Choose Yer Poison!

Ignore the title, I've just always wanted to say that.

Anyhow,

-click-

Cheerio!

Oh, before I trundle off, this is my personal favorite.

PS: Apologies for the horrible background in most of the photographs. F21 is a horrible place for stage photography.

i don't know what to say

I had the strangest experience recently: we were at rehearsal, and the play on stage was ‘A Movement, a Folder and some Tears’ by the Tamil writer Ambai. It’s a heart-wrenchingly sad story that really makes you want to scream, because there’s nothing else you can do against the injustice that we’re all, as women, subjected to everyday.

We’ve all studied the concept of catharsis, and heard of cathartic experiences. But for a moment, just as Shreya was Sakina, describing the sight of a poor Muslim woman trudging along with her two children, clutching a tricolour flag in her hand as a talisman; as Pradipti was Selvi consigning the effects of their women’s organization to a warehouse that “rarely sees the light of day”; as we all sat there, watching them play their roles, I wanted to weep.

The story is deeply bitter about the circumstances of women and painfully realistic in how devoid of idealism it is. Watching them there, as women, as people I know playing roles like those of Sakina and Selvi was just… beyond anything I’ve ever felt. It’s like all the pent up anger and frustration from all those times that being a woman was brought home to me in the worst sense of the phrase…just bubbled to the surface.

How can it be so? How can an entire half of the population of human beings on this planet be so maligned, misjudged, mistreated and misrepresented? Over centuries?
Sometimes, especially when we’re discussing stereotypes or gender roles in Women’s Writing class, I just want to throw everything away and give in. I feel so defeated - we’re up against centuries of prejudice and indoctrination; I know that my own penchant for strong, masculine men in the vein of Mr Darcy or Mr Rochester or Lord Worth is a tribute to the fact that I have been indoctrinated to believe that I need a man to take care of me. To protect my naive, innocent self from the evils of the big bad world.

It’s disgusting, but it’s true. And every time I watch Ambai, I feel helplessly angry because as much as I am aware of how wrong it all is, I’m very much a part of the same world, and I think along the same lines every single day.

Vogons

Want an idea of what we're REALLY dealing with on a day to day basis? Click on the link to find out. 

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ENgdM87Cqjg 

One Vogon sounds bad. But a college FULL of them???

WE PROUDLY PRESENT...

                                         OUR LOGO! 

Designed by Sandhya Prabhat 

Quotable Quotes - A Nuns Special

P: Mordant? Can you spell that? 

PMC: M.O.R.D.A.N.T (repeat prev two lines)

P: Hmmm... Can you write and show me?

PMC: Its in the Proposal, Sister.

P: Oh. I haven't seen the proposal yet! (said proposal been sitting on that table for 6 hours)

(Stares hard at proposal) Hmm... Is it English?

[From conversation with the P about title approval]

C: So building a stage is going to cost more than hiring one? (Who'd have thought???)

HG: Uh... Yes sister.

C: So manipulative you people are! You never told me about it!

SB: oH, I didn't know about it either. 

(EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT HAVE WE BEEN TALKING ABOUT EVERY SINGLE DAY SINCE @*&#ING SEPTEMBER???!!!!)

[Getting final permission to perform the play]

P: I don't like the feet. 

[to secretary about the logo which, as it happens, got passed everywhere else] 

P: I don't know ma... Get it approved by the VPs. I don't want to take a decision by myself. Get all of them and the Deans together and then decide. 

[to get the title Black and Blue and other hues approved]

H: Ay! Ay! Ay!

[general response to everything :) ]

P and later, C: Say whatever you want. I'm not listening. 

[during a meeting]

Feel free to add to the list. It grows by the day anyway... I'm beginning to lose track.

The Seven Deadly Sins

I am convinced that the nuns in my college have officially broken ALL seven of the deadly sins that appear in Faustus. While Faustus had them in his command only for 24 years, these nuns seem to have complete access to them everywhere, all the time. For those of you who are not too familiar with the subject, let me explain. 

The first Deadly Sin is LECHERY or Lust. You need to hang out with H or C to know that I'm right. H not whacks people's asses and pinches them (any part of the body she can reach), but she is a regular dominatrix! Whip, strait jacket, handcuffs including a leather lined one... She'll soon be adding a bed to her collection, wait and watch! At least H is nice... C, on the other hand, not only calls us rascals and manipulative, she also wraps her arm around waists, strokes arms, neck and hair. Believe me, it is VERY creepy, especially since you dont know which part of your body she's going to reach for next. I ALWAYS make it a point to stand with a table between us. Better than these two is Cheche, the nun who sits in the library to check if the pictures on students' ids match their faces. All she does is give people hugs. Lechery is a deadly sin irrespective on whether the targets are men or women. 

