Of Interludes and Creations

It has been a long time. And in this interval, I have had time to think if I would continue with this blog. Meanwhile loads of things have happened in the school: I had my last SPICE Club meeting, where we outgoing members were gifted saplings. I had loads of family stuff, friends stuff, please-let-Obama-win stuff and yay-Obama-won stuff. I also had Runescape-is-launching-Evolution-of-Combat stuff, lost-access-to-my-Runescape-account stuff, and thank-you-mods-for-helping-me-get-it-back stuff. I also read Midnight's Children and The Catcher in the Rye, which I got for my birthday (21st Oct -- I'm 16!) and I have a lot to say about them that I might get to some time in the future. I celebrated Durga Puja and Diwali and went through Carmel Treasures Retreat, which is sort of a seminar for the outgoing students. And in all this time I have decided that this blog deserves my attention from time to time. I am not in a space now where I want to put in too many hours in this: yet I want to put up things I make for all who care to see. So, there will be some changes, at least until I cope with the whole situation involving me being a public exam candidate and having only the last few months left of my 12 years as a student at CCHS (and less than a month of working days). And with growing up.

Interludes are good. They help you think, rearrange, re-prioritize. They are ways in which you do things without doing them too often. Hitherto, my breaks from the blog were interludes. Now, for some time, my posts will be interludes, and the breaks way longer. There will be no regular bite-sized pieces of my life, because I half can't and half don't want to keep up with that rather demanding routine, especially now that my life is just too eventful for me to handle. There will be updates, short ones, like in the beginning of this piece. And of course, there will be my creations.

First off, I made a wallpaper at the end of Durga Puja, for Bijoya Dashami:

For Carmel Treasures Retreat, we had tasks of writing a poem about ourselves, which I sat down to do but went a little off-topic:

========================================

MINE

They state, I disagree;
They assert, I challenge;
They hinder, I surge.
I purge
Their dreams
Of statement, assertion, hindrance.
They destroy, I rebuild;
They aggress, I avenge;
They control, I defy.
I deny
Them the pleasure
Of destruction, aggression, control.

They abhor clarity—
Confusion
Is the weapon
Of their cunning choice;
My voice
Is stifled.
Rights and duties,
Explanation,
Logic and reason
Are chained to fear;
And disappear,
Trifled.

I breathe, I exist,
My heart beats. I insist
That it’s no one’s business to tell me
When, or
Where, or
How—
If they cannot tell me
Why.
I love, I live,
I say (and so I believe)
That nobody can define me
Or advise,
Or patronize,
Me—
If they are not
Mine.

========================================

Also for Retreat, we had to make a bookmark with an inspirational message to exchange with our friends. This was my design, made from Wallpaper 34 (no Photoshop, just the a textbox in MS-Word and the Brightness and Contrast adjusted):

So there we are. I'm looking forward to watching the Life of Pi movie and playing the new Combat system in Runescape. Also, I'm not going to Vibes this year for two reasons: I don't want to risk an outstation trip in the last months before my Boards, and I have an outside exam to sit for on one of the days.  I shall see you, at the next interlude. Happy life.

Grr...

As regular readers know, our school won The Statesman Voices Festival's dance event; Today, I put up copies of the winner announcements that were up in The Statesman Voices,as well as that of the event report as it praised our school's performance. When I came out of class the next time, the second paper was gone! 

It couldn't have flown away, as it was pinned overlapping the first one, with a pin that was still there. So someone had removed the pin, taken the paper, and put the pin back on. Who could do such a horrible thing? Who could take away from the eyes of the whole high school the praises that our school's team had received? Was it a girl jealous of one of the participants, maybe because she wasn't chosen to be part of the team? Was it one of the teachers and Sisters who had made it difficult for us to rehearse, as they thought we were wasting time and skipping class, and was not happy about the win? Was it a girl jealous of me, or all the attention I was getting as a Voices Co-ordinator? Or an enemy of the other Co-ordinator in school? I don't think any worker did it; they would hardly know and even if they did they wouldn't have the spunk, even though they keep teasing us as we can afford an education and a uniform, and would naturally be jealous of an achievement like this.

Whosoever did this is part of the school, and this person needs to realise that though the announcement carries the names of those nine girls, the praise and the fame goes to the whole school: "...Following them was Carmel Convent High School with a classic and contemporary mix. With their energetic moves and synchronised lifts, they kept the audience enthralled...". It was utterly selfish and meaningless to remove it. All people involved and even you, dear unidentified bitch, who most probably weren't involved and made things difficult for us, are part of the glory. Chances are that you don't get glory often, so don't lose it while you have it, even though in the form of a minuscule fraction of group pride. How can you NOT be proud of a prize that kids of your school brought home?

