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.'
It's been 22 years since I first saw this world. Out of those twenty two, I could surely say that the last four years were the best part. This chapter is dedicated to my best buddies in Mech'B' who contributed more than anyone for that 'Best' part. We are totally sixty in number. Out of those sixty, here I'd like to introduce you to some of them, who have a unique and interesting set of characters. Let me start with the person whose word-press inspired me to write this blog. Vinodh Venkatesan (aka) Balli.
BALLI (aka) VINODH VENKATESAN
When I first saw him in my class, I misjudged his looks. I thought that he's like those super rich boys who never mingle with other students. He is a perfect high class city guy. I hesitate to say this now, but I had an inferiority feeling back in my first year. I was so hesitant to speak to my fellow mates. 'Who knows?' Maybe that inferiority feeling made me to think like that. But I came to know about the true 'BALLI' once when I sat next to him from second year. He's noway near to those super rich boys I mentioned. He is an easy-goer and the most friendly person. But the problem with him is, he's not emotionally communicative. If you hit him in the balls, he would say "Ahh" in a low tone. The next moment he'd be back in his business. The thing I admire in him is his command in his written English. He has an awesome word-press work where he writes about something from his daily life. It has a splendid narration. Our gang is called BRUDERMEER gang. BRUDERMEER has a very nice story behind it :-P. BRUDERMEER consists of four members. Myself, Balli, Thiruvikrama Srinivasan and Pavan Kumar. Four of us shared a common dream and goal. Travelling and enjoying this life to its craziest and fullest extent before marriage.
THIRUVIKRAM
But Thiruvikram shared even more specific dream like me. A dream called "EUROPE". We both love Europe to the core. Thiruvikram has another secret goal in his life. He's working on it now. Do you guys want to know his little secret goal?. "To drink a full-barrel beer in OKTOBERFEST which is an yearly grand beer festival in Germany". It's not a coincidence that he applied for three German universities. I sincerely hope that he should achieve his little goal :D
Mr.PAVAN KUMAR (aka) BABAJI
You guys should know about Mr.Pavan Kumar (aka) Babaji. He has a great command over his spoken English language. Many doesn't know that he's a great poet. Pavan's special quality is his nervousness and curiosity. He once called me continuously from 2AM to 4AM to talk about the match which was not until 7AM. He's a great friend ho helps you at the right time.
'REACTION' RA.VINODH
Now I should tell about Mr.Ra.Vinodh (aka) ***** *** ****. Ra.Vinodh is one of the most interesting character in our class. Entertainment is guaranteed when he's around. I still can't forget the reaction he gave when Vijaykarthik (another unique character) hit him in an unexpected manner. That was one hilarious incident. We were laughing our ass out.
'PIRATE' VIJAYKARTHIK
Vijaykarthik is another unique and weird character. He would help anyone at anytime. That's his character. But the uniqueness and weirdness? Well, he wants to become a pirate! The rest is for your judgement!
'CURIOUS' SWAMI
There's a character called Swaminadhan Sundaramoorthy (aka) Swamiji. It's not usual to get acquainted with a guy like Swami. He's not like other nerds. He knows everything about everything. Or at-least he'll try to learn if he doesn't know. Curiosity has an other name called Swami. He's my only friend who talks about Einstein's relativity and the possibility of parallel universe which I'd love to discuss. He writes some well crafted Tamil poems which I'd enjoy reading. Here I'd write down a doubt, once he asked me, then you might know about him, a bit.
"I hav one doubt machi. Consider a number of trains such that one is running inside the other train, so that their relative speed gets added up (i.e) speed of the running train plus speed of the train on which it is running. Extend it to 'n' trains, So that u will attain the speed of light. Still the mass will be a stable one with respect to other train, so in this case it seems relativity is practical... Is that right? just a thought!!"
SAI BEATING SRIVATSAN
It's a punishable crime if I didn't write anything about our great Mr.Srivatsan (aka) Bachu. Srivatsan has the most peculiar and weird character. Entertainment quotient of our class. Except his mom and dad nobody has ever escaped from his mouth. That's what makes him interesting. Irrespective of the designations, every staff would get their ******* chance to fall as prey in his mouth. Not only staffs, every student, every actor, every cricketer, every politician, everyone gets their chance.
