Let's start on the academic front (that which I left out for my August 2008 blog). We had few newcomers to the college and some who weren't all that new who were taking subjects for us this semester. Joby Yeldo (SCT 2008 passout) and O. Rahul (TKM 2008 passout) were taking Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning. This was the beginning of a very different yet cool students-teacher relationship. Gas Dynamics, one of the toughest subjects in our four-year period, taken by the tough Rajesh sir, whom we refer to as Puththanpaalam Rajesh (who is a highly rated criminal in South India, and has a similar frame as our sir's). Because of him, we weren't overly concerned how it would go for us. There was a great deal of trust and respect for him. Design of Machine Elements -II was taken by Vinod sir. He breathed new life to this subject that formed a continuation to the first part that was taken by Srikanth sir in the previous semester. It felt good to be in his class. Metrology and Instrumentation was taken by our staff-advisor, Pradeep sir. He was ok. A part of this subject was taken by the 6-foot-4-inches tall, Krishnan sir (SCT 2008 passout). This was the coolest person who taught us. He'd always need a tag to pass off as a college-lecturer; for otherwise, not a soul could guess. It's got to be the Thironthoram slang that nailed it. Industrial Engineering was taken by the ever-tireless Venkatesh sir. His hours were spent very efficiently, by him as well as by us. He would take class as though the world would come to an end in a definite amount of time. And we used our time in all sorts of activity, of course, nothing dealing with the subject. We had an elective this semester. Half the class opted for the Marketing paper (Venkatesh sir again) and the rest half (in which I fell) took Plant Engineering and Management which was taken by Remil sir. He kept saying there isn't much learning to do and that he could finish teaching real quick. At the end of the semester we realized that it wasn't as simple as he made it out to be. But it was alright.
Late August we were given instructions on the conduct of the seminars we had to take. The topic could be anything which would interest a mechanical engineer. We were encouraged to take up new innovations and inventions as these could enlighten our faculty as well as inspire us. Luckily for us, the order to be followed was the class roll numbers. In other branches, we came to know that they had lots to decide who'd take the seminar. With our arrangement, there was always a sense of definiteness for all. We had seminars every Tuesday. Around five or six got to present their topics each session. This enabled us to determine the approximate date when each of us would have to present our topics. Another advantage we enjoyed was that we needed to get approved our topic a week in advance of our presentation day.
So we took it real easy. My number was 34, which meant that my turn would come up some time in November. But I didn't want to worry about the seminar then. So I thought of figuring it out for me during the Onam break. I spent some time then searching for some topic that interested me. I came across many related to the automobile industry, but nothing I felt much about. Value engineering seemed interesting. It happens to deal with management aspects. Although not technical in nature, management certainly falls into a mechanical engineer's jurisdiction. I seemed on the path to settling for this. I was hoping to seek Venkatesh sir's guidance in preparing for the presentation.
Classes reopened after the break and the first batch came up for the presentation. It was a fresh experience for the rest of us, as we just sat in the conference hall and heard out our own classmates go up and take seminars on interesting topics. It was new to them too. But they did a fine job. What made it exciting was the question-time that followed each presentation. I think Ajit I. (one hell-of-a-guy, classmate) blew it off completely when he answered Raju sir's (K. M. Raju, the then head of the mechanical department and principal of the college) questions. Every member of the teaching staff would attend our seminars if they were free. The faculty would be seated in the front row of the conference room, and us guys in the the rows behind. It was surprising how well many of the guys took the seminars.
It was during one of those days when Jagajith (a good friend and classmate), if I'm right, pointed out to me that value engineering (the topic I had selected for my seminar) is part of the Industrial Engineering subject, taken by Venkatesh sir himself. There was a clause in the whole seminar thing: the topic should not have anything to do with the syllabus we followed. The funny thing was, value engineering was taught in class a day or two before the Onam break. I was glad that this became known to me then. Search for a new topic was on.
It was some time just before the Onam holidays or so when our project group went to the VSSC library to seek a one-month pass (or anything longer than a one-day pass) to use its facilities. This way we could utilise our Onam holidays in preparing the literature survey of the project report. We were looking forward to it. I don't know if it was fortunate or unfortunate, but it didn't turn out to be so. On reaching the PRO, we were told that they were not authorised to issue such passes, and that we needed to get the clearance directly from the librarian. We spent quite some time at the office. Then we were allowed to enter the library and tried to get things sorted out. It was wrong of them to have done this to us, because I had been told by the people at the front desk of the library (who had consulted with the librarian) that the one-month pass can be issued if processing is done correctly. On enquiring with the front desk this time, they informed us of a new system which allows only those who were doing their project at the VSSC and those who have a direct relationship with a VSSC-employee would be issued such passes. We were told that we could continue availing the one-day pass system but in moderation.
