Goodbye, Kottayam!

The Academic Council of the Manorama School of Communication certifies that S Srinivasa Ramanujam ... is awarded the Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism...

... reads the certificate in my hand. I am a post graduate diploma holder now.

Today was convocation day. Parting day; all smiles outside, but sadness inside.

This academic year has been fantastic for me; I've learnt soooooo many things. And met so many more people, strange-yet-fascinating. But today - March 27, 2006 - marks the end of my tryst with God's Own Country. believe me, one great tryst it has been. But as the saying goes - All good things come to an end. And yet it moves...

This is my last post sitting in my workstation in MASCOM, Kottayam. Best of luck for life from now on!

MASCOM day -- had a great time!

As M and me stepped into our insti at about 08.30 AM this morning, we were expecting to have a blast of a day, considering that it was MASCOM day today.

We wanted a blast. And, we got it first up.

As we sauntered into the premises, KTO (looking surprisingly smart, dressed in a full-sleeve shirt) blasted at us. "You guys got any idea what's happening here... No explanations, just go inside and start working. No breakfast till you finish them all."

It took us all till 10 to complete the work. Breakfast gone with the wind.

At 10.20, the first guest stepped in. From then on, MASCOM was fully crowded, with people shoving each other to see the "wonderful" work we had done in our lab newspaper. Also displayed were some foreign newspapers we managed to get hold of, the coverage of the Union Budget in many newspapers. The visitors were also shown a powepoint presentation on what work we do all week for our paper.

It was utter chaos initially. Guys and girls in-charge of the reception committee had to get the names/designations of the visitors, pass that paper to the photographer who would get a pic and would then pass the paper to other guys/gals who had to take a quote from the visitor. And then, this chit of paper had to go to the people working furiously on the Indesign page (unfortunately, under the nose of Mr KTO). Before the visitor left the place, he had to given an A3 printout of the front page, with his visit being the lead story.

But slowly, things picked up and normalcy prevailed. By lunch time, everything was almost smooth. The crowd again picked up after lunch, and dropped by 4 o clock. At 5 exactly, there were just two visitors. And soon, they were gone too.

The comments/feedback book was full of "fantastic, excellent." Some consolation for the work we put in.

Despite the chaos, despite the madness, today was one day we will all cherish for the rest of our lives.

MASCOM day is here!

We're all busy.

MASCOM day is tomorrow. This is an unique concept of letting people know what we're upto. The whole neighbourhood is invited, our sources are invited and a whole lot of others too are -- to see what happens in this institute daily.

A collection of our weekly lab newspaper (25 of them) are on display for the visitors to see the work that we do. To get a glimpse of journalism throughout the world, foreign newspapers have been pasted. And, we've put on display the magazines that our library subscribes.

Also on display are all the editions of MM, to tell the readers how news/layout differs from place to place.

We're gonna rock the town tomorrow.

This is sport!

Astounding. Great. In my last post, I said that these words dwarf in meaning when used to describe SA's win over Australia at the Wanderers yesterday.

Then - what would have crossed the minds of headline writers throughout the country?

I was really cross when I picked up IE this morning. The front page had a photo-caption giving the news of the amazing win. And, the sports page had - would you believe it - news that Australia had reached a record score! And, I remember it was about 9.30 when the match ended last night. Surely, IE could have done better than that.

TH was a lot better. The headline was okay; it could have been a lot better, considering the fact that many experts billed this as the greatest match ever played.

But the best headline in my opinion was a Malayalam one. The sports page in today's Malayala Manorama screamed - "Ithaanu kali!" (This is sport/cricket)

That aptly summed up, in two words, the real essense of the SA-Aus match yesterday. 434 in 50 overs, and that chased! Now, that's what I call sport.

The greatest ODI ever played

I just watched the greatest game of cricket ever played.

South Africa hit 438 and beat Australia in an awesome game of cricket, and won the series 3-2.

Initially, Ricky Ponting rattled up a great 164 off 105 balls, which left the Proteas reeling. And, entered Australia's name in the records' book for the highest ODI total, beating Lanka's 398 against the Kenyans.

Who? Who on earth would have thought that the Proteas would win? None. Yet they won.

Probably that's the key to any victory. Just do your work, forget the opponent, and you win! In this game, SA must have thought that they had nothing to lose, and so blast their way into the match, thanks largely to Gibbs.

Gibbs played the best innings of his life, belting the ball to all corners of the Wanderers. He toyed the bowlers and looked all set to surpass Anwar's 195. His 175 off 111 balls will certainly go down as one of the best innings played ever.

Astounding. Great. These words do not describe this match. There isn't a word, really.

A tougher week beckons

My leg pains. Really.

Walked lots today. I had blogged earlier that last week was tough and the coming week is gonna be tougher, I guess.

Just when we thought that we would be a bit free cos our two major projects were over, and just as I thought that it would be easy for me as my quota of being a sub was over, work came along. In the guise of evaluation exercises, for which we gotto cover some events in town.

This morning was busy with all of us scanning papers for events. And, we finally zeroed in on two events - one some eye donation camp and another, a speech by a political leader.

Walked lots for the stories...real tired and sleepy.

I say it's gonna be a tougher week as we gotto submit these by Monday and then we have some evaluation exercises lined up for the rest of the week. And then, to top it all, I'm editor this week. Lotsa work. Little time.

A tough week

It's been a tough week. (except for the Kochi'Budget discussion' trip we made Monday)

Getting on my nerves, really.

First, we had to meet our deadlines for the final drafts of our investigative and dissertation projects. Though I had finished most of it, petty jobs like pictures, other stuff like writing a contents' sheet and acknowledgement were pending ... and I had to do them this week.

Plus, I'm a sub this week. Probably the last time I'll be doing it here. So, gotto do a great job...

Plus, we have the usual assignments that KTO loads us with. Life's tough, I guess.

Nothing really 'strik'ing

As I walk out for my evening coffee, the guy in the corner shop nods his head and says that he isn't working today.

Thus I start my walk down the lane to the main bus stand. Two guys walk near me, speaking in Tamil. Predictably, soon enough, we were in a conversation. Loved the part when they described this place as a "toongu moonji" place.

It's "toongu moonji" day today. A hartal (or bandh, or strike, or whatever you want to call it) has been called by an outfit here and thus life has come to a standstill.

People here are sure nice - but they're damn lazy. As the passerby (actually, two of them) told me, "It's never like this back in our place. There's always something happening on all days. Here, it's like if the people get a chance to take a day off, all they do is sit at home. Only God knows how they manage to pass their time at home."

"Strike" is too strong a word. Nothing striking happens on those days.