Snide aside, though highly improbable, the intentions might have been good. But then why wasn't I informed? Even if the person is someone of authority, a teacher or Sister, I was in charge of this, and when something in my charge goes wrong, I feel horrible. Why should I be made to feel that way? That board is right beside my classroom. Couldn't the person walk in and say it? What was the reason for slinking away? Must have been the lack of intention to return it, eh? And if your intentions were good after all, why exactly wasn't the other paper removed? It looks like you had to hurriedly run away after taking the first one! I had no time to look into it, but I will do so. Please put it back tomorrow, and if your intentions were explainable, please explain them and attempt to realise that it was horribly irresponsible and impolite of you.

And, don't play tricks like placing it in my backpack and claiming I'd removed it and forgotten all about it or something. I wouldn't do that. And also, if it is found lying around like garbage, don't blame it on me: the particular someone just didn't want it on the board. No copy for themselves, because they simply are not proud of it. I'm going to put up another copy soon; let's see how many you can steal. Who are you, elusive notice-thief?

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Vibes 2010, Great Success!

The Fest went very well, and the rock band Fossils rocked the stage, though I couldn't stay to watch it as I don't live in Kolkata and had to return. I worked and enjoyed much more than last year. I made friends with many fellow Coordinators and Ex-Coordinators whom I was hitherto distanced from. I anchored part of the band event, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some seniors appreciated the fact that I was anchoring on what was only my second time at Vibes.
Among other things, I was on duty to stay with the judges for debate and MusicKazaam, and I also had duties at the Quiz prelims. I enjoyed carrying coffee to the judges and getting Brendan MacCarthaigh's autograph. He runs an NGO to help students, called Serve, and writes a column of the same name on The Statesman Voices. I'm a big fan of his, and I was overjoyed when our editor Ms. Gopali Bandopadhyay introduced me to him. I also obtained the autographs of the regular Sarekya hosts, RJs Rakesh & Pragya, which I was too nervous to approach them for last year. I also enjoyed flashing about my card a lot more, and somehow I got a lot more respect from outsiders, must have learnt to carry myself better!
As a bonus, our school (Carmel Convent High) WON the dance event! WON WON WON! YAY! I really can't believe it.
The band event was won by Calcutta Girls High, who had an unconventional band and made great music out of buckets, flowerpots, cartons, bottles filled with grains, a basketball and even their own cheeks. Husena Dhariwala was selected to be the Best Co-ordinator this year, and Shreya Mallika Dutta was the Best Writer. A coordinator, Rohan, won the Best Actor award in the Drama event. Coord Tirna was runner-up in Extempore, Best Speaker on Debate, Winner on Gallery Photographs AND runner-up in T-shirt Painting.
The Coordinators' T-shirt was fabulous this time. It was black, and bore Vibes 2010 in front, and The Statesman Voices at the back! Logo and all!
You will read the event reporting and all the details if you're reading The Statesman Voices this Thursday, ie. 2nd Dec, 2010. Or, you can follow the link above.
On the second day we took group photos on the stage, one with the present coordinators in it, and the others with everyone: present Coords, the attending Exes, our editor, distribution manager, everyone. You'll see it in the paper too! Some Coords took photos on their own cameras too. Avro took it there itself on stage. Srishti, my schoolmate, took it later backstage, and though all the Coords weren't there, Gopali ma'am and Suman Sir joined us in that one.
Though I lost my favourite pen and the chicken on the first day's lunch was undercooked, it didn't matter much. I was feeling horrible when I had to come away. I said my goodbyes to everyone, shook hands, people expressed regrets that I wasn't on Facebook, and I knew that I had made my place in the Voices family. I felt elated: at my second Vibes, I felt the Voices spirit seeping in completely; it's overwhelming, enveloping, it's the best thing in the world and I wish it would go on for ever. But yes, it'll come back next year. And the next and the next yet... !
Aschhe bochhor abaar hobe! Vibes ROCKS!!!! Voices ROCKS! WE CO-ORDINATORS ROCK!!!

Vibes 2010

As regular readers might know, I'm a student co-ordinator of a newspaper supplement managed entirely by people like me (kids from Grades 7-12), except for a few adults involved and the ex-coordinators who pop in to help. For those who don't know, the newspaper is one of the leading dailies here --The Statesman. And the supplement in question comes on Thursday, it's called Voices. We Voices Coordinators meet at the Statesman House in Kolkata regularly, though living outside Kolkata I don't manage to attend all of them. Anyway, there's an inter-school fest organised by Voices every year, called Vibes, and it's the oldest in Kolkata and all around. It always spans a weekend, and we coordinators have extra fun-- we not only bring our schools to take part and enjoy the events, but we also organise stuff, get free lunch, flash our cards around and feel important. Actually, we ARE important there. We run the show. Snigger, snigger. The event details for this year are here. I'll try to put up a picture of the poster, as the coloured and fancy stuff is not up on the website.
If anyone reading this is in a school that can possibly participate, please keep your eyes on The Statesman next late October. Keeping your eyes on this blog is an alternative to the above, of course, but you won't see the nice colourful stuff here. Adios!