19 Days to Fundamental 2010 - by Mrinalini Sardar

19 Days to Fundamental 2010.

19 days left. What do I write?

When Shrutika invited me to contribute to this blog, I did not know where to begin. As a dutiful senior should I motivate my juniors or share my experiences as a core team member of last year’s Fundamental.

Well. Fundamental is truly about sharing.

Sharing experiences, work-load, fun, friendship, interactions, mistakes, regrets and above all sacrifices and responsibility.

Last year, around this time the whole college must have gone home and what remained, were a bunch of people overtly dedicated to Fundamental. So much was the love that they forgot family, holidays, weddings, boyfriends, girlfriends and sumptuous home-cooked food to stay back and make it happen.

On the last day of 2008, I stood alone in the balcony of an empty college thinking about the coming year. My brain seemed over-worked and under-slept. Rushed in a group of business-men/event organizers with black shiny shoes and even shinier coats. They informed me with extreme directness that the auditorium has been booked for the exact dates Fundamental was scheduled for and we either had to postpone the festival or just cancel it. I promptly displayed a victorious smile but wondered inwardly how such a mistake could happen even after carefully pre-registering the dates with the Director and Campus Administrator for keeping the auditorium vacant. Behind my victorious smile I had unimaginable trepidation while the rest of the core team looked calm but perplexed. The matter went up to higher authorities and a mutual agreement was decided upon after a tiring ordeal of ‘decent arguments’. But what saved Fundamental that day from getting cancelled was a piece of paper that Vidhya Appu, my fellow core team member had carefully safe guarded among countless documents. A signed document for ‘auditorium registration’ as proof of the verbal promises made by the SID authorities saved the festivals’ fundamental existence.

There are many more experiences that make Fundamental truly special to me. Ganesh kaka and Sunil Bhaiya rushing in with extension chords and wires when sponsors ran behind us for the accurate wiring plans for setting up their gaming consoles. Anand Sir, SID’s computer wizard, staying back for two consecutive nights to assure that we did not blow up the college before the D-Day. When unexpected guests arrived for accommodation at 2 a.m. and my face became awfully pale, Kritika Bajpai, my dear friend, opened up her cozy student flat to accommodate them. When the printing of all the backdrops got delayed making the promotion team and event coordinators dreadfully cold as we closed our negotiations with our last sponsors. When Mihir Joshi, and I managed to reach Hinjewadi, the evening before the D-day after the bike broke down and in absolute fuel and financial bankruptcy, to convince uninterested business men to support and value a design festival. When rumors spread about teams and finances and it felt that toiling behind it seemed trivial, Gursimaranjeet Gill stood up and expressed his disgust to the vices that attempted to tarnish the fundamentals behind this festival. Every time any title sponsor said ‘no’, Aditi and I would run to maushi and the college tapri for some stimulating chai bursting with sugar to keep the smiles rolling.

No matter what, the trust remained intact between every individual behind Fundamental as things looked brighter and easier when we shared our mistakes and responsibilities.

Being on the other side of Fundamental, I can safely say this festival is not merely a college festival but a lesson for life. It teaches every individual to share responsibilities and sacrifices. There may be innumerable dilemmas and obstacles but at the end the correct decisions shall lay the foundations of its formation.

It is time for Fundamental 2010. A meager 19 days left. The time now is to share, interact, connect and work hard. Believe me, no sacrifice will seem big when the two elephants with equally conflicting minds release their powers at the end of this month. Contributing to any aspect of this festival will definitely preserve its immortality.

Only praying now, that the deep-rooted quality of sharing behind this festival does not become ephemeral and every SID-an feels the warmth and pulse that Fundamental generates every year.

Mrinalini Sardar

4^th Year, Graphic Design,

Communication Design, SID.