The Joy of Working for a function

I was reviewing the laboratory registers in my Primary Health Centres today. When I needed a clarification, I looked for the old papers and saw that every thing else (from Cross Check Reports for Malaria to MF2 from other PHCs to Annual reports to Office copies of Intimations for Sputum positive cased) were bundled together in a same cardboard file.

When I suggested my lab assistant about organizing the papers, the immediate reply I got from him was that the files and folders were costly and there was not much money left in the contingency fund for folders.

I then told him that there is a way to make files for Just 2 rupees. You get a chart paper for 3 rupees. Cut it into 2. Fold it. Then use File tags for holding the papers together. The cost is less than 2 rupees. I made 20 files today (2005 Mar 05) for Rs 35. (Rs 30 for 10 chart papers and Rs 5 for File Tags). Well that is even less than 2 rupees per file. !!

While making the files, I reflected upon my college days, when I was busy making files and other stationery for our inter collegiate and intra collegiate functions like FEMER, ECSTASY, TAMPONADE and for other Farewells.

Those were Golden Days, Of course !!

My mind raced back.... how we used to make Files by ourselves. In those days the budget for functions were less than Rs 10,000 for occasion which had either dinner or light music. Even in this the major share (80 %) went to the Food and Light Music. Only when we were capable of getting few sponsors, the function had both light music and dinner. Other wise there was either Light music or Dinner.

With 80 % of the budget being already locked away, we were forced to do everything by ourselves and depend little on “outside” help to save every penny.

Even we bought groceries and vegetables and chicken and arranged rooms for the cooks and made “our own” food . And to take the chairs from the lorry to the auditorium, the students (usually the freshers !!) stood up in a row from the main entrance of the college building till the auditorium and passed on the chairs as they were being “downloaded” from the lorries. The girls (and even boys) drew rangolies, the boys (and even girls) decorated the stage, the artists among us drew the posters.

A few prepared the paste for the posters from “maida” flour (மைதா மாவு), and few went on in bikes to paste them around the college campus, in the hospital, hostel (especially ladies' hostel) and all the colleges in the city.

The joy of learning by mistakes, the power of being united, the thrill to find that you can do something which is appreciated, the excitement of team work were the basic concepts behind these functions. The amount of education you get is boundless. I have learned the art of making a 2 rupees File !

I still remember how we had to conduct our First MBBS Farewell in Anatomy Dissection Hall. It was in November and all the halls were “reserved” for either theory or practical exams. We were left with no choice. To hire a marriage hall was beyond our “then” budget. In the end, thanks to our professors of Anatomy, Dr.Hariharan (who eventually became the Director of Anatomy and Dr.Saraswathy (who later became the Dean of Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Madurai and Thoothukudi Medical Colleges) we were granted permission to conduct the function in Anatomy Hall and it turned out to be a most memorable one.

Rangolis on either side of the corridor that led to the dissection hall was some thing that had never been seen in the college and that surprised the entire college. Another big rangoli (ரங்கோலி)in front of the the Skull that “welcomes” you to the dissection theatre completed the show.

And then, personally, I have some thing to cherish. We were arranging things the previous evening and I ended up tired and settled on the chair for a brief rest (as Karthik was rehearsing his script to Parvath) only to get up at 2 AM (I woke because of hunger !!! and not because some ghost came to dance with me) and found one of my room mates fast asleep. And we got up and went in search for food. We roamed nearly the entire Highground area to get something to eat at that wee hour.

The delight of riding a two wheeler inside the dissection hall (and taking a snap of that too!!) along with the adventure of sleeping a whole night in that room with 6 cadavers is some thing you can get only if you work for a function. And since then, whatever little doubt I had about the existence (or non existence) of ghosts, demons, etc was cleared. If no ghosts cared to disturb me when I was there with 6 cadavers, (may be they were afraid of me) I am sure that no devil can come to me again.

The joy of working is not limited to this. Words, however expressive they are, cannot adequately portray the bliss associated with completing the work in time. One thing that has often struck me is that we always finish the decoration work in time (at least 2 minutes before the chief guest arrives), in spite of the fact that we often start late. On the other hand, we are always found lacking when we do other jobs for ourself like submitting a report, record, assignment etc. May be the amusement in Team Work is what makes our brain active !!!

Those were the golden days, of course !!!!

But of late, every thing is “out sourced”. The stage is decorated by printed (digitally) screen. Posters are designed and pasted by professionals. Dinner is ordered from a restaurant and tokens are issued. Stickers for Rangoli are available and they are just pasted. The present day students are missing the thrill associated with selecting the theme for Rangoli and them completing that. I guess that soon we may have event management companies take care of even college farewells (forgive me if one already exists)

The trend I ascertain is not limited to college functions. Even marriages have changed over the years. From being a complete family function where every one did what he is good at (including serving foods), now a days we have marriage contractors. Those guys initially were hired for cooking purposes only. Now a days we find “packages” for marriage, which includes even drawing “kolam” and also a couple of people for welcoming the guests.

Every thing seems to be hired in a marriage now a days. When are we going to hire the bride or bride groom ??