Article 19 kickstarts and Goal for Globe kicks ass!

It was the big day! Article 19 officially kickstarted today and crowds rolled in hundreds to watch the spectacle that was Goal for Globe -- the A19 signature event!

The official inauguration took place in the morning and there was the usual stuff. There were a few workshops. And then we all headed to End Point at 6 PM. 16 colleges. 32 players. 16 nationalities. One cause: cancer awareness.

Hundreds of MICian's, MIT'ans and KMC'ians had flocked in to watch Manipal's biggest sporting event this semester. The enthusiasm of sports day was still fresh in our blood. "Go Reds" and "Go Oncolos" were echoing across the End Point grounds.

Oncolo Busters, dressed in blue, opened to a good start with a goal in the first half. Immanuel from Chemo Chargers converted a pentalty into a goal in the second half. With the teams tied at the end of 90 minutes, the play went into extra time, when Busters burst out into another goal, giving them a lead.

Busters finally won. But it was well played on both the sides!

Tomorrow we gear up for another day of workshops and the much awaited Las Vegas party!

What are you doing with your freedom?

I’m sorry, guys, for the disappearing act. You tend to forget things at times when you are right here in the middle of the action. There are speeches to be made, presentations to be prepared and people to be pleased…you know how it goes.

Anyway, we just celebrated Republic Day last Tuesday. Like we do every year. So what’s the big deal huh? It’s just a day. We became economically free on the day but so what?.

What you are effing doing with that freedom? Doing the drills? Screaming, “forward march” and tearing through others’ tympanum? There’s more, gentlemen.

Your blood is boiling? You want to set the damn country straight? Raise your voice. You don’t have to do something drastic as pull off a coup d'état or shoot the defense minister down. Start small. Just raise your voice. Exercise your freedom of speech.

Like today, the guy at the mess handed me a really worn and dingy twenty rupee note. I knew, by the time it was my turn to hand it over to someone else, it wouldn’t be alive. So I just asked him, “Do you have a better note?” You don’t have to take crap. Getting new notes is your birthright. Don’t suffer in silence.

Another incident where I raised my voice. A visiting faculty member here in MIC has not been turning up for classes lately. I called him up and said “Hi. You’ve got a class today.” He was shocked out of his wits, of course. Nobody from MIC had probably ever done that before. He made some excuse and promised to come for the next class, which was supposed to be today. I called him again. He didn’t come again, but has promised to, next week. He better turn up.

Start taking up people’s case if you think they’re screwing things up. If you can do it with a bit of humour, good enough, but it’s not necessary. You can be just plain straightforward as well. “Dude, this is not done, okay?”

So sit up, you folks. Raise your voice. Exercise freedom. Don’t take crap.

You Gotta Never Say Die!

The semester started on a depressing note: A19 had no sponsors. There was a dagger of cancellation looming large over it. The publicity team, of which yours truly is a part, was rearing to jump start the publicity campaign aggressively, but we were told that there can be no publicity without the fest itself. The recession-hit corporates had shown no interest so far.

I had seriously no clue what to do. But we were not going to give up. The sponsorship team spearheaded their efforts. Just a day before I came to know that a huge sum had been pocketed by the sponsorship team to organise the event. The sponsor, apparently overwhelmed by our enthu spirit, doubled the sum next day.

VOILA! Nothing can stop A19 from happening now!