I forgot to mention how exciting were the early days with my new TV. Two important events I had the opportunity to watch live. The first was the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain. I sat up to watch the game but then soon realised that watching a football-match was not my cup of tea, especially when I was tired. I actually slept off some time before half-time. That was totally lame. I anyway caught up on the game in the news later. The second was the more significant. Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer - Wimbledon Final. I am a fan of Roger Federer, and although I do not wish to glorify people easily, I didn't mind agreeing with the way the media did so of him, prefixing His Highness/Greatness to his name. I've kinda always believed that Roger Federer was a good man. There was a great deal of respect for the man and his game. I sat through the whole match that night and didn't fall asleep. I just couldn't, for it was quite a match. Rafael Nadal played excellently and deserved the win. I felt sorry for Roger that he'd lost what belonged to him to a great foe on the court. It certainly must have been a very difficult time for him. I think the failure occurred at a good time in his career, for if it had happened earlier, I'm guessing he wouldn't have achieved what he has in present time. To me he is without doubt the best player the tennis world has seen by judging under several criteria, and not simply the wins and the slams. Watching the game on the big screen was a very new and exciting moment for me, and I enjoyed every moment of it, except the moments when Roger lost.
It was on 6th August that Aimee was born. Aimee is the baby girl of Vijoochan (my cousin), and Lesliemmama (his wife). For the birth, Suamma (my aunty) and Kummochachan (her husband) had gone to Bangalore. It was a very happy moment for them and also for us. Resmi was mid-way in her pregnancy at this point. Before leaving, Amma had asked me to not inform Resmi about the Neethu-episode. But I did around this time, I guess. She too was shocked and everything.
My sixth semester exams were still happening in the month of August. I had two exams (I guess) as per schedule and another one, the one that had been postponed. All went pretty well, I did feel better than how I felt after my fifth semester exams. That was good. I thank God for that.
I think it was some time mid-August when we had our Youth League's retreat to the Vyojana Mandiram. Ann and I were asked to take care of all the singing sessions. That we did, and had a good time. Actually it was a good outing for us all. The bus trip, the ice-breaking, the singing (action songs), the interesting class (George Behanan), and the interactions among ourselves as well as with the inmates of the place, all of it was very good and lively. It was nice to meet the inmates and share the time with them and sing along with them. After that we went to the Neyyar Dam, walked all over the place, played some ball, and the time was up. The Achens had to return back because of the evening service in Church. That was disappointing, we were just getting into the game.
Our seventh semester classes began towards the end of August. Final-year. Super-seniors. Responsibilities. We had no considerations for any of these. It was as though these had no bearing on us and it was like any other day to us all. We were relieved and excited that the exams were done with and back to classes. I had always had a great time in class with my classmates. There was always a lot to laugh about and do all sorts of stuff. It was funny actually that we all hated to go to class, but while in it, we simply forgot about that and enjoyed ourselves.
I guess, after my solo visit to the VSSC library, our project group visited the library a couple of times during July and August (with the letter from our principal). But we didn't use it during those visits because we just needed one-day passes then. We thought we'd use the letter to apply for a longer pass in time for our Onam-break. It was during the first visit as a group that I discovered that there were three more floors above the one I had visited on my own, with lots and lots of books, just like in the ground floor. The scans that we made during those visits were totally exhaustive. Actually, the sight of the books and their titles itself wore me off. We made very little progress those days. The visits didn't seem to do the good we so hoped it would.
Some time then there was a committee in the Youth League to discuss about the Talent Fest. This was its birth. The beginning of a special period for me. This was to be an event wherein the Church is invited to an evening of celebration of the talents of its youth. So there was a lot of discussion on the kind of programs that can be pulled off and the like. There was a good exchange of ideas. I signed up to present a song with a group of members, not knowing what it is that I was doing. Simply raised my hand. I also informed the committee that Sanichachan would take care of another item (medley), and that I'd arrange for an instrumental piece with Anish (a friend and good pianist).
Sanichachan's medley item was what we began work on immediately. There was discussions among us as to who should join us to handle the melody (soprano). Sanichachan wanted something like a quartet, a small group. Since alto would be Ann's, bass myself (the truth is, there wasn't anybody else with a good voice we could have, so the settlement), and Anish and Sanichachan with tenor. We agreed upon Soumya but we knew that she couldn't carry upon the melody all by herself. So we then considered Betsy (another beginning). We didn't want to get into it hastily so we discussed some more on her joining. We eventually thought we'll give it a try. Not the best decision, I'd say. But nevertheless, quite a journey, I'll admit.
I think our first gathering was at Ann's one evening. Sanichachan would arrive late and asked me to handle the time. We started off on a major laugh that day involving Betsy. It was a very good one. (There was a good reversal too, on me, by her, sometime later.) At the end of the first two or three sessions we had with the group, it became clear to Sanichachan and I that we have a major task ahead of us.
We still weren't sure of the songs for the medley. Actually that didn't matter because it was certain to us that we needed to undergo a lot of excercises to make oursleves (Betsy and Soumya specially) fit enough to carry the songs. But Sanichachan and I did do some song searching. He came up with suggestions and I tried to see how it would fit into the scheme of things. Slowly, things started to fall in place. Sanichachan developed a plan for the whole item.
