Venmai..

In one of my previous posts, I had said that I would write about my Venmai experience.. I’m finally going to do it now, after two whole months! What I narrate now will definitely be in some way different from what I would have written in the midst of Venmai practice or just after it got over.. It’s been a while after BC and the excitement I had then is obviously not there anymore.. Anyway, I really don’t know where to begin.. coz planning for Venmai began last semester itself.. atleast for the ex-co.. Being the Hindustani Vocal Co-ordinator, one of the very first things was to find out from the members if they were interested in performing for BC and then to select a few from them, since the number of vocalists we could accommodate on stage was limited and even the Carnatic vocalists would be there. There are so many things to write, that if I wrote it all, it would take you ages to read.. and before that, ages for me to write it! So I’ll just list out some of my memories of Venmai.. It was a wonderful experience over-all, I learnt a lot and enjoyed myself as well; and I’m glad Venmai was a huge success :D

Some of my memories with the ex-co..
• The various meetings we had where we discussed all sorts of options for various things! And me trying to crack lame elephant jokes in the middle of them :P
• Gift shopping with a few members of the ex-co.. unforgettable experience..
• Replying to Kalpana, Anuja and LP’s mails with details about this and details about that.
• Selling tickets at canteens, temples, Kent Vale, etc.. giving out flyers, getting lectures on Gods of other religions in return.. :P
• Our rule that the person who came last for any ex-co meeting would buy everybody drinks. The rule that was never executed.
• The ex-co photoshoot.. where the girls took forever to get dressed..
• The chain of mails we had after Venmai was over.. where we congratulated and thanked each other.. brought out the good and bad points of Venmai.. this chain of mails was the best part coz we really pulled each other’s legs! Someone was called a fatherly guide and someone else was being hooked up with one of the female singers by us.. lol!
• The ex-co outing that we had after Venmai.. was supposed to be a dinner outing, but turned out to be a dinner cum late night movie outing!

Some memories about Venmai in general..
• Collecting and passing on food money to the respective people in PGP.. the biggest headache of all!!
• 4-5 hour long practices and the shifting of instruments before and after practices..
• Photocopying of notes for the performers..
• Messaging/Calling Thyagu Sir before every practice to remind him about it..
• Drinking hot water before Pibare in the initial few practices so that we could reach the high notes properly!
• Messaging/Calling/Missed calling(!) performers of my group when they didn’t turn up on time for practice.
• Managing CAs and practice sessions.. and studies in general..
• Having meal-plan food outside the practice theatre with other performers..
• Starting practice late almost everyday and cribbing about it..
• The bus rides back to PGP practice.. singing songs, cracking lame jokes and getting high on plain air!
• The times we ran to catch the last bus.. the times we stood on the pavement undecided whether to take the a1 or just wait for the a2.
• The times when we walked back to PGP or simply cabbed it or when Raj Sir dropped us in his car coz we missed the last bus!
• My joy when I heard that there would be no practice on my birthday! :P
• During the practice days, singing BC songs or humming BC tunes unintentionally at various times of the day! Just an indication of how much we had praticed!
• On the day of the performance, the excitement we felt on stage 15 mins before the concert began when we heard the voices of people who had come in.
• The empty feeling on 22nd March, and even the next few days.. the feeling that something really big was missing..