Posts Tagged Cochin
Lights, camera….awesomeness !!
Posted by Karthik in Party !!!, The Things That Happen..., Volunteer Files... on October 17th, 2009
Current Emotion- Yet another year; and yet another Diwali in Cochin (Sigh!)
But then, the clouds struck, and in the background of lightning and thunder somebody spoke –
Hey, Chotu Diwali on friday and your class on friday too….
Current Emotion – ahan 
Rapid thinking and a few phone calls = Diwali celebrations at YMCA Boys Home, Thrikkakara.
Jazim (the latest noobie aka tingu no. 2) and I arrived earlier and had a chat with the warden and the kids. We planned a greeting card making competition; Gautam and Harsha got the chart papers and sketch pens. We also got Ladoos, Chocolates and Candles to light up the occasion. After a brief description of What, How and Why Diwali and after the most enchanting mythological story about Diwali by me –
Current Emotion: Thank you…thank you..
Negative Creep(Harsha & Jazim): Ya RITE !!
- we started off with the competition by around 545. Blesson, Elizabeth, Saina and Sumit joined us well ahead before it started. Controlling a bunch of hyper-excited kids is not so easy but it is my baae haath ka khel
Negative Creep – OOOoo…pinne !! (that’s mallu for yea rite)
We viewed some really amazing drawings and messages on the cards. They made three fold cards. Some kids actually tried to present the story of Diwali while the others expressed joy, lights and happiness in the greetings. The competition was just a spoof and in the end, everyone deserved the yum yum sweets for the efforts they put in. Afterwards, we distributed chocolates, candles and ladoos. Soon, YMCA would be lit up with diyas and candles. (Awesomeness 1.0)
A few other people also planned to celebrate Diwali with the kids at YMCA. They got some pedas and crackers like phool jhadi, chakri and anaar.
Current Emotion- Ah, once upon a time, a boy named Karthik used to light up his neighbour’s cat’s tail as part of his Diwali rituals….(drifting to Mexico 
) 
This point, we had a hard time with the kids, but again thanks to me –
Current Emotion – Buhahaha
Negative Creep – And blesson and gautam and everyone else !!
- everything was safe and sound.
Personally, I always regret not being able to be with my family during Diwali. But this year, everything has been different with MAD.
Happy Diwali people !! Cheers and stay safe
PS: We have a lot other pictures uploaded on facebook !!
Is That Some Good V.Y.B?? :D
One simple question :
What do Valsalyabhavan(V), YMCA Poor Boys Home(Y) and Balbhavan(B) have in common??
Besides the fact that they’re all really small centers that MAD works at, well, I’m pretty sure they are different.. Two of these accommodate boys, the other for girls, different managements, different backgrounds, different settings..
Small, they may be, but on the closing weekend of May, the world found out that, no matter how small, or how far away from each other, or how distant from the epicenter of anything you are: Together, you Make A Difference!
Behold, MAD’s first ever mixed camp : The VYB Camp!
I had started thinking of this camp sometime in February.. Yes, February.. Why dint it happen sometime then? Oh well, Sanju, Sumesh, Paul, Aparna, Saju, Jonva, Shahnaz, Varkey and Co (I’m really bad at names, sure I left out quite a few) were not running around then doing the necessary, while I sat around jobless, pretending to be Camp Coordinator while covertly outsourcing all my work! 
First Day : Sometime after 7 am..
We’re running behind schedule a bit.. The camp was supposed to begin at 7, but the kids haven’t arrived yet.. I’m apprehensive.. Somewhere inside we all are.. We know that mixing boys and girls at a camp just might backfire.. They might not talk, they might not be themselves in front of each other, given the backgrounds they come from..
Then I see the bus coming, the kids get down, walk towards the venue.. There is an air of suppressed excitement… Behind my back, I cross my fingers, and put on a smile that comes only with a lot of effort.. It’s time to begin the camp..
They come in, they sit down.. Boys separately, girls separately, with an easy ten feet separating the two groups.. My worries multiply within.. Inside my head : “Keep smiling you idiot.. Don’t look like a chicken being taken to the grave..!”
