I never expected that there would be a farewell for final year students. But yeah ... There was one. A great one! All the final year students of mechanical got an invite for the farewell party from third year students. After I saw the invitation in my cell, I thought, apparently we're gonna get beaten up by them. Yeah, we got off on the wrong foot. So, It was decided that the venue was ABIRAMI MEGA MALL, one of the ... uh, let's say ... a decent malls in Chennai. My invite message said that the function is gonna be held at 6PM. I reached the mall around 5.50PM. I was said that the function is going on at the terrace, roof top! I cautiously climbed the stairs. I didn't know what was waiting for me. I said to my leg ... 'Even the slightest sign of danger ... Runaway my boy' I was so hesitant to open the door of the terrace. Everyone of us would have experienced the 'ahhh ... what the hell' moment. I experienced it and I opened the door. But 'what was I thinking?' ... It was unbelievable. The decoration, the stage, the speakers, even the chairs looked great! It was an actual grand farewell! Third year students forgot the friction between us and came up with a mind blowing party. I'm sorry guys and I thank all of my juniors who made such a great effort for a great party.
All of my classmates were present. There were shouts, claps and joy. I felt so terrible to even think about what I thought. Our juniors asked everyone of us to speak something about these four years. So did we. After the grand speech, I realized that it's not just me! Just me to think that 'To love a girl is an absurd think to do' Almost everyone warned the third years to watch out for girls, and by this, I mean "no offense" for all the girls out there. You know what I mean. Then started the music. Music of the south! The fast beats and the environment made everyone to dance. 'Sounds gay right? :P' But I swear it was 'friggin' awesome!!!
The roof top offered a splendid view of the city. Then dinner! I must say, it was filled with variety. It was amazingly delicious !!!
But another important thing ... this farewell party proved to be a great opportunity to meet a lost friend who's now in 'Balumahendra Film School'. The best film school in the city. He discontinued the engineering in his second year to pursue film making, something which I tried to do, but couldn't. It was great to meet him and we discussed about films, film making and his film school. Finally the fun came to an end as the clock struck 9PM.
But that's the last time, I guess. Everyone's gotta plan. Next year, the same time, I bet many would be studying or working there ass out in some other part of the world. Very few would be here and am sure they'll be so busy looking after their life. No more messages, no more 10 rs ticket in Devi theater and no more night out at the beach. After many goodbyes and take cares the place finally became empty. Empty stage, unoccupied chairs and silent speakers ...
I guess it's been a long time since I wrote something in this blog. That's because am now in the process of learning a very valuable art which is the most essential thing for every human to learn. THE ART OF DOING NOTHING ...
Still one more month to go. The most important phase in my life is coming to an end. As I already stated, the phase which brought out the MAN in me. College life's coming to an end. In a month am gonna be a complete engineer. Actually am very happy that college life's gonna end but at the same time I'm gonna miss those crazy days with my friends and all those night stays and horror movies we watched, Especially the rainy as well as the scary night of REC!
Here are some of memorable moments of college life :)
That's me alright :P
Ram showing ****
With Bus mates
Sai Shyam's exam paper
Toy Story 3D
Anyhow, back to the topic of NOTHING, you gotta ask the engineering students ... "What's the most toughest job in this whole damn earth?" They'd say "Spending the final days of engineering"
Watching TV - Sucks ...
Downloading Movies - Can't watch more than 3 films per day ...
Talking to strangers in Omegle - Can't do it for more than a hour ...
Riding along the streets of different countries in Google maps - 2 hours tops ...
Facebook - Once in 5 minutes :P
Nothing else to do ... But I'm guessing this is the only chance that's given to me to learn this beautiful art. Everyone's real life starts after they finish their college. I remember someone saying this to me
"Enjoy your college life, after that, you're on your own son, May God not be so hard on you"
Definitely these words are the voice of the man who faced some harsh experiences in his life. Everyone's stating the same quote again and again
"Life's not full of roses" or "Life's not the same after your college" or "You're gonna face the true color of life after your college"
I don't know what's with these different quotes, but I have a small hunch that am gonna enjoy all the above stated experiences. For all the final year students out there, 'We know that something big is waiting for us, maybe big enough even to swallow us, but let's be prepared, and not give a damn about that thing ... Till then we could simply enjoy the blissful 'ART OF DOING NOTHING.'
"I didn't allow you as I thought that you're just escaping from your math and science. But now, I've seen your real interest. So ... you're free to venture any road now. ALL THE BEST!!!"
I was so happy to hear these words from my father. But then I heard the same voice inside
'Its good that your father gave you permission to venture film making. But you don't have any contacts. You wanna place to start with. What's that?'
Next answer that came to my mind was 'A.V.M studios'.
