Well, It all started with a Competition. It was their last day of Semester Exams. Someone had to rush home, someone had plans to party and some people just wanted to catch up with their lost sleep. But, this bunch of friends had something else on their mind, the Competition.
They were supposed to send an entry for the same, the topic was close to their heart, they loved the concept. They almost completed their essay and went out to join a party with their other friends. Finishing touches were given to the essay just 15 minutes before the deadline and the mouse pointer clicked on SEND button. None of them was satisfied with their own inputs to the essay, they felt there was only a diffused ray of hope.
All of them were proved wrong, when they got shortlisted for the Final Round of the Competition at one of the Best Institutes of Management in India, the XIM Bhubaneshwar. Preparations for the Final Round and arrangement of railway tickets for the journey were put on High Priority, even during a busy week of Diwali. They got the tickets booked and after some days, they were on their way towards their destination. When they reached, they were in for a very Warm Welcome spiced up with Amazing Hospitality from the Host Institute and its Students.
They loved the place, the atmosphere, the people along with every small and big thing going around them. As they were the first to land up at the destination, they had ample of time to explore the nearby areas. On their way towards a nearby Wild Life Sanctuary, every house greeted them with bright, blazing colors. The colors lifted their spirits even more and they entered the sanctuary with high enthusiasm. After sighting Lions, White Tigers, Baboons, Monkeys, Alligators and various other members of the Animal Kingdom, they had covered almost half of the sanctuary. When, suddenly two of the friends were astonished to hear their third friend screaming at the top of her voice. It was a Pick-Pocket, people gathered around and within seconds the friends got hold of the convict and then tried to pull and drag the thief towards the Sanctuary Police Station. The native language was alien to them, but they understood some part of it. The constables were co-operative and they readily lodged a complaint. The initial interrogation started and Mr. Convict tried to take the constables for a ride. But, when one of them took notice of this, he knew that the convict was taking them from Utah to California by changing his statements within seconds.
The Inspector In-Charge was making them wait, the friends wanted some action to be taken against the thief. When the In-Charge arrived, his presence could be felt in the police station. He started his interrogation in true bollywood style. He dint let the convict take him for a ride. As Mr. Thief started uttering random words, a tight slap right across his face greeted him and then he started speaking everything , he also accepted the crime. The Friends were looking at the clock as they were still keen to see the rest of the park. But, the time did not permit them to do so. On their way back to the institute area, they discussed the whole incident and concluded on having a stronger faith in the system of the country.
This eventful day did not end here. Even God appreciated the Guts and Spirits of these friends with small gestures like appearing in front of them in the form of Omens and acknowledging their honesty and devotion to the cause. These signals in the form of Omens did not start here, but they had already started on their way to the destination. Now, It was time for the gala Inauguration of the event called ‘Expressions 2010’. The Glamour, The Enthusiasm, The Energy, The Creativity, The Innovation were all exploding in front of their eyes in every moment. The feeling was ecstatic. Fireworks followed by Night Long Celeberations ended the day. But, the team of friends did not lose their focus, their approach to the event was still running through various quality checks in the back of their mind. They went to sleep with some random ideas in their minds.
Day 1 of the visit to the village was all about interaction. Language and Connect being the major points of concern, they were accompanied by a person who knew the native language, a person from an NGO and one person as a volunteer from the institute. The whole day was used to interact with people and gather as much information possible about them, their occupation, their problems, the opportunities that they see, the kind of help they need etc. All three of them tried to interact with different kinds and level of people in the village, so as to get the broadest picture possible. They loved the work and they did not want to leave any stone unturned. When they reached the Institute in the evening, they thought of working on their project for some time and then think of going out and enjoying the rest of the night. Some minor difference of opinions turning into heated arguments ended them nowhere, maybe because everyone of them was tired physically and mentally. They thought of going out, they had their dinner, enjoyed the atmosphere, the spirit of celebration in the students from the host institute. After enjoying, they were afresh to do some work, so as to know their position after halftime. After long and strong discussions of a couple of hours, they knew their position and they also had a strategy for the next day. They still had some hours to enjoy the wild side of XIMB which was called ‘JLT’(Just Like That), which meant unlimited booze on the house and high quality pumping music to rock on, they sportingly did enjoy and then they returned to their respective rooms, to get some highly needed sleep.
Day 2 of the visit was the day, when they needed a breakthrough. Everything was done on War-room urgency in order to get each and every information required to implement the project. By the grace of God and their dedication they got what they had come for, it was important for the people of the village too. The People of the village, now considered them their own. They had placed their trust on them, they now also had some high expectations from them. The villagers had been betrayed in the past, but still they trusted these three. Maybe it was their only option or maybe they believed in them. Not even a single corner of the village was left unseen, every hamlet related to the village was also surveyed. On their way back, they all were in their own thoughts. Their energy was drained up, they decided to skip the part of enjoyment that day. As they had to prepare for the D-day, they had been up till the wee-hours of the morning to complete their presentation on the project.
All of them woke up at the set time. They rehearsed once and then took some time to get into their Professional attire. After all, the hard work was also supposed to be presented well. Draw of lots decided the sequence of presentations of the respective institutes. The host team was second and their team was the third to present. Their turn came, they presented and everything went on very well. They had presented as they wanted to. The Judges, the audience including the competing teams were awestruck. Some of the people in the audience had already decided, who was supposed to be the winner. All the teams completed their presentations, they all knew their goof-ups and the things that gave them a high. It was time for the results, the judges took their own time to decide the winners. They were supposed to judge the teams on various parameters which included innovativeness, presentation skills, ground level reality i.e. viability of the project and feasibility. The Judgment was ready, the Judges got up to announce the results. They tried to break the uneasy silence in the room, while announcing the results with some humour. The finalists felt everything the judges spoke before announcing the actual results as uncalled for statements or just fillers. But the judges did their job, they had build up the excitement even more. The Heartbeats had increased to the level to which they together could have produced some electricity. Deep long breaths, Prayers in minds of some were at their peak. Anyone in the room at that point of time could differentiate Optimists from Pessimists just by looking at the expressions on their faces.
The actual results were announced, the host team was the runner-up. Their hearts began to run a full-marathon; some of them even might have stopped breathing before listening to the code of the winning Institute. It was ‘C’, the team from Mumbai had won. The three friends had won. Their dedication, their hardwork and intelligence paid-off. Within a second the whole scene changed, three tense faces became ecstatic. The other finalists were atleast relieved. The audience was on their feet, the winners got a kind of standing ovation. Congratulations in the form of Wishes, Hugs and Handshakes were everywhere. Everything right from the Omens of sighting butterflies and owls everywhere, the journey, the visit to the village, the fights, the enjoyment, the hardwork, working till late last three nights went through their minds as a flashback. Anyone could hear their hearts saying, ‘It was worth it’. The signals from God had proved right, they won.
They had return tickets to Mumbai for the next day and they had the plan to party all night long, so as to end this whole journey on a high. One of their favorite singers was going to perform live in the institute arena, they made sure of being there in the institute during the performance. They enjoyed the performance, then they partied all night with their friends from the host institute. It was almost dawn now and they had to catch a train back to Mumbai in a couple of hours. They went back to their rooms, packed their bags and came down to say bye to their friends. Almost everyone, they had been friends with came out to see them off. They left the institute with a lot of fun-filled and sweet memories in their mind. They reached Mumbai, the next day afternoon and the journey ended…. But the zeal and enthusiasm is still burning…