So we discussed it out and decided that we use that day completely in collecting the possible amount of information and then returning later if a need arises. Luckily, on this visit, we stumbled upon a book that dealt specifically with the material we had to handle - Nimonic 263, a high-temperature resistant Nickel alloy. The VSSC library had certain policies. One of the tougher ones was - because the library won't allow the taking of any of its books - the photocopying of a page costs five times what it costs in a regular shop / library. This was a measure to ensure that the practice is discouraged and in the process, the books remain in good condition for longer durations. We didn't have another choice, so we opted for the photocopying. It took quite some time, and certainly quite some money too. We thought, this way, we would have all the information needed and just had to work with it. A return would not be required. This time when we left the library, it felt different - maybe because we didn't see ourselves returning or possibly the sense of achievement was overwhelming. That was the progress we made on the project front.
For quite some time now (over the past few months) I had been collecting information from the web on the various universities offering Masters programmes in the US and the UK. It was an eye-opener when I came to know the number of universities that offer the course in both countries. Some of them looked very exciting. Deciding which side of the Atlantic had not yet been made. Cost, duration of the course, and uncertainties in procuring visa, made the US less favoured. Quality of education and value of the degree was certainly US' strong-points, but the UK wasn't bad at all, in those respects. My mother had slight apprehensions in sending me to the US. I guess these caused a shift in my thinking.
Now onto the Talent Evening. During one of the earliest practices for the medley (I think at Ann's), Betsy (a good friend and batchmate at college) had enquired which song it would be for the group (the item I took responsibility for). That's when it dawned on me that the song had not yet been decided upon; the first practice for the group was scheduled for a day or two later. For the first practice, there was quite a number that turned up. As usual, the girls outnumbered the boys. This was a major problem in the Paruthipara Youth League. participation from the boys side was never strong. There always was a need for pushing them forward, which was tiring sometimes. Before we gathered together at the church for the practice, I was being asked again about the song. Because I hadn't figured it out still, and also since the group was inexperienced to do the kind of thing it was to do, I thought of indulging in a session entirely on exercises.
I had made it a point to pray before and at the end of every practice (by a different person), so that the group develops a sense of togetherness and belonging, and that God's grace is needed in everything we set out to do. After the first prayer that day, I broke the news that we wouldn't be getting into the song that day. There were instant voices of questioning. The thing was, when my mother had visited me in June, she had given me two songs and said that they were very nice ones and that I could present it on some occasion. Both were songs that I didn't know. So I had to play it out and see if one was better than the other. I guess, I didn't have the time for that before the first practice. I figured out one of them and it seemed good. Later, during one of our medley practices, i asked Anish to play out both songs for me. The one I had figured out earlier seemed better than the other one when he played them. So deciding was made easy. The song was 'Paapikkai Ullorurrava'.
The task on day one was simple and primary in nature - get the group to go through a range of exercises and in the process separate them in to the four parts of the harmony. There were just around five of them or so who were used to singing in the Church-choir. The rest had no such history. So often, it would not be a pleasant affair.
Certain elements (read Betsy and Linda (a nice friend and batchmate LBS, but not that nice when in the group)) in the group made life miserable for me. In a fun way, of course. But some times it just exposed me. Uptil then, I had always seen Ann singing the alto, but this time I wanted her to sing the melody. Eventually, it turned out that the alto included a bunch of girls with no one who could lead from the front. So they needed an extra amount of care (read, in the right sense). One of those early days, Tina had shown up for practice. Now, similar to Ann's case, Tina was always associated to the soprano. But because of the lacking of a leading voice, I decided on putting her to the task of handling the alto. Not the best of decisions, but an alright one. We could certainly count on her on leading the alto.
The guys were simpler to handle other than their talking we had to up to. The tenor was handled by Anish, and they seemed alright, except for the few 'vellhees' that fell off Liben's mouth. Sam and Jerin were the others. The bass was my portfolio. I had a good input from the choir's assets in Jerry, Linoy, and Jithin, along with great support from Rohan and Nelvin.