A.V.M is one of the biggest film studios in India and many great directors and actors started their career from its gate. I heard some one saying film making is nothing but making contacts. A.V.M studios is the place where one could find lots of assistant directors and associates, even in the nearby Tea shops. I took my first step towards my career. I took a share auto and got down near A.V.M. My plan was to find some assistant directors or associate directors, to hear their experiences and to discuss about my career. I thought I could get an idea about the place to start. But finding an assistant director is not an easy task. You've to keep your eyes and ears sharp. You've to look each and every people keenly, the things that they carry, the matter they speak. If one has 'Schindler's list' in his hand, then there's no point in thinking. He's an assistant director for sure. If you see a group of people discussing about 'La Vita e Bella', then they're assistants for sure. Even if you find an assistant director it's not a sure thing that he'd spend his time talking with you. I spent three valuable hours by 'waiting, hearing what others are speaking and mostly staring'. Finally ... after 9pm, I decided to leave the place. Then I suddenly heard some voices ...
"A character should not contradict itself. That's the basic rule for a characterization. But that director knows nothing man ... literally nothing about characterization. His characters have no point."
I was so happy to hear those voices. I turned to see some men standing near the hotel opposite to the studio. I went near them with my fullest hesitation.
"Excuse me"
"Yea ...?" Among the group a young man in his thirties replied back. He had a really long beard.
"I'm Karthick. I ... I wanna ask you something."
"Yea?"
"I'm planning to take up film making as my career.I wanna hear your experience in the field. I guessed that you're assistant directors. Where am I supposed to start?"
"First, I should ask you a question ... Do you have some one whom you should support?"
"Yeah ... I have to support my family. Atleast I've to give them something until I make it big"
"Make it big huh? ... You want me to share my experience? Hear it. I've been an assistant for 11 years. I didn't make anything big!!!"
"I heard some assistants are leading a good life"
"They're rich ... You wanna achieve something in cinema? Then you ought to be rich, I haven't got a single chance till date. Because my story had some values. I have a script about a small child and its dream world. No one wants to make these kinds of stories here. Do you have an item number in your film? Then welcome aboard. What kind of story do you have in your mind?" I was terribly disappointed by the reply.
"It's about an amateur journalist who's in the war for the first time"
"Ha ... That's not gonna sell anywhere man, your story has some values.I guess, there's no place for a song in it"
"Yeah"
"What film made you choose film making?"
"Children of Heaven"
"Go home boy ... Do something useful in your life. Dreams are not real"
By the time I reached my home, I was in no mood for anything. I was lost in thoughts.
Late that night, I was lying in my bed, faking my sleep. I heard my mom entering the room.
"What's it?"she asked in a blunt tone.
"What's what?"
"You're so excited when you went to A.V.M, what happened now?"
I told her everything, right from 6pm to 9.30pm. Each and every word of that assistant director. I finished by saying
"Film making is not for me, I guess"
"You didn't even start. But you're thinking of giving up. I thought you're a strong guy with full of confidence. What happened to you?"
I was shaken by her reply. I saw a whole new mom.
"When you're so in love with something, you should not let it go. Be it a girl or a profession"
What the ... My mom said some great one liners that day.
"But mom ... I wanna support this family and I really don't want to leave film making"
"I know ... But before you say anything, I wanna tell you something. Do you know that there's an education loan for higher studies?"
"What? Do you want me to study MS in engineering?"
"No ... "
"Then ... "
"I'm saying ... you could do your film making abroad"
"...."
"What's that expression?"
"...."
"I know ... film making here is for rich people. People generally think that studying abroad is so costly. But there's always education loan. Many of your cousins are in abroad studying MS. They're middle class too. There comes the advantage of Indian money. Prasanna (One of my cousins) went to UK, last year to study Masters in Chemical Engineering. But today he almost finished repaying the dept. But he didn't even finish his course. He went there, got a part time job, he worked so hard and now he's looking after himself and sending money to his parents. Why can't you give it a try? ... But remember, its not so easy as it sounds. Prasanna is sleeping only for 3 hours a day !!!"
"I know, I could work hard mom ... but I just don't know whether this is a good idea"
"Just give it a try"
I discussed this idea with dad and sis. My sis was so excited as usual. Dad, after a long thought
"It's a good idea. But are we financially capable for this?" He looked at mom.
"We're not gonna give him anything. If he decided to go, then it would be by loan" my mom said.
"What if this same thing happens there. What if he continues working as an assistant for 11 years THERE. Atleast in India, we're there to look after him." The conversation picked up a pace. But then, I interrupted,
"Dad, even if I continue to work as an assistant for a long time, I must say assistants have their standard pay THERE and there are lots of film jobs and other jobs to do"
That conversation went on for hours and atlast dad said "Okay ... I believe in you"
The next thing that bugged was 'I've been discussing about a place with dad by mentioning it as 'THERE' for a long time. But I really haven't decided anything about that 'THERE'. Suddenly I heard the same voice inside "WHAT'S YOUR NEXT DESTINATION?"
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