Art of Living has started.. There is not that much noise.. They’re not even looking at each other.. Oh God! This will probably backfire.. Where can I hide where Niki won’t find me for screwing up her precious Placements Project??
Second Day : Sometime after 9 pm..
We’re all standing outside on the ground… The bus is going to be a bit late, so we sit here and there.. I look around, I see my boys; Aparna’s boys; the Valsalyabhavan girls.. And I see the camp has worked.. They are talking to each other, having fun, enjoying each other’s company.. Yeah, take that Niki.. !!
My boys ask me to sing a song, I attempt singing ‘Thank You For Loving Me’.. Invariably I screw it up, and end up with a rendering that’s somewhere between an old floorboard in a haunted house that creaks very loudly and the sound that my bike brakes make when it rains.. But, nobody seems to mind, nor do I! Everybody is in too good a mood…
Man, is this awesomeness or what?? THIS, that moment, IS the V.Y.B Camp… We did it!! Woooohhoooooo!!!
MAD Rec’n'Work, Cochin :)
Posted by Jr. in The Things That Happen... on April 28th, 2009
Over this weekend, the Mad team pulled off a great recruitment and workshop at the Rotary Balbhavan in Panampilly Nagar..
Since we’ve established by now how lazy I’m, and given how sleepy I’m now, I’ll limit the words, and let the pictures do all the talking.. You need to say anything more, you know where the comments go..
Day 1
The day started out with volunteers trickling in by ones and twos and being greeted by the all new, and eyebrow raising MAD banner, and of course, the less controversial Welcoming Committee
Followed by the usual HR undercover operations to divide and conquer…. Team Splits:
Time for the MAD Presentation courtesy Sanju, some group discussions and a few brave newbie presentations
After this moment, no more pics of the day were taken.. Why?? Well, apparently, Nidheesh was outside putting the camera to much better use than I was : (sigh)
But he did return just in time to witness a few harmless HR games to get the volunteers better acquainted with how crazy MAD really is.. :
(PS: I’ve still no idea what he was trying to do even now)
The interviews followed where we managed to scare quite a few of those who came.. Sorry about that folks, we just HAD to find out if you were really indeed the best.. If you DID make it through, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done !
Day 2
The ones who got picked came back on Sunday for Process Training… They went through slide after slide of Jithin’s excellent(read very long) informative(read boring) and eye opening(read sleep generating) presentations..
But things weren’t THAT bad.. There were also fun sessions to break the monotony.. Like the Passing the Headless and Clothless Doll one and the Bombing Chennai one..
And that was about it for a great weekend.. Got to meet some great people.. Thanks to you guys who showed interest, and then showed up for the weekend.. And let me apologise for the recruiters who might’ve scared you during the interview.. It’s all part of the bigger picture 
Final Note : Seeing the people who came for the Rec session, talking to them, and observing them; I’ve a feeling that this year’s gonna be greater still…
A MAD MAD welcome to all the Noobies.. See ya people around..
- (the now Sr) Jr
The MAD Conference !
Posted by Parul in Volunteer Files... on April 13th, 2009
Day 1:
When I landed in Cochin I was somewhat uncomfortable… With all the apprehensions disintegrating me from within… After i reached the hotel and was redirected to the fifth floor….
I was blankly standing outside the lift…. Not sure where the conference was….
Meanwhile I heard a loud voice of (must admit) an impressive speaker… I could hear a huge round of applause after every few sentences….
The voice was almost echoing in the corridor and it took me some time to find the actual source….
Iopened the door and to my surprise found a giant addressing a herd of blacks…
Oops!!!! I was the only one in white…..But it did not take the devouring black wave long to paint me black….
Sanjana with her infectious smile surely affected many including me…. The day had a lot to offer, with inputs flowing in from all the sides; ideas, experiences and plans were discussed…. in FULL….. with a few digressions….
By the end of the first day of the conference everyone was nauseated by the heavy overdose of ideas….
