what the heck!! i 'll do it..

it's been more than a year now since i wrote the first post ..i wanted to write but was stuck so badly in the middle of so many things that couldn't continue..well,, now that i am lukkha..[relatively..:)] i can carry on with what i have wanted to do for a long long time ..blogging.. so here I go..

a major part of my last one year was spent working for MI and the rest of it too, in some ways :P [those of you who know me would understand]..there were some ups and there were downs too..it was a learning period for me…gave me a chance to work with the best of people and learn from them and right now I find myself to be a much improved version of the old aditya…I cannot think of anything particular to write about,, I’ll write about PAFs-the hot topic of discussion in the insti right now..

According to Wikipedia-The Performing Arts Festival, abbreviated as PAF, is the biggest inter-hostel cultural competition in the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay located at Powai in Mumbai (India). The term PAF is used to refer not only to the festival itself, but also to the individual cultural performances that constitute the festival.
Right now,,PAF season is on in the institute..I am an admirer of the idea behind PAFs ..the idea with which the foundation was laid..It is/was the single largest cultural event which brings/used to bring together people belonging to various cultural streams..it laid the basis for intra as well as inter hostel interaction which i must admit is still lacking..BUT..but..but..going by staggering increase in the number of clubs and events [competitive as well as non-competitive] is it a good idea to continue with PAFs?? i know people in the insti are very senti bout PAFs and a discussion on the cult scene of IIT Bombay cannot be completed without the mention of PAFs but its high time the cult authorities along with the cult junta sat down and thought about it properly..I am most concerned about the fact that organizing a PAF has become a liability now ..a responsibility that hostel councils have to carry...its more about doing it for the heck of it then for the fun part or anything else..i can count on my fingers the no of thirdies who are actually enthu for PAFs ..the level of enthusiasm has been going southwards...
Consider a Freshie..when he enters the institute there are orientations for him..all sorts of orientations--sports, cult [music + dram+ dance and so on], acads, MI, techfest, E-cell and so many other club orientations...he is confused ..he wants to dance ,,he wants to act, he wants to do whatever he didn’t get to do in his school life coz he was busy solving maths problems or attending coaching classes ..then he also gets to know about the "ACTUAL FUNDE" [useless seniors are found in abundance in freshie hostels ] for landing up with a good job he decides that he needs to somehow get a P.O.R coz than only he would get shortlisted..so he becomes an orgie with one of the IBs [well most of them do..:)] ..then we have all sorts of events for them [for them to work as GHODAs ],,we have freshizza ,,we have Theatre fest, AIDs[which in itself has become as big as a techfest or an MI] and many other such things and oh,,i forgot ACADs....Now Do you really think you are right in expecting him to work for his hostel for PAFs??do you really think by showing him the videos of some awsum PAF you would be able to encourage him to work his ass off for a month and that too making prod..the situation has changed now..i suppose its very different from what it would have been in the past when the world was not that competitive[:P] and IIT did not have plethora of activities..
The journey so far has been astounding ..we have had the most amazing stories been told to people ..the OAT stage has been a performing ground for so many gifted iitians..when i browse through the PAF history and read about PAFs like Chnanakya in which actors shaved their heads in order to portray students of the era. ..it gives me an idea about how senti the students must have been at that time ..how motivated they would have been for their PAF to take such a step [it is a different thing though that "Chanakya" won just one trophy and that quite obviously was the best costumes trophy]..in 1992 Hostels 8 and 9 came up with "Locomotivation" in which the main actors were on roller skates, skating through the audience, while enacting a race of locomotives,, one can imagine the effort that would have gone into that PAF .. the kind of dedication that team must have shown to successfully pull off the PAF/.. the point i am trying to make is that i do not see such dedication in my batch for PAFs .. leave dedication people find it difficult to get their butts off their chairs and drag themselves to the OAT to atleast see the PAFs..
if we try to analyze this year's situation..i can say atleast for my hostel,,that we lacked big time in terms of man power..i did not see any major prod work going on ..and very few freshies were spotted doing any kind of work..same was the case with seniors..i was a script incharge and i did not even go for the script meetings coz i was never senti about it and i was made a script incharge because i was one of the very few 3dies who had ever been a part of any dram related activity in the insti..lack of man power showed major time in the PAF in all the aspects ,,in script,in prod,in acting etc..same was the case with other PAFs..while 3,8,11 decided to take the easy way out...the story was lifted from a movie..the screenplay was drab ,,the humour was pretty averagish..what really lifted the PAF up was the climax and the highlight was the upside-down text,,which changed the entire feel of the PAF but that tooo was copied ..even most of the text was lifted with a few words changed here and there ..all in all, in my opinion the PAF lacked in terms of creativity ..6,7,10- the execution was pretty awesome..they had worked hard and it showed at various places like choreo..voiceovers etc[though the judges thought otherwise]..but the biggest pain was the linear narrative, there were no highs in the entire PAF,,though some part of the script was beautifully done but the overall effect was not there and most of the junta didn't like it at all..the funda of using live music for choreo backfired as well...in all, this PAF could not live up to the hype it had created...i cannot comment on the last and winning PAf of the season [other than the fact that the trailer looked more like that of a mithunda movie,,and because of the trailer only i abandoned the plans to watch the PAF] though from all that i have heard, it was okay, better than the other three but nothing exceptional...so what i can conclude from the end products is that it has become more about just somehow staging a PAF about pulling off a story somehow..throw in some random choreoes ,, one-two funny sequences and thats it.the desire or i don't know,,maybe the ability to show something really exceptional is not there,,that motivation is not there ..and i think that this year 4 PAFs happened because still there are people left in the insti who are little bit senti for PAFs.. they will be passing out this year or the next.,my batch onwards i do not see 4 pafs happening..i feel that something should be thought bout it and some possible solution should be worked out...
It might look like i am completely against the idea and some of my thoughts may not go down well with some people ,,but i have just expressed my views for that is the reason why i have created this blog..:)