We had few practices before the Onam break and the rest after. It was totally fun. It was a big learning experience for all of us, especially me. I had a very good time teaching the group and spending time with them. There were many things I had picked up from the nearly month-long journey. Managing the group and the time that we had was the challenge that had to be faced. By God's grace, both was made possible. Progress in the harmonising was not happening for quite some time - something that was expected. But it was just a matter of time when things would fall in place. And it did just that. The group didn't fail me and we kept building on that.
After the Onam break, many other events' practices took pace. The medley's practice also happened simultaneously. This too showed very little progress for a long time. We required Anish to figure out for us the harmony of all the songs, which he did very well using his Sibelius software. Figuring out our parts itself was tiring. As in every harmony, the melody singers are the lead singers, and the song is carried by them. Betsy and Soumya (friend, my junior at college) were not easy to handle. Sanichachan and I spent a considerable amount of time on getting them to sing correctly, and then to sing well. Sanichachan wanted the medley to open with Joel (Ginuchan's (relative, great supporter of Youth League's activities) son) singing and the rest of us humming. That too was not an easy task. I did my bit by figuring out the scales of each of the songs, the switches, the instrumentation, and the like. I felt all our combining sessions were fun and hilarious. Most of them, probably, all of them, were struggles. Each of our parts needed great deal of concentration. If we lost it anywhere in the act, we'd have to struggle to get on quickly. But we certainly did get our act together on the eve of the big day. It was relieving.
All the events were making progress a week towards the big day. The group, medley, margam-kali, skits, and every other thing. It was then that I saw the main skit of the programme. Sairachech and Samchan (friends and great assets of the Youth League), gave excellent performances in their roles in the skit. There some totally funny situations during the practices. We all had fun watching them. Frustration began to set in on the day of the rehearsal with the sound system. Sam (good friend and Ann's brother) had come in from Bangalore, and had agreed to help with the sounds. That was quite an evening. There were lots of people in the church and a lot of mics, wires and associated stuff. There was a lot time spent waiting for the sounds to be set. I found it unproductive, and had a feeling of uncertainty with regard to the sounds on the big day. You know, there was a great deal of hard work put in during the practices, and if the sounds don't turn out to be alright, then however well you perform, the output just won't be well received. I was heavily concerned with that.
The day had come. It was a much anticipated day for the Youth League. The sound system was to be set up after noon and the medley and the group were scheduled to have a sound check two-hours before the start. Unfortunately, there were just few from the group. So that didn't go well. We did have one for the medley. That was alright. The sounds were then just being figured out. I was well aware that we wouldn't have certainty in terms of balancing and blending voices and parts. I came back home, took a shower, and then laid back and listened to some good music. I was in need of some unwinding. The stress had taken quite a toll. I didn't allow thoughts of the evening to creep up. Then I prayed for a while. Human efforts all a waste if God's grace is not seeked. There were several things that we couldn't control. I wanted that all the programmes for the evening were well done and well received, without glitches. There was always a part of me worrying about the failure of power during a performance, especially the group's song and the medley. We had the instrumentation programmed. It was a potentially awkward situation to be in. But, I guess, the calmness that I instilled within me during the prayer helped a lot.
The Talent Evening was on. The events progressed well. Paulose Thirumeni graced the event with his presence. There were Achens from neighbouring parishes too, including Sajan achen (a well-wisher, I think of him as one who works through music). The song was sung well. About the output, well, I was certainly not pleased. The group, of course, did fine; which was a big deal to me. It was a collective effort and the achievement is theirs. Some of them sensed my not being pleased. But anyway, they were relieved of the tension to sing their parts in front of the packed-church. We moved on. I happened to meet Sajan achen outside in between. He had to leave. He told me of a programme for Christmas that he wanted to do, wherein all the choirs from the Mar Thoma parishes in Trivandrum would get-together and form a big choir and present few songs. He asked me to be a part of it. It was an intereseting prospect. But I did mention to him of my uncertainty to be a part of the plan. This was because the programme was scheduled at the same time as Resmi's delivery. Also, if ever my exams were then, then that would be a problem. But any way, I did agree to see if I could be a part of this event.
The evening was still on. The dances went fine. The guys' drama was going alright. The medley was coming up. Things were going well. We all had a gooding feeling about how everything was shaping up. The medley went much better than we feared, and it was well received too. We felt the audience's appreciation. That was nice. It was a good feeling.
I know I'm not able to completely express the joy of involvement we experienced together, but it certainly was enriching for us all. I remember allowing myself to wonder (during the evening) if we could go through the same thing all over again for the 2009 edition. Many of us would not be around as we'd probably have left the place.