Until we had dinner the hunger pangs almost made us feel as if the heart had found a new home… coz the stomach was making more noise than the heart…
And the hangover of the entire week was making it all the more difficult to keep the eyes open…. We all seemed skeptical whether we would be able to survive for another two days….
The intoxicating sea breeze and the sound of the crashing waves detoxified and mesmerized us…. And then we all retired to our respective rooms, too tired after the day’s work….
Day 2:
B’fast at Aamara
Breakfast!!!! so called only because we had it in the morning otherwise the amount that we had easily qualifies that mouthwatering treat to be promoted as dinner ….
A lot of delicacies were served…. oops!!!! i don’t remember the names…. but the taste still continues to tickle my taste buds…yummy… mouth-watering….
I’m sure after visiting Amaara many people had almost wished that they owned a place like that or at least a few sections of that traditional heritage property must have left their marks on the road less traveled and carved a niche for themselves in the dream houses of many…..
Second day brought a lot more clarity and the future course of action was formalized..
By now the boundaries between the various cities had completely resigned to the world of oblivion…. A perfect manifestation of national integration…
Smiles were freely exchanged from one corner of the room to another…. Smiles that made the need of audible conversation dispensable… Sarcasms, jokes, appreciations, admiration, agreements and disagreements were secretly shared by employing the diverse mechanisms….
The end of the discussion was gratifying and all the girls in Sanjana’s car were warming themselves up for a magnificent peek into the history of Kochi Fort; not many knew that very soon all of us were gonna be led through the winding streets of Cochin that were once frequented by the royal families and invaders from various countries…
Many structures there till date continue to boast about their noble birth….
Our lovely guide was religiously relaying all that those structures were whispering into the ears of the thin air to us (We who were both old and new to Cochin….)
The visit to one of the homes served as the cherry on the cake…
We witnessed one of the finest court proceedings….
The relationship that the kids and the volunteers there share is exemplary….
After bidding them good bye we dispersed and hibernated for a few hours….
Yes… We were to meet the next day…. The last day….
Day 3:
the beginning of an end….
Wow!!!! lovely morning….
Everyone was tired but still managed to be ready after very little sleep…
The very idea of wasting the time sleeping that we otherwise could spend together made us all feel guilty….
Adrenaline rush was driving us all….
The long ride to Allepy was memorable….
With we all racing with each other….
And personally speaking serving as a navigator in Sanjana’s car was fun…. I openly showcased my tendency to act foolish at times (most of the times)….
Allepy house boat ride was heavenly… The weather was pleasant…. The sky being overcast….
We played a lot of games and sang a lot of songs….
We surely made the people traveling in all the other boats envious….
Thanks to Paul, there was no dearth of “laugh till you drop” moments….
Every passing moment just made us keep wishing for more….
By late afternoon almost everyone was overcome by the sad realization that the closure of the conference that we had all looked forward to attending was now drawing close…. And that the end was inevitable was all the more difficult to accept…
May be the tears were not visible…. but they surely poured….
And finally we parted with a promise that we would meet again.. next year…
Before the Conference we wanted to do a few things for the welfare of the society and for bringing to life the dream of an Equal India… After the conference, we have many more things to do for making our dream of securing a bright future for the underprivileged kids come true…. We also have one more reason to do all that we wish to…. and that reason is that we have each other…
We have MAD and all the MADness that is so much a part of us… All.
MAD Conference Day 1
Posted by Jr. in Volunteer Files... on April 11th, 2009
The First Ever National Mad Conference kicked off in Cochin yesterday…
Day 1 was all about ‘Dreaming’…Volunteers from across the country presented ideas on how to take the organization forward..
Day 2 is all about deciding which dreams to follow.. Keep watching..
The Fastest Ever YMCA Goal !!
Posted by Jr. in The Things That Happen... on April 5th, 2009
What happened when we played football with the kids during the YMCA Farewell..
This has to be the fastest amateur goal ever in the history of mankind.. Nobody knows how the ball got to the other end so fast..
