Sweet Memories- 9/12/2011

9th December 2011. This date is very special to me. One of the most memorable days in my school life. It was the first time ever, my batch students came together to put up a massive musical production. Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The production was based on Roald Dahl's children's book by the same name.

When they first announced that we were going to put up this performance for our annual day, we all laughed and mocked it. We thought it was impossible to imitate such a glorious peace of work on stage. Immature as we were, us students were cynical at first. Whoever knew that this goes on to become a glorious success a few months later.

The Journey to the show was an adventurous one. Numerous practice sessions, people were segregated and divided into different groups according to their interests.  We slowly gained interest because of constant motivation from our music teacher Deepak Lazarus and our English Teacher Usha Kamath Ma'am. They helped us grow, learn new talents and different ways of the art. Right from scriptwriting to developing props and stage mechanics. They managed to organize a complete show with almost 200 students involved.

Personally, this was quite a memorable experience for me. It was the first time I sang for a choir. Even though my knowledge of music was quite good, I learnt more about music and choir singing being part of one. I discovered that I can sing tenor and melody, something which I never thought I would do. Also, the experience of going to the recording studio to pre-record the songs and dialogues for the final day was exciting.

There were numerous times when we all did mistakes, 'juggled' on stage, 'misdirecting' our dialogues, many times when DL(Deepak Lazarus) got furious by our behaviour. But all those things were a learning experience. Working as a team and working together helped us come out of our shells. Thank you to our coolest music teacher DL for being patient with our naive ways and our adolescent behaviour. Thank you for sticking with us right through till the end. Thank you for showing us a whole new world of arts and showbiz. Thank you for bringing in music to our lives, showing us the beautiful world of music. I still remember that quote in his music room which said, "When words fail, music speaks". More importantly, thank you for being that cool friend with whom we could hang out after school.

After four months of hard work, planning and practice, we managed to put up a successful show. More than the show itself, we took a lot into our lives. Friendships were forged, talents were recognized and more importantly, the spirit of teamwork.

In the end, Charlie bucket won a chocolate factory. But Willy Wonka got something even better-a Family, and one thing was absolutely certain. Life had never been sweeter. That's exactly what came out of this show. The whole batch became a family.

Ignorance and awakening

When the whole country was debating whether Aamir Khan wants to leave the country or not, whether the country is intolerant, all this time, a state called Tamil Nadu was being ignored. Yes, our country debates on completely senseless stuff while ignoring the issues at hand. No wonder India was voted as the world's second most ignorant country,
South-East monsoon, what our geography textbooks taught us was just routine rains which occur during the months of November and December and it is also called 'retreating monsoon'. What our geography textbooks didn't mention is the El Nino effect. Well, doesn's significantly impact our subcontinent monsoon but this year, it has had some effect. Ever since the start of November, Chennai, the city of the sun, was enveloped with black rainy clouds. While this is usually welcome in Chennai as it sees little rainfall throughout the year, these rain clouds gave Chennaiites an unforgettable thump.
When the rain clouds burst, it rained continuously for 3 days and 3 nights. The rains filled up lakes and reservoirs and flooded majority of the city. A major part of the city was submerged in water. About 1 million people were stranded with no power, no access to clean and fresh water or food. It was termed as a disaster and it was a serious emergency.
Well, like all Disney movies, this story doesn't have a sad ending. The people of Chennai were incredibly self-sufficient. Rescue and relief work was in full swing. Thousands of volunteers came out, braving the heavy rains to rescue stranded people. The Indian Army and the Navy joined the operations. Fast action was taken and the situation was managed well. Surprisingly, the state government were utterly useless. They didn't do even a bit to help their own people. It was the youth of the city, the volunteers who came out to help. Leaving behind everything, religion,gender, class,status, equipped with hope and belief, they joined their hands together to fight the floods. Unity sprang into action when disaster struck.
Moreover, the sense of humanity prevailed. In the end, humanity won. Not money, not power. It took a disaster for people to realize that. People of Chennai, always known to be friendly and kind to each other proved it here. This also awakened many to more serious issues. Also, we got to know who the real heroes are. The ones which we see on the screen are fake. Real heroes are the ones who give their services to the people. The real heroes are the ones working in the Indian armed forces. No matter what the situation is, they will be there to serve the people. The Indian armed forces, don't get enough respect for what they do for the country, They need to be recognized and awarded.
Lastly, I am proud to say that I have faith in my generation. The youngsters who volunteered had kindness and generosity to help in times of need.

(For those who are wondering about the article about India being the second most ignorant country in the world, here is a link. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-top-ten-most-ignorant-countries-unaware-of-their-countries-demographics-a6761541.html)