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DISCLAIMER: This post is just a personal account of reactions of
colleagues and friends and people
present in the inaugural ceremony who expressed their views and in no
way tries to demean anybody.
We have been hearing and seeing a lot
that KIIT has been doing for the 99th Indian Science Congress. The
re-built gate, the lovely paintings on the walls and the large no. of people
involved in organizing had raised our expectations quite a lot.(Just saw a tweet
that said all this is being done to show how the crores were spent wisely)
Highlights:
·
The anchor kept on chewing a chewing gum even before the
PM(and we were being told at school it is bad manners to do so….lol)
·
People kept pouring in even beyond 9, as people waited for
two hours and even they had to wait for PM’s arrival.(Of course, it’s India and
blame the TRAFFIC for ISC 2012)
·
I saw a tweet….real fun…… “If you are tall, you could peep
#ISC2012” Well, exactly for all the 15000 delegates, you are there, paying 1500
bucks and all you see is the LCD screens.
·
When PM came, everyone stood up. Obvious. After a while
some people sat, while others were still standing. One gentleman said ‘Baith Jao.’ Another explained ‘Ye log dekhne k liye nahi khade huay hain,
ye to samman hai’ ;) [They aint standing to see, it’s
to show respect]
·
Talk of all the tweets saying people are attending and we were told mobile phones not allowed ( which by the way is not practical and hence caused
much of the chaos…you KNOW people get lost, without cell phones!!)
·
But taking is one and using another. Anyone who had, were
asked to switch it off. Obvious. How can we blame people who might have tweeted
before it started….you should have seen the lady with Commissionerate of police ID card, sitting there and talking over
her cell phone DURING the PM’s talk!
·
The speeches were very nice, deeply appreciated Naveen
Pattnaik’s English, he was the best. In fact, wonder if anyone would have told
people not to read out in public talks, and I admired that he spoke out difficult
names of people who had won the Kalinga Award after taking out his specs and
not once referring to the paper….The audience always feels great when the
speaker actually TALKS to them and not reads out (But I am told, the high offices often read out as it may
be a major problem if they misplace the words)
·
The claps in between!!Bhubaneswarians felt so proud each
time Bhubaneswar or Biju Pattnaik was mentioned that a roar of cheer and
applause could be heard, same with India being first in milk production etc.(After
all we are Indians!!)
But the catch here is that someone was explaining “This is
not the clap to say leave early…they are clapping in between as they are so
proud of the facts being quoted.”
·
It was really cute and adorable to see PM behave like a doll
(or should I say mannequin…I really mean no offense), but the way he sat, his
hands in front, straight view, humbly standing up when he was said he had to,
it was like somebody was telling him, move left, and he moved left.
·
The best part was the award ceremony. Loved it. All the
talented people out there, you tend to have respect for them..But the sweetest was
the two tribals taking the prize…the lady was not even sure where to look….and
CM telling in her ears probably to face the camera….same for the following guy,
and all the fun in the audience, wondering if the tribals understood our CM’s
Oriya….:P (But, hey, he did say a line in Oriya in his speech…I am genuinely
happy….it’s better to have someone who can
speak good English, less Oriya than one who’s good Oriya but no English and yes
doing some good work matters most;))
·
Some didn’t get welcome kits (out of stock), someone got
welcome kit but pass was missing, many got welcome kit but food coupons were
missing!
That’s the limit actually, when you stand in queues for
over an hour in scorching heat waiting for food coupons that they forgot to put
and the coupons are out of stock! (And need I say how it feels if you are
starving and had nothing since morning as you had to be there before 8 am (as
it was to start by 9)
People; even such old people who should have got some
senior citizen help were in the queue and many were shouting to make two queues
at least (and…guess what the poor volunteer replied…we
are opting for it…lol But what’s the use
of two queues when you don’t even have inventory of coupons!)
·
The food was great though…The Inaugural lunch menu Roti,
Pulao,Plain rice, dal, sambar, rasam, alu gobhi, rani kofta, moong saag, plain
curd, Raita, Chicken curry, Fish fry, Malpua, Kheer…n ofcourse, the papad,
achaar n all…(I am not official here…just saying what is remembered)
Well when such a big event is
hosted, many things are bound to go wrong. You encounter some good people and
some bad…some volunteers could be really good to you…especially the ones at the
front Help Desk at the new gate….(all best experiences there)….and worst at the
inside odisha mandap help desk (one account). After reporting, pre-registered
delegates got their kits and ID cards. One cannot expect people to immediately
open up the kit and start straining their eyes in the dark evening to search
from the various contents in the kit and read where to come tomorrow. So a
normal usual course of action would be to ask the help desk, a one word answer
to a question “Where do we need to come tomorrow”……We had heard KIIT Stadium,
but we would love to know where it is…Now giving a slight direction couldn’t be
that tough, can it? But to utter horror, believe it or not, the lady at the
help desk says “You must have got a kit…..(Of
course, guess you can even see I am hanging one down my shoulder…!!)….. You
must have got a kit, inside it’s written where to come..READ it…!!
So rude? Is it so difficult to do one’s
job….smile and answer the simplest question, probably…Is it why help desks are
meant for? I personally didn’t understand why the lady reacted like this. All
she was to do was help a troubled soul…i.e. do her job. An absolute contrast
was the Help Desk at the newly built gate, like I have said before, they were
so helping and even smiling! Even the people inside the campus were sweet. Another
major complain however , I guess would be common to anyone who paid 1500 and
got those pathetic plastic chairs to sit on :P. One wonders wouldn’t it be
better to sit in your comfy sofas at home and watch in TV, or maybe not,
counting the frequent disturbances in OTV telecasts….lol
It was a great sight to see the nicely
made roads, well painted and clean, the lovely flower pots and the wall
paintings. However, it would have been so much better if there had been anything
close to a gallery. The stadium tenting was good, red and gold but the blue
rods were peeping out at places..it could have been better had they chosen a
blue shade…But loved the idea of LCD panels that made viewing possible!!
P.S:
This is not meant to insult anyone. It is just a casual act of sharing
what one saw around. And I guess India is a free country and we have freedom of
speech and expression…hehe…
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