The Annual picnic of IIT London chapter was held this year on 10th Aug at Watford Park. The scenic hills of Watford Park provided an ideal setting with its mix of lush open spaces interspersed by dense woods. The gathering revolved around an open corner of the park, typifying the openness of the occasion. The theme of the day, as always, was 'not-to-have-a-theme'. The idea behind this annual event is to bring IIT-ians and their families (doomed to this rainy corner of the planet) together to spend some quality time with 'a song on the lips and prayer in the heart', so to say.
As it turned out, the day had something to offer to everyone's taste – for those sporting enough, there were ball-games to test their athletic skills; for those with a keen ear for music (and supposedly fair enough larynx to go with it), there was antakshari; for the more practical ones, there was sumptuous lunch followed by inviting lawns for an afternoon siesta; for the kids, there was the rustle of leaves nearby, and for the buggy-wielding IIT-ians, there was a recreation area for infants nearby with water fountains.
The day began with some spontaneous sporting activity on the lawns. It was a fun-and-frolic occasion for all. Though the mood dipped occasionally to nostalgic times, with reminiscences of halls of residences and bulla-sessions of the past, there were enough soft-drinks on hand, to keep the occasion bubbly and cheerful on the surface. The dodge-ball and 'catch-me or catch-the-object' games found equal participation from both young and senior legs. The dodge-ball game especially saw an enthusiastic response and hints of team spirit among those who found themselves in the firing line (or circle, more aptly).
A sumptuous lunch provided more fuel for the afternoon games to follow. Though, for most IIT-ians, memories of a typical Sunday-special lunch in the hall mess still triggers the onset of an afternoon nap to follow. But this was no occasion to be soporific. Instead, the Kishores and Latas of the group found more depth in their voices than ever before. So while the oldies found that their voices are still young, the youth realised that olden hymns still outclass the modern beats.
For those non-aligned to sport and music, there was the banal networking on the sidelines. It is inevitable that when IIT-ians meet each other in any corner of the globe, thoughts and discussions go back to those dark corners of the IIT hostels and those dark deeds of the past . But this was no event to spill the dark shades, but rather to shed light on positive aspects (if any) of life in this rather damp, rainy place called London. So as the weather swung from sunny shades to rainy spells, talks oscillated from Canary wharf to Pragati maidan, Thames to Powai Lake, Camden town to Kalianpur and Notting Hill to Adyar. Small talk over lunch drifted to lofty issues – from corporate governance to quota system, from LBS to IIMs, from credit-crunch to energy-crisis, from afternoon till evening. And before long it was time to soothe the throats, by now parched by the singing and chatting alike, with a round of evening tea.
For the more academic minded, there was an AGM too (Yes, for those present, and still unaware, this might come as a surprise . The AGM could easily have passed off as just another fun-and-frolic feature of the afternoon, symbolising the informal nature of this clan. But the experience of the grey cells meant that the agenda of declaring the steps taken to propel the organisation towards charitable status was achieved without much ado.
Among the presenters on this occasion involved Mr. Peter Chan, Mr. Gurtu, Mr. Agrawala, Mr. Benodekar and Mr. Ajay Chaudhary.
There was a healthy presence of youth, aptly recognised by declaration of formation of youth chapter of IITLC. Notable among those youngsters who contributed to the successful handling of the picnic were – Kashmira, Goutham, Sonya and Naresh. Sonya probably doing permanent damage to few of her vocal chords when trying to get the tombola numbers across to the crowd.
The balance sheet for finances from last year was circulated among members. The general populace was more attracted though by the tombola sheets making the rounds.. Though the rush for chocolates, meant for tombola winners, deserves another story in itself. Meanwhile the 'kishore-kumar' antakshari winning team deservingly got their fair share of chocolates in a much more homely fashion.
So from ball-games to antakshari, drinks to lunch, chatting to tambola, the day grudgingly drew to a close. As reluctant feet started making their way away from the park, few headed to the nearby temple, few to the woods and the rest dispersed in the open spaces of the park.
