Winter holidays and Mood Indigo - Part I

After lot of procrastination, I have finally managed to finish the post. Last month of 2008 was incredible. As usual, it involved a lot of travel. Left for Pune on the 26th (yeah, I know - the day of the attacks) - Was woken up in the middle of the night to watch the news - Was stuck there till the 1st of December because Mumbai was unsafe - Then caught a train from Mumbai to Delhi - Stayed there for 3-4 days - Met old friends and my sister - Enjoyed the slight chill that had crept into the air - Went to Dehradun to my grandparents - Met my buddies and came back to Mumbai on the 19th for the Mood Indigo (Moodi or MI).
This MoodI was one incredible experience. As special as every MoodI has been for me, I think I'm going to remember this one for a long time to come for a lot of different. Met and re-met a lot of good friends and had a complete blast. The pronites ranged from so-so to good. Hearing Ensiferum is probably the only time in my life when I enjoyed listening to heavy metal. There was a major crowd control problem after that near the convocation hall for the afternite. It completely sucked. I also filled up the Mood Indigo's Most Wanted (MIMW) form just like every year. I am inclined to think now that I put a little more thought into it than the previous years. Well, what can I say, I was selected for the 2nd round among 25-30 other candidates. A nice feeling :).
For all those who saw my extraordinarily dumbass performance and for all those who, thank god, weren't there and are now reading this, here is the full story.
I got a call around 1 at night saying that I have been selected for the final round and I have to report for the second round at fuckin' 9AM the next day. They were also ‘kind’ enough to call me at 7AM in middle of my deep slumber to again ask me to be on time. Of course, when I reach there at 9, they start 45 minutes late at 945 and without providing breakfast, that's a different issue altogether.
The first and the second rounds are written. First round being writing/drawing on a paper such that when folded in a certain way it forms something else (humour expected). I, being my natural self, sex-itized the American political system. The second round was filling up an imaginary orkut profile. I chose to be Santa (Claus, not Singh). The third round was the one which got me nervous. That was the first stage round and we were not told what it was. We went like goats to the slaughterhouse (INA stage in front of convo). The saving grace was that it was in groups of 4. Our group (me, Aditya, Shantanu and [forgot her name]) was given a hoopla and told to do something with it. We sucked like no-one has ever sucked before. Thank heavens that we were the first group and no one was there to watch it. I came of the stage sweating. After seeing some other groups perform, I wasn’t so critical anymore. Of course, we were one of the worst but certainly not THE worst.
The 4th round was a speed dating round ;). Every guy spends 3 minutes with every girl and at the end of the round we have to vote for 2 girls and against 2. Kind of like a reality show. Of course, I tried to utilize the 3 minutes to the maximum but according to the statistics told to me later, I wasn’t very successful. There was one cute girl present who was the OC’s girlfriend. Since I had the license to flirt, I did so shamelessly.
After the whole of my 2nd day was spent on this fruitless activity, I headed for the DJ grind near the poolside. Towards the end of tiring time at the grind, I received a call from the coordie calling me for the interview. Apparently, I had been shortlisted among the top 15. I went tired and exhausted to the interview. Two guys (Thakkar and [random guy]) were there. They weren’t very friendly. In fact, it seemed to me that they just wanted to get it over with and weren’t really interested in me. Mine was among the shortest interviews (a thing that repeated itself in Delhi again a couple of weeks ago). It isn’t really a great feeling knowing that they got rid of you the fastest way possible.
Anyway, it was over and done with. In the awesome afternite, when Akshay, Nimish, Saurabh and I are joking around, I receive a phone call saying that I have been shortlisted among the final 8 and MIMW finals are going to be held at 2pm tomorrow – and they also have a talent round to showcase my talent. Now I am nervous. My heart is beating faster and I have no clue about my talent.
After lot of deliberation and un-helpful suggestions from my buddies ranging from rap, acrobatics, sky-diving, stand up comedy, break dancing, singing, stripteasing to a tutorial on making crotchless panties, I decide to go for displaying my prowess at salsa (I hear laughter and giggling!).
All said and done, it left me with one thing short – a dance partner of the opposite sex. I had to find a girl who could do salsa, convince her to dance with me in front of a whole audience, decide on music and practise the steps by 2pm tomorrow. It was already 12 at night.