking . We realized that certain events of the last week had made our friendship turn stronger . It was I who suggested , “ Hey why don’t we form a group .”

Prantika , as usual , was gung ho about it . Priyanka however , was cynical . “ Don’t form a group just because you have to ,” she said .

Still from next week PRanay , PRantika and PRiyanka went to the college knowing that the three of us were part of a group called THE PRS……

INSIGHT 09 … It was about to get worse .

“ We have been given a large ad space by The Telegraph . However the problem is we still don’t have enough panelists .” remarked Dipro Sengupta .

I knew he was right . In the Systems panel , we had got hold of 5 panelists . Even for the HR panel things were good with three confirmations . It was the marketing and the finance panel that was giving us headaches .

It was 15^th of September 2009 , just a day before INSIGHT . We had a lot of work to do today . Banners had to be set up . Invitation letters to the teachers were to be given , the stationary for the panelists needed to be arranged , the escort team ( the group of people who would be hounding the panelists and bear their tantrums ) was to be given a brief about their job .

As I woke up that day I felt cold . I took the thermometer from the cupboard and forced it into my mouth . 101 degrees …. I smiled weakly and turned on the geyser . I knew God would not let me have everything so easy . That night my gtalk status message read , ‘ If God is doing all this because he loves me , please God love me less .’

I set the alarm to 6.00 am for the day of reckoning . I just hoped that the next two days would be trouble and tension free . But that’s exactly what it remained …….. A HOPE .

Next week the last part ….

INSIGHT …. How it was messed up … the problem of the cars …. Help and no help ….. the corporates… the running … and finally adulations….. the puja break …. The parting of THE PRS …. And a leg that did not respond …..

It is going to end …… Next week …..

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