PAPAKUMAR,SIDDARTH,RAMS,PAVAN
Papakumar (aka) Ramkumar. He's so helpful to all his friends. But don't ever try to tell a secret to him. The word secret would die at that instance. His life is pretty smooth, with no twist or turns. Often I would envy his smooth life. One person, who shares a common interest with me in movies and books is Rama Subramani (aka) Rams. Most of them find my interest as a weird one. But usually it's the same for me and Rams.
ANAZ, NIDHI WITH HELPING HANDS
Anaz, Nidhi Karthik, Suresh and Sai shyam. These four guys really needs our encouragement and support in their great work. These guys started an organization called HELPING HANDS. They're helping the poor, downtrodden people and they make it possible for poor children to study. This is a noble work guys, and you guys would have all our support always.
'THALA' PRADEEP
Pradeep (aka) Thala is another great friend of mine. Srivatsan and Pradeep resides in the same area and they always act like as if they're the worst enemies. They're like ITCHY AND SCRATCHY or any two weird cartoon characters. But the truth is they're the best friends. There're lots of them like Praveen (aka) Kuzandhai, Siddarth, Sai Prasad and Raj Anush .Infact Raj and Sai were so curious about my enrollment in NZ film institute.
RAJ ANUSH
Raj would constantly ask me about the improvement in the application process every week. These are my best friends who contributed for the BEST part in the "BEST four years of my life". I'm sure that each and everyone will have their own contributions to make in my life for a long time :)
"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?"
I met Mr.Selva Ganesh in the first day campus tour. While we were wandering inside the CAD lab, two professors joined there for our guidance. Mr.Rajkumar and Mr.Selva Ganesh.
Mr.RajKumar introduced himself and to Selva Ganesh.
This is the recent and only photograph of Mr.Selva ganesh, which I was able to collect.
" Your regular class starts tomorrow. I'm prof. Raj Kumar, class teacher for Mechanical 'A' Section and he's prof.Selva Ganesh class teacher for Mechanical 'B'."
I still remember his first sentence.
" For these many years, you people could've followed some other crappy rules. But here Selva Ganesh has some set of unique rules and regulations and each and every one should follow it."
I was so scared to look at his sharp eyes. At that very moment I prayed
" Please God, Please don't ever make me sit in Mech'B' tomorrow. Please "
- NEXT DAY -
I was sitting in the class of Mech 'B' with a terrorized look in my eyes and with some uncomfortable feeling inside. The feeling raised to its peak when Selva Ganesh walked into the class.
" I know that many of you don't like engineering here and even some of you might have interest and passion in some other field. Let me say one thing 'Its never too late'. The most easy thing to get in this world is success. You've to put only two inputs 'Hard work and Immense interest'. Remember the words ' Never too late '. But another most important thing, ' Enjoy everything you do, including BE ' Coming to the point, I'm your Engineering Graphics teacher "
Those words got struck in my heart. Life in Chennai and my undergraduate took a big turn there. Life took a race from there, months passed and I was having a smooth fast life. I learned to flirt with girls, I got a new DVD player, new set of friends to wander around Chennai. After all the curse talk I did, Chennai'd been very nice to me as it showed the way to my dream in the form of 'SATHYA BAZAAR'.
The place has whole collection of all the DVD's from around the world. When I found this place, I had the same feeling which Columbus had when he thought that he had found India. That place introduced me to the real cinema, rather than introducing me to movies. That is the place where I actually found the difference between a movie and cinema. I got acquainted with many friends such as 'Life is Beautiful', 'Bicycle thief', 'White Balloon' etc. I saved Rs.60 every week and would buy 2 DVD'S at the weekend. This same routine continued for a long time. After watching each and every movie I'd speak to myself 'Film Making is my path, my goal, my dream, my everything' and I confirmed it after watching Majid Majidi's masterpiece 'CHILDREN OF HEAVENS'. I was doing well in my academics too, so my father was never concerned about me, watching lots of films. I learned a lot. By the end of second year, I got unlimited internet connection which opened more gates. I learned to write scripts, to design story boards. I watched lots of behind the scenes and making of films. By the beginning of third year, I learned to make my own short movie. Not only that! Internet sowed an additional interest in my heart, more like a bonus. That is TRAVEL and CULTURES!!!
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