“THIS IS AWESOMENESS \m/”
Posted by Karthik in Volunteer Files... on March 28th, 2009
Sunday, 15th March around 7:00 pm
Current Emotion: Screw you dsp (= popularly known as DEGREE STOPPING PAPER) and ye compiler ka kya Karun??
Next I hear someone saying – abey MAD farewell this weekend; abhi study later enjoy. I’m pumped up and sit down to study DSP. At around 0215 hrs….this is too much man. Wish I had studied earlier.
0430: That’s it I can’t do it. (But anyhow it’s MAD this weekend, abhi yucky – fir happy)
Similar scenario, the next two days :s
The loooong day – 19th March
Sh!t man – lab, reports what not And that too in a single day.
Current Emotion: update facebook, twitter statuses – Screw my department, screw the HOD, screw his stupid philosophy and screw him black and blue. Screw this, screw that. Screw everything. SCREW SCREW SCREW.
(Abey this is life. its MAD this weekend, kabhi khushi kabhi gham)
[Screw was not the word I intended here Although I received err....ahem...compliments from Jr, Paul, my sis and Sanjana, ha-ha!]
Ah, not again.
20th march, around 3 pm
Current Emotion: *Let me get over this fast and just the weekend ahead (YAY!)*
0305 hrs: “Dude, you are under sessional in networks by 4 marks. Get over here”
After getting over “there”.
Networks’ Ma’am – “You need to give a retest tomorrow. Full syllabus. 10 AM”
Current emotion:”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHHH”
Then out of nowhere – Ghoooos frabaaaah Ghoooos frabaaaah Ghoooos frabaaaah!!!
( hehe, big fan of anger management)
Again that someone says – study then enjoy. It’s a MAD Weekend.
Now I hate this guy. Humph!
21st march 1 pm
Current Emotion – “hahaha I scored 43 (on 50 J)guys….YAY !”
That guy again – abey why are you so happy, ucchal kya raha hai??!!!! You have that report left. (Screw you, I know!)
I decided to name him the negative creep.
21st march 11 pm
Current Emotion: *Speechless and clueless. But, anyhow just a few hours now*
Me – “Jr, I have no idea when I’ll sleep, wake me up at 7!”
Jr – “Ok, but you wake me up at 645 first”
Negative creep – “Aila, Awesomeness”
Me – “Dooooooooooood, paaaauulll – wake me up at 7! Cheers! “
Paul – “ ah, ai…umm….okay…WHAT ?”
Me – “You heard me !”
22nd march 450hrs
Current emotion: *Lullaby at a distance – sojaa munne sooojaaaa*
Negative Creep – If you do, you’ll sleep now in the fire.
Me – “Are you a Rage against the Machine fan? “
Negative Creep – “No, but you are!”
Me – *aing*
Current emotion: Only a few hours, then you’ll have the time of the year =]
Typed a sms to Jr. – Wake me up at 750. Don’t know when I’ll hit the sack.
No reply, he must have slept (sigh) when will I sleep?
0615 hrs
Current emotion: *Drooling on the table; all namkeen, biscuits, and cocoa over. I’ll sleep (on the table) for five minutes, it hardly matters…how worse can it get?*
0710hrs
*The cellphone rings –*
Current emotion: *I have heard this song before, but where is it coming from?*
Then “You’ve Slept now in the fire You’ve Slept now in the fire You’ve Slept now in the fire: P”
Paul – “Dooood, sawcbinjhjn Wake up ddjjbdsgkknjhjbj its 7!”
Me – “ ashaskdhofdsklfn38rywe8fklanfaflasdkl”
Paul – “ Yea okay asadisodhiojksjdaosd”
Me – “ yea ok asdagdgfkhfadhiaushdi3ioashd”
Click.
Negative creep – “ab kya- go sleep. Jr will wake you up at 8.”
Me – “that’s the best thing you ever said the whole screwed up week”
0820 hrs
* Sleep now in the fire Sleep now in the fire Sleep now in the fire *
Jr- Da are you up?