Second, we have AVARICE or Greed, and with that comes JEALOUSY. Have you ever heard the nuns talking about other colleges? Someone gave WCC 2 crores or something, which is why they are so well off. And Loyola always has a lot of money. Not like us. We have no money at all! They merely FORGET to mention that the money we got was used in RENTING DUSTBINS when NAACK (is that right?) came to visit. The green dustbins are currently in H's room because she 'does not want them to get dirty' because then, she will have to clean them herself. Dustbins are meant to collect dirt!!! I can go on and on about this, but I shan't. I still haven't graduated. Bottom line  - they want more and more money and are jealous of other catholic institutions in the city. 

How could I have not mentioned GLUTTONY and SLOTH? P is almost never in her office. C walks in late everyday. Usually she's sick. Today, not a single VP went to work. Go looking for them and you'll usually find them in or around the canteen. Not always. I said usually. Nuns also  enjoy good food, ice cream... Speaking of which, bribing H with icecream is not unheard of.

That accounts for five of the seven Deadly Sins. Next on the list is PRIDE. Heard of the line 'Pride goeth before Fall'? Well, that describes us. No, seriously. We DESPERATELY need money. Our play has no sponsors. We need to get money BUT we can't ask around a hundered odd sponsors because cell phones are the spawn of the devil (though the union can approach Airtell - sorry you guys. This is just venting. I have nothing aganst you! Good for you that you're allowed, actually) and Pepsi and Coke are just big NO-NOs. As are most of the companies on our list. "We can't let the name of Stella Maris go down..." Yeah, yeah. It went with AP if you ask me. 

 Finally we have WRATH. Man, you should see them when they think we've done something we've not. All very quick to jump to conclusions. Of course, we need to keep OUR tempers when they're being perfectly unreasonable! The unfairness of it all! 

I think they are all puritanical... Preach something and practice something COMPLETELY different. Hypocrites, thats what they are. A nun in my room was copying in the finals for heavens sake! No one caught her. Thats the best part. 

Portraiture, tree climbing, and other things...

Tada!

:D

Hope you like it.

Chittz


P.S: For those who hadn't figured it out, click on the 'Tada!' :D

And Then Some....

College play! Sets! College play! Stage! College Play! Four weeks to go! College play! Sound! College play! Lights! College Play!

I hear it in my head even when I'm sleeping! Gah! I blame you C [I love this symbology, it makes me feel all cryptic and secretive]! I figured the blog needed some happy, non-anger at the authorities type post! So apparently this is it.

I heard such happy news today! I'm on a speed dial list: D For those of you who are in the unknown, in this play, being put on a speed dial is the biggest compliment someone can give you. "Your on my speed dial" :) 

We've got most of the stuff figured out with regard to sets, sound, light and stage. Yes 'stuff'. But it’s all going well. Just waiting for the money now. :D  All the random ideas that have bin thrown around are actually being implemented. Or conveniently chucked. But that’s a different story! 

The number of times I've heard quotes, budget, to-do lists, props there is a part of my brain that now automatically answers questions about these things. I've realised I have quite a talent for saying things that sound very sensible and more importantly related to the questions asked . I've also discovered a fond love for lists. My next responsibility [along with C] is a "We 'heart' lists" club!

I also got slapped by Sr H, C insists it was a friendly loving slap. Perks of being part of the crew apparently. Joy!

I'm going back to making calls to find out why sound and light technicians are such procrastinators. 

OkBye!

The title has no relation to the post does it.? I can hear a certain teacher mumbling things about my inability to concentrate and connect the important things. Ah well! Bet she's not on anyones speed dial. :D

Generally ranting

I think, at the end of this, I'm going to end up hating the college. Seriously. They're such a ...... bunch, I tell you! To get permission for easels we need a LETTER? Not to mention poor M (u're right, D - this cryptic feeling is pretty cool!) who goes running from CC Block to Bank to get the DD/cheque cause some people wont accept cash... We're still short of money. Wait a min... Did I say short of money? I meant we DONT HAVE ANY MONEY which simply means we don't have sets,  props, lights, sounds, costumes... Basically we have us and ...that's about it. Did I mention that even SB is being annoying nowadays? To make things worse, DS insists on being nice to EVERYONE, something I really don't understand. I don't want to, either. The next time he starts, I swear that that knife of his will do some SERIOUS damage. All that is irrelevent. Him being nice is a good thing, I suppose. In a very weird way. C, C2, Y and group might understand me a bit better... 

I'm being ungrateful or anything. People are taking charge (finally!) A has some amazing plans regd the venue AND she has a team behind her. Y is hyper about the publicity team which is also good so long as she doesn't wake me up early in the morning. S has come up with a GORGEOUS poster which she did while I was yakking about Virginia Woolf :D and most important of all, C and D without whom M and I would be so so lost. We owe you two a lot. Just rem to get as sloshed as I intend to during the cast party. Yeah, that's the best thing as of now I think.