Misadventures of 2 Ignited Indian Minds Chronicled- chapter two

I wish to begin today by sincerely apologizing to IFFCo(….good lad, that).
IFFCo(or whatever-ur-real-name-is), nothing personal against you- but you stood for, and explained the very common ailments that the junta in India suffers from – (Apprehensive/idle)INDIIFFERENCE .And I think you helped in articulating the problem a great deal more effectively, than I ever cud have..*bows humbly* (‘ha! Winky, Robby is using asterisks and is enjoys it, Ma’am. Robby is now not liking ur “~”s, ma’am…’)
Here’s another favourite ‘eye-opener’ which shall forever remain etched in my Memory
(yeah, LOTS of free disk space on that, for such non-academic data..)

Apologies in advance, to the protagonists of this story (apart from the two boring rag-pickers :urs truly, n hers true-lier KanNOTchan )….

Our next target was Delhi University of course (charity begins at home, remember….)
I had dutifully put up crude hand made posters everywhere in my own college…KanNOTchan’s college was the next obvious haunt-
And a majorly disappointing one at that…. ‘HAUNT’ indeed…here’s why:
It started on the wrong foot, with their otherwise kind looking Principal refusing to allow posters to be put up in his college regarding this(“ We can’t let such ‘political’ stuff go up there, Kanchan ‘, he said with that phony much-as-my-heart-is-with-the-cause look)
*bit rich I’d say, coming from a college where classes are frequently disrupted during DUSU and DUTA elections… verrry APOLITICAL, indeed, Sir (rolls eyes) *
‘Fine!’, We thought, as we returned the fake smile ..n came out at the gates. ‘ We could just talk to students here couldn’t we..’ after much deliberation we zeroed down upon one group of ‘potential campaigners’ .
To cut a long story short (Uff..that hurts ONLY shruti!), we approached them with our learnt-by-heart-by-now speech.. It begins with, “ Hello, are you aware that President Kalam’s term is, going to end this july? ….”
Now, this was a strange group that we chose…3 male students initially-
They looked at us not disparagingly, but slightly amused n in a neither annoyed-nor-interested way. The absence of smirks was encouraging…
They replied “no” to our first question n then as we prepared to ramble on with the speech, abt the hows n whys of the campaign, one of them –hold your breath, asks us ..
“So, lets look at what this Kalam is really about ..I mean what is this guy like really…?”
KanNOTchan n I did a double take !!*excuz me?? ‘THIS’ Kalam?? did they even know “this guy’s” name before we told them?*
Pssst: Robby is wanting to use “~”, but he is controlling himself, Ma’am. Robby’s honour is being at stake- you is staking it, Ma’am.

However, we managed to recover from that shock n give it a pass(okay, so poor children with poor-er GK/GA, as long as their hearts are in the right place – even if the brains are not, coz nor are mine! *tho KanNOTchan fares well in that department*)
Before I could open my mouth in reply, the questioner took out a cigarette n lit it..(errrm u r talking to “good”, prudish kids here, dear blog reader)
So of course we told them a fair bit abt “this” kalam, n how he is not all very ‘THIS’…but much more than THIS…

Nodding casually, they made some other harmless enquiries (one of them mentioned President Rajendra/Rajesh Sharma!..bless Dr. Rajendra Prasad who must be turning in his grave!! To top it, the couldn’t-care-less tone that was employed, Honestly!, if HE had been alive, the poor bloke would have died again…)..BUT, we fielded their queries …even as the other two cigarettes came out – must to our discomfort- shoveling puffs of smoke down our windpipes…at one point, Smoker No.1 gave up… “ u know, al tel ya who can understand all this(poor humble soul acknowledged his ineptness at it )” n smoker no. 2 called out to a girl(protagonist no. 4).. “she is our intellectual”, the smoker said..

Our eyes turned towards the INTELLECTUAL , in eager anticipation…

So, this intellectual was a mass comm./ Journalism student. Bam! Could I be more thrilled (I have a special place in my heart for this breed)..I was SUURE we’d found the right person, until….