Me – *Don’t remember – jr, fill this up*
Jr- I am already here and those dumbos (buhahaha) haven’t arrived as yet.
Me –eh ah..oh okay..*assdasdasd asfdgdfs* where are you ?
Jr – loungevity!!
Me-(YAAAAWN!) I’ll b there in sometime!
Jr- yea don’t be late and don’t go back to sleep
Me- Aye aye captain !
Click.
Negative Creep – “ You can sleep till 830, round it off brah !”
Me – “awesomeness.”
0850 hrs
*Sound of clothes being beaten black and blue. Abey ab ye kya haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?*
Current Emotion: *Sh!t Sh!t. This can’t be…Its 9ish!!!!!! naheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!*
Still dazed, I get up – “Now where was my bathroom?”
Took a shower and the usuals – get into something from my wardrobe, which apparently turns out to be a shirt – that too pinkeeey. Would be wearing a shirt for the second time since my class 12th farewell!
Negative Creep – “abey enuff of ur sajna-dhajna….chall kat ley! And yea, you can sleep in the bus”
Me – “whooopie – i dint think about that”
920hrs
Mission – get on the bus, find a seat. Start snoring.
Mission accomplished !!
Current emotion- * just half an hour more*
0950 hrs
*South south south south south*
Me- “Eh. Err. What was that?”
Negative creep- “Nothing, go back to sleep”
Me – “I heard south!”
Negative – “Abey it’s far away”
Me – “Screw you!”
I get off.
I find a building with “Makante Achan”
Me – “Since when did avenue regent put up flexes and what does makante achan mean?”
Negative creep – “ROFL!!!”
Me- “What”?
Negative Creep- “ It means bête ka baap AND you are at shenoys and YOU are screwwwwd “
Me—“AAAaaaaah FISSSSH”
Negative Creep—* Russell Peters’ Style* – “All set hike hike. Now run. Run run run. Run with it. I’m waiting here, GOOOO. *tch tch* we’re winning….NO i’m winning – you are screwed and you’ll be late hahahaha”
Me * disregards its last*- Chett(e) ! Avenue Regent”
Auto –“ Seri seri, pandarannd ruba”
Me- “eh”
Auto – “tollve rubees; tollve!! tollve!!”
Me- “oh 12, yea ok. Run!”
0958 hrs
Just outside loungevity:-
Current Emotion: *Loungevity +10 AM=?!?!?!?! What will be this like, hehe J
But then I remember what Jr said.
Loungevity + 10 AM = WE GET IT!!!!*
I walk in to find everyone sitting and chatting and laughing and happiness all around.
Current Emotion: *Energy level rising. Just left Ground state… Level 2, 3….penultimate state now.*
Then I find Paul waving at me.”Oh here’s Karthik….Heyyyy”
Current Emotion: Highest excitation state. THIS IS AWESOMENESS!
27 March, 0523 hrs
Current Emotion: *My first blog . Is this awesomeness?*
Negative Creep – Yes, of a different kindJ.
Me – “Who is this?”
Negative Creep – buhahahaha….bc ! no internet !
Me-“oh, you are back again! For a moment i thought…..ah nevermind…SCREW YOU!!!”
…to be continued.
MAD Cochin Farewell :)
Posted by Jr. in Party !!!, Volunteer Files... on March 23rd, 2009
Sunday April 22nd, Loungevity Avenue Regent..
8:00 am : Jr.is supposed to arrive.
8:10 am : Jr. arrives… And, invariably, waits…. 
8:45 am : Prez and Sanju arrive.. And after, shamelessly arriving late, they make the poor volunteers, tired from waiting do all the work..
9:30 am : The preperations are done.. And the volunteers start trickling in slowly..
I was’nt looking at my watch after that, so let’s forget the timelines for now.. As is custom, the Mad video is unrolled first.. We take a look back at one of the greatest years ever.. For Mad, as well as most volunteers.. ( I speak for myself anyhow ! )
Farewell time.. We bid adieu to some of the greatest volunteers ever !!
