The Road Trip

I don’t know how many people attended the Flag Hoisting in C-Lawns on Aug 15^th at 9:30 AM but I am sure we can find more people stamping C-Lawns to hell at midnight on 23^rd Oct. Yes, the event is called Sonic Stampede and yes, Oasis can be safely termed the actual Independence Day or rather 96 hours of Independence for all the BITSians and apparently 800 other people from all over India. Free from acads, free from……………….I can only think of acads. : P

Anyway, the theme for this Oasis is The Road Trip and if you have visited the Oasis website designed by the ever impressive CCTV guys, under “About” they have a quite interesting description of a Road Trip. Interesting because a group of people in Stall No’s 2, 3 and 4 found some striking similarities to a rather long journey- 6 years and counting to be precise. Here is what they had to say:

Have you ever wandered on your own to some obscure destination?
“Well, when we started off, we were definitely on our own. No one had done this before, at least not at the college level and we were only 5 BITSians and none of us knew how to get there. We had a destination in mind but the path to get there was very obscure.”

Tried breaking off from the chains of monotony?
“Yeah, definitely. As we said, we were one of the first to embark upon this kind of journey.”

Taken a bus ride to nowhere?
“Well, not a bus ride. We had to go on cycles because buses couldn’t go where we went. We had to wade through muddy roads and those were not exactly made for two cycles at a time let alone a bus. Anyway, it was an altogether different feeling going out in the evening air with a couple of friends with nothing on the road for miles. :D”

Packed your bags for a road trip away from the mundane?
“Yeah, our bags were always filled with clothes and a lot of other stuff like pen stands, pouches etc.”

Live life on the brink? Go with the flow? Feel the exhilarating rush of adrenaline? Revel in the thrill of adventure lurking on every corner?
“Well, you could say ours was a different kind of thrill. Different as in ours was not brought about by a sense of adventure nor a rush of adrenaline, rather we revelled in the sense of happiness and contentment we brought to the places we went to.”

Oasis- 96 hours of absolute, unadulterated madness. The endpoint of your wanderings. Not all those who wander are lost.

Nirmaan- 6 years of absolute, unadulterated drive towards the rise of a great nation and yes, we are not done yet and we are pretty sure we aren’t lost mainly because we have a pretty good compass which always points towards a developed India.

So yes, we too are experiencing one hell of a Road Trip.

And yeah, do visit our stall. Stall No’s 2, 3 and 4 at C-Lawns and all the clothes, pen stands and a whole lot of other stuff is there awaiting your criticism.

Joy of Giving Week

Dinner of Joy

One of the most eagerly awaited events of this year’s Joy of Giving Week celebrations was the 'Dinner of Joy', organised by Nirmaan volunteers on the 7^th of October 2011. The dinner was served in one of the student messes, and all members of the mess staff and the chowkis were invited.

A sumptuous spread was laid out for them, including a variety of main course dishes and desserts. The volunteers exchanged roles to play host to our esteemed invitees. Even faculty members joined in the celebrations, and served alongside us which truly reflects the amount of unexpressed appreciation and gratefulness that everyone had towards the people who constitute a quiet background in our daily life. There were to be no compromises in any aspect of the event with music being played in the background, giving it a more ‘grub-like’ feel.

Serving them helped us to connect with them on a more personal level. It was evident that they enjoyed the food as many of them approached the volunteers and commended our efforts, which simply put- felt great.

‘Dinner of Joy’ is not so much as the workers experiencing the joy of having a sumptuous and delicious meal, but ‘Dinner of Joy’ in its most meaningful form is about them experiencing the ‘joy of knowing’ that all their efforts are not ignored and that it is that quiet background which makes our life infinitely better.

PS: Not that the meal isn’t great!!

Day of Joy

Another equally anticipated event of the on-going nation-wide celebrations of ‘Joy of Giving Week’, the ‘Day of Joy’ was organised on 5^th October for the Banjara community kids.

The day started off with the kids being presented with new clothes and then after having breakfast at the BITS market, they were taken to the Student Activities Centre (SAC) in the campus for a day of fun-filled activities.

The events for the day included a game session organised by the Department of Informalz; interaction with the kids while teaching them block painting and at the end a small competition to motivate them. After lunch, other clubs of BITS Pilani like the Music Club, Madhyansh, PCA and Marudhara gave wonderful performances which enthralled the kids and provided them with unlimited entertainment. After that, Nirmaan volunteers decided to put on their own show and played games with them. Drawing books and colour pencils were given to all the kids to complete the ‘joy’ful experience.

All in all, the day turned out to be an excellent one full of joyful memories for the children and the volunteers alike, the mere thought of which will give them immense satisfaction and peace. For many of the kids employed as child labour, it was a day when they could actually break free of their shackles and have fun just like other kids their age. And that was what the event was all about, to show the children what a carefree day of their lives can be like, even better- experience it for themselves!