She heard us out; I must give it to her tho- no silly statements/doubts in the same league as that of her lesser friends, but the same old n yes, silly questions.. which btw, have been answered in the previous posts on this blog..do read them(assuming people other than the three solitary bloggers themselves, are reading this blog)

Somehow, don’t recollect exactly what the problem was…she kept asking things like.. ”but why kalam…what can the president do??…what have presidents in the past done…”
Fair enuff, these questions , but somehow she was deeply dissatisfied n not too keen on signing on the campaign sheet as well..Ohhh.. May I add, during this conversation, KanNOTchan and I were braving volumes of smoke on the one hand, and -a shocking revelation for not-very-highbrowed girls that we are – a fellow female college student could have her mouth spewing the choicest of expletives for no apparent reason/provocation at all!!
I mean where on earth was this going : “I’m not signing on that u know, but if u have a petition against %$^&** (dun remember which swear word was used, but one definitely was) Arjun Singh, I WILL sign it…in my name..in BOLD.That $%#$%^, #$%^@# deserves it….” ..*dun think my keyboard has enuff “$%#”s to depict all the words used*
“Mummy, stop her!!” , we were both screaming inwardly. I had a strong feeling that either the air pollution or the ear pollution courtesy the Ladas n the Lady , wud leave some mark of permanent damage on us ….

So pretending to breathe and listen, we hastened towards the conclusion….
Smoker no.1 sumhow now felt that it was worth a try n volunteered to sign it(while the Intellectual gave kanchan insights on how many useful media contacts she had)

He asked me suspiciously.. “Hey ..how cum u two haven’t signed it urselves?”
*I mean D’oh!*
well, we signed it then…assuring him that this wasn’t an evil plot to usurp his ancestral property .
“Kewl, so m gonna be the first one to sign on ur campaign sheet?”, he asked innocently (no pun intended)
“Yes”, I told him …but did not try to hide the lack of enthusiasm on the same fact…
*wasn’t he the one talking abt THIS KALAM GUY!!*

On that note, We bid farewell, each party looking at the other as tho the latter ought to be put up in a museum if anything…

A few things ….

The Principal, Most of our teachers at that sacred institute – the custodians of THE FUTURE OF INDIA(who are WE)—we call them the LET –DOWNERS..
Let alone encouragement, or showing us a ray of hope, all we got was ridicule, snide remarks(oh! They had fun at our expense…at least we provided them some entertainment), they exuded this negative energy…as tho we were doing something wrong even by broaching this subject (Oohhh I wud have luuuu…vvvvd or louuuued -take ur pick, kanNOTchan ;) – to see these teachers rattle off pointers in favour or against in a GD class: IS THE POST OF THE PRESIDENT OF I NDIA REDUNDANT OR SIGNIFICANT?)
Tho this was more true initially, wen they really thot it was a part of our immature idealism…
W e were branded as the KALAMISTS….poor kanchan ran into the GROUP a few times in her coll n had to bear not-so-much haha jibes, “ oohhh here comes the kalamist, make way…”, all by herself .

But a word abt these students before I end this:

I reported it exactly as it happened n yes, perhaps was a li’l harsh on them (can’t help it…sardonic humor is a compulsive disorder with me)..
Gotto concede : at least they listened, even tho not MUCH came out of it in terms of awareness or help(tho the girl was gracious enuff to give us an imp. Phone no…even tho I wish she had understood that we were not doing anything against Mr . Arjun singh!)

But somehow the message again got lost as the group struggled to maintain their “kewl” quotient (I mean wat else does prompt a group of teens to behave in public before strangers , as tho their insides are on fire??? Read: smoking ; or to use more swear words than a swear-word-thesaurus can contain…? ), while we desperately tried to explain WHY we were doing what we were doing….

The Lady was the most interesting tho. I often think abt her: she personified the typical ‘misplaced-sense-of-intellectualism’ Intellectual -- she was a good speaker, more articulate n less haha heee hee than her other friends, but something was missing, which negated all that- n made me wonder.

I donot think she spared time for some ‘real’ n not ‘pseudo’ thinking—I mean at least a to-be journalist wud be expected to, won’t they?
*pls note, im not pontificating on matters that I have no business to pass high handed judgements/opinions on; these are just random thoughts that are coming to my mind….
N of course, I do have nothing better to do these days post exams, in case ur wondering..*

Robby is writing so much n is not using winky ma’am’s “~” Ma’am,
But Robby is missings using it Ma’am..
He is finding “*” OKAY, but “~” was okay-er Ma’am….
Is u thinking of letting me use it now Ma’am…?
*flaps his bat like ears in anticipation*

strangers, plss skip that junk n pardon us for that…

signing off…… Ignited-coz-highly-inflammable-indian-mind…..Shruti