A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET
-Nimish Inamdar
(B.E. – IT)
“Hello everyone, I am, Nimish Inamdar, the EX-Cultural Secretary of our college.” There were smiles and smirks across the seminar hall, where all of the class representatives had gathered to wave goodbye to me and Neil, and spread a red carpet for the new Cultural Secretary (CS) and the General Secretary (GS) of our college. It took sometime to come back to ground reality and understand, that the prefix “EX” holds an importance now. In a glimpse, history turned its pages 10 months back and there I was standing at the same position, in the same seminar hall, with almost same crowd in front of me, but giving an altogether different speech.
It was my speech to the crowd, giving an explanation of why should I be the Cultural Secretary of our college. “The speech doesn’t make any difference, everything is pre-decided.” “Your chances are really low; don’t devalue yourself by contesting elections.” “We have elected you as the representative of our class, and now we want you to contest for the elections.” These were the voices in my head poured in by the opponents, friends, concerned and the unconcerned people.
But I knew it had to be my decision, gathering some will, mustering some courage, with shaky legs, I walked into the seminar hall to deliver that speech. I noticed that the shaky heads in front of me were slowly turning into pointed ears. Confidence in me grew and then bang I completed my speech with an applaud in the seminar hall, that roared another level of confidence in me. I had done my part, the pressure was slightly off, but that ease did not last long. Sooner the anxiety of results started pouring in me, and its climax was too good to be real. One of the contestants received 7 votes, the other received 9 votes, and I received thumping majority of 24 votes. I was officially the newly elected Cultural Secretary of Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan’s college Of Engineering, for the year 2006.
With the advent of the event, and the following celebration joined with me few moral responsibilities. Responsibilities, that I decided to enjoy to my core. Cultural festive days and Fusion were so far considered the only responsibilities of the Cultural Secretary, as told to me by me seniors. But it was not until that I got onto the chair that I realized that there is much more to it. I decided to promote the cultural talent of the fellow buddies, by displaying their heroics performed inside and outside the college premises, on the college notice board. I also decided to find various platforms for all of the PVPP talent outside the college premises. I became a link of my college to the outside world, when it came to the events and festivals that they organized, and events and festivals that we organized.
The post gave me the most important turn in my life, when Youth for Equality (YFE), approached me to include our college in their fight against the unlawful inequality. Our college got a wide recognization , with an active participation, especially from the current Second Year buddies, who poured in large numbers for all of the YFE’s protests and rallies. In terms of man-power and the smart power, we outnumbered all other engineering colleges and most of the medical colleges.
Apart from the cultural activities, I realized that the CS is the second most important constituent of the student’s council, and that responsibility rolled on me automatically when we planned out to bring in various innovations, and changes within our college. The credit for the changes goes to the entire council and especially to the General Secratary, since he took a good lead in listening to all possible outcomes, and taking the right direction at the right time.
My entire term of CS of PVPPCoE, was full of excitement, zest and enthusiasm showed by all of our college buddies. This term introduced me to a new world; new friends, new contacts, new identity but most importantly a new dimension towards looking at life. I wish it to remain forever with me.
“Hey CS!” I heard a shout and turned back to see who called me, just to realize that it isn’t me anymore. The college activity had re-