Onam celebration in RIE has always been the most eventful time of the year!
In the first year, i simply fell in love with the culture. Finally i got the chance to ACTUALLY celebrate onam..with big pookalams and malayali friends and seniors, malayalam dances and what not! I really liked the idea of coming together and working for a purpose, especially coz "work" meant dancing!!! However, i dint like the regionalistic feel of it..or did i ..?? That time i just saw what was shown to me..i saw that everybody were friends..i saw that everyone in college respected and admired us...i saw that we were all One..!! haha!! But now i know better...coz as soon as Onam was over, i saw the true colours of people around me...alas!! My eyes flew open and i realized i was in a well planned dream!!
In my second year i saw the worst colours of certain people. It was unbelievably ridiculous...how people's mindset works some 30 years late..how far people can go to make other peoples life a hell...who were true...who were fake..We learnt it all. That One episode was enough to make me loathe everything about Onam in RIE. I hated the hypocrisy...i hated the fake smiles...i hated the back biting...i hated the brainwashing...i hated the narrow mindedness..i hated the hype...I hated the brainlessness...i hated the insensibility...i hated the so called meaningless traditions of how onam should be conducted...more than anything...I HATED THE REGIONALISM... So i decided that next time i'm not gonna bother about the whole stuff. i'll do my job and keep my mouth shut--no attachment, no over-sincerity..
Third year came...and it was our turn to organize it. But there was no WE...there were only THEM and US. But eventually, it became WE. Thanks to some miracle thoughts inside my head and to the convincing talks of lettu and sharu ! Yes, i gave us a second chance. I felt God's hand in it all...otherwise me a choreographer of semi classical dances..??? me trying to think from their point of view ..?? ha! impossible..!! Before i knew i was eating- drinking- sleeping- onam. I wanted it to work 'coz this time it was different... All of us were striving for a real meaningful Onam..not just us third years but our second years and even our fourth years. Second years gave their sweat and heart for the programme--for our unity. Fourth years-- well, they have always given us more than we deserved. From day 1, they took us as their juniors..it's another matter that as a group we never reciprocated. But they never complained. So this time too even though they could have created a hullabaloo over at least 5 things they kept quiet...for us. Mayavi stayed back for thiruvathira even when it was probably the last onam at home for her.MK choreographed introduction even when i avoided her throughout. Meenu stepped back for me...viji chechi only tried to help even though she dint have to but ended up hearing rumors about her being the villain (pathetic right??..people in my college never bother to know the truth for themselves)..the list goes on.. Unni ettan- prasanthettan and all helped like hell even though we never even spoke to them or acknowledged their presence or tried to know for ourselves what kind of people they were.. So this time We were ONE...WE WANTED IT TO WORK. Yes, we did have some tiny differences, some ego-clashes...and our stress levels did sky rocket. But we gulped down our anger and frustrations for the cause. It was this ONE reason that drove us all and kept us going. Even though we had to run around in the sun, bunk classes and get 100 signatures for cutting a branch from a tree...even though we had to make everyone practice for hours together...even though we fell sick...even though we were being judged constantly...even though the profs discouraged us...even though we lost our sleep and appetite...we kept going...
Sep 2nd 2009- Shraavana sandhya: WE DID IT !! Our programme was a hit!! Even the princi loved it..!! Honestly, i feel that except for the pigmy dance our programme dint have anything great or exceptional, but i believe it worked out because it stood for the right things--for togetherness, for friendship, for forgiveness. Its a pity that Prasad sir wasn't there with us. When Onam happened the way he always wanted it to happen, he was not there :( Thank God he's alright now! I believe that God worked through us. i do not know if onam was a catalyst for our friendship or our friendship was a catalyst for onam...i guess it was a bit of both. Anyway, i am content. This Onam belongs to every single malayalee in RIE. Thanks all...Thank you God..!! i hope that none of us would let God down by being arrogant about this. People before us made that mistake--they seemed to think they conquered the world after Onam...we shouldn't follow suit. I realise its not a great thing that we have achieved..people in IIT etc organize programmes ten times bigger than this atleast 5 times in their course. But we certainly did achieve something...!! and kudos for that..!!
Oh Lord..!! May the good things stay...forever
