Let me, before someone else does, give you an overview of SFV’s Ekta-2016 celebrations today.
The heading perhaps aptly summarizes in minimum words the day’s proceedings. Sorry friends who could not or did not make it. You can’t fathom what you missed. Anyway, it is never too late. Be sure to be present next time.
As a concession, however, this time I shall partly make up for your loss. I shall take you on a conducted tour like Sanjay did. He explained the goings-on in the battlefield to the blind Dritharashtra in Mahabharata. But don’t take this for granted. I may not do it next time. (Sorry, that is just to prevail upon you to witness it next time, okay?)
Now, on to the event. SFV has been buzzing with sports and athletic activities in the past few weekends - walkathon, badminton, swimming, volley ball, rangoli, drawing competition, and what have you. This in itself was an arduous task, and the young SFVian ladies lived up to it - acquitted themselves creditably, assisted ably by menfolk. Kudos.
One could guess from the exchange of notes in WhatApp in the preceding days the behind the scene work that went on for the culmination of these into Ekatva-2016. Not just that, the team of volunteers split into several groups and visited each household to invite/remind them of their date with Ekatva, and to come empty stomach (not for any free lab test). There would be a lot of stalls offering fun and food, they reassured. The net result? All of us had a gala time - from the toddlers to the octogenarians.
The ceremony began with the customary lighting of the lamp. Those honoured to do that, outsmarted the full-blast cross-ventilation wind to lit the lamp. It was then prize-distribution for the various events. This done, it was time for a fresh bout of competitions - Selfie Le Le Re, My Doll My Mom, Lapet-te-jaa, Aaja Nach le…
A row of stalls occupied the entire length and breadth of the Oak ground-level car park. Food stalls included pizzas, burgers, South Indian and North Indian lunch packs, tea, home-made cakes and pastries, vadapav, paani puri, dosa corner… The clothing stalls were an equal match. also jewellery, online e-teaching software, organic vegetables and fruit, Well you name any, and it was there.
The public address system, for a change, worked without warranting the customary last-minute manipulations. The sound too was well within tolerable decibels. The organizers were fully prepared should the Rain God favour the farming community which He did in the evening. The venue was shifted to the car park and the stage was set in no time.
If one asks me, “Uncle, among the host of dances and songs from toddlers to the young mothers, which one in your opinion stole the show,” I would say he is trying to corner me. It is a tall order for, each time I watched a number, I surmised it was the best, only to be overtaken by the next. And if I take a recap of the whole show, I find my confusion worse confounded. Nonetheless, I would definitely say word about Navin Kashyap and Sajan’s compering. It would seem they are a made for each other duo - not Laurel and Hardy. They kept the audience in tenterhooks with their riddles and quiz items. But the audience proved too good. To sum up, a day well spent.
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For me personally it also provided the right platform to make new friends and renew acquaintance with the old. One such was Col Padmanabhan whom I met at the earlier mock fire-drill. During the exchange of info, it transpired that we were both from Palakkad and that he has a house in my native place, Ramanathapuram village. And it so happened that the events next to his property inspired me to pen an article, “An Encounter with a Ghost” that Hindustan Times carried in 1983. Today he shared with me an experience of his own while serving the army. Well, a good time pass, isn’t it? I shall be delighted to share both the stories should it interest readers.
V V Sundaram
Maple 3195
27 Aug 2016
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