Eight are leaving this time around, including the legendary Holy Ghost Trio and the Diving Wierd Photographer Man(who expressly forbid me from putting these unedited version of the pics on the blog)…
But, as Jithin likes to say.. “You might leave, but MAD never leaves you..”
Time to move on to the annual tradition of the Make A Difference Youth Leader Awards… Every year, six people are nominated from within the ranks, for the potential and leadership that they highlighted during the year.. (I’m tired of uploading pics, so you’ll have to do with just a couple.. ) The first one is given to the orphanage head of the orphanage that won this years MadComps.. And the HG girls ran away with it.. (will get you next year)
Time for the day’s entertainment.. Jonva and his fellow Jonvans take the stage..
Session 4 : Who the President?? Who the President??
Answer : Sanju the President !
The Handing Over – Taking Over Ceremony looked like this :
Question : What does the new Mad Cochin Core team look like??
Answer : Like this :
Wait… Where is the VP Fundraising?? Vivek !! Vivek??
Where is he?? Eating Chocolate??
Volunteer : Sanjana, where is Vivek??
Sanju : He had other engagements..
Volunteer : Oh ok…Went to play tennis, huh??
Sanju : Actually, he had only one engagement.. After all, he’s getting married only once..
(Inference for all volunteers : Yes, please go ahead and ask for treats if you see Mr. Vingman around)
Though, the BEST MOMENT of the day was the standing ovation that Sr., the outgoing President, got..
The best President and mentor any of us could’ve ever asked for…. As he’d have put it : “Great job, bro.. Good repository… ”
Ok, that was senti enough.. (sigh)
Final note :
I had a college farewell, where, inexplicably i felt a tinge of sadness… Seemed there were too many good memories that I was leaving behind… But the Mad Farewell was different.. Yes, we’re bidding this year goodbye.. But, the next year already beckons..
At Mad, the year never ends.. It just merges into the next one.. Looking forward to all that 09-10 promises to bring to all our doorsteps..
- Signing off on 08-09 and signing into 09-10
(proud to be the) Jr.
The Best of Jan …
Posted by Jr. in Volunteer Files... on January 31st, 2009
Here are the top 6 posts from the blog for the month of January…
Introducing YMCA : Part 1
Family Reunion
Read and vote for the best below…
The Best Post of January was ....
- Family Reunion (31%, 8 Votes)
- My first class.. :) (12%, 3 Votes)
- Introducing YMCA : Part 1 (19%, 5 Votes)
- Ye Ye Ye…, i got a break…!!! (12%, 3 Votes)
- The Valsalya Bhavan Diaries …. (8%, 2 Votes)
- How much money is enough!!! (18%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 26
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The Rally !!
Posted by Aditi in Volunteer Files... on December 16th, 2008
Kudos! Once again our political “leaders” have been successful in disheartening us.
Forget the empty promises, the cheap polit(r )ics on display, the madness to chair the country……….the latest thing that got to us is the Congress Meet held in the city of Cochin.
I am one among scores of people who work hard all through the day in a bid to make life better. And what I most certainly do not want after a hard days work is a 3 hour wait in a private bus, stuck in a traffic jam just because some of the “leaders” decided to strut around in their political garb ,my family and friends worried sick thanks to drunk party representatives going about stoning and thrashing shops,
My friends stranded mid way without transportation, just so that an excuse of a leader could be escorted home safely….My workmates stuck in buses at 10.30 pm hungry and thirsty not knowing what to do……The whole city going standstill to accommodate this event……
Why weren’t we given prior notice of the change in bus routes? Why weren’t these traffic jams avoided? Are these politicians really that important….clearly the citizens aren’t as important to them…………
We do not expect miracles or blooming of patriotism in your power thirsty minds…..we expect and deserve to live our life freely. Leave us alone. You are not fooling anyone by holding high profile meetings. The mud slinging, the blame games …you have made a complete mockery of the political system in India.The fact is you have failed us time and again…the recent Mumbai terror attacks a case in point. You have proved to us that you can do little to make our lives better….and now we plead to you…do not make it worse!
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