The (fall and the) rise of the Maroon Speaker

In Ode to the West Wind, P.B.Shelley says:

If winter comes can spring be far behind?

Camreon Crowe says something similar in Vanilla Sky:

The sweet is not as sweet if you don't know the sour!

On that note, I am recounting my experience on an eventful Thursday that was to teach me some life lessons or simply expose me to better (or considering what actually happened not-as-what-i-thought) experience.Thursday, the 29th was one hell of a day, for I lost something and found something else.

• Sanity-that's what I lost or else how would I have agreed to do what I eventually did (though I was willing to do it- sounds like a confused soul ....welcome to my world) in barely two minutes.


• Grit-hours later this is what I found buried deep down like an adept archaeologist, digging out from newer reserves (sounds dramatic?life could get high on drama sometimes.And it doesn't hurt to laugh at it).

Opportunity knocks the door only once. But sometimes Opportunity comes smiling your way. It also has small curly hair tied into a bunch in a neat mess, hair pins embellished with diamonds and a mannerism that empowers the listener with "You can do it, man!"

So, the task at hand - to compère for the intra-college cultural fest - Agni'08. Okay, I wasn't sent blindfolded into war zone or stranded in a freezing mountain range without jackets.But given The College of Engineering, Guindy brand, expectations were running high. Excluding the lone soul that made this offer, all others interviewed (interrogated, actually) about past experience in compèring.If that was one thing, the Vivek audi had surprises that made these sessions look like I had been jolly dancing.I had expected a half filled audi at the maximum.But what I saw caught me off-guard.A brimming audi was the last thing I wanted (I later learnt the secret behind the capacity crowd was that the strategic volunteers had literally dragged(no pun intended!) the canteen-goers and all innocent souls loittering around the audi into it;well some spirited volunteers these are!) but I was left to deal with a crowd that regularly peppers my already drab commentary with great BOOOOOOOOOOOs and predominant OKSSSSS!

I was beginning to think that this day is just perfect - not near, not close to but so completely perfect;little did I know that i couldn't be more off the mark. Now, let's cut into Vivek Audi at about 6:30 p.m...

I was standing in front of the mike reciting facts about the Chief guest for the evening. " Thiru. Dharani has worked with Mani Ratnam in all his projects from Dil Se to Alaipayuthey. The perfectionist that he is...blah, blah, blah".I finished by declaring that the stage was his.He came over and man I knew what made his movies successful.If there was somebody who could keep the audience motivated and entertained at the same time starting from the word go it was surely this guy.He finished and then came back to his seat or did he?Apparently he claimed he had forgotten something important .....which happened to be ....... the bit about Mani Ratnam that I had read out in my child's zeal was all false!It took a full minute for that to sink and my plastered smile to vanish.I was now sure the Audi had erupted so wildly not just for his speech but also for his honest(!) clarification.And then it was apology time and everything after that was all fine.

Except for that glitch everything went fine.Well, moral of the story is : Don't ever do something without completely knowing about it! R-e-s-e-a-r-c-h is the key. And when you address a crowd of about 1500 odd people that gives rustic remarks, you have got to be extra cautious. And highlight of the story is some well-wisher of mine supposedly yelled out my name and said something that was retold to me in 4 different versions the next morning.Of course, all four versions were distinct and would make interesting reading but I am still not a sport enough to give in those details. However, I am game for creating a comic version of the whole thing some time soon where there wouldn't be cuts.

It is better to fly and crash than to sit and snuggle. 

So says Chetan Bhagat. Playing it safe or excessively defensive like Vlady Kramnik did at the World championships, isn't the road to triumph. Mistakes are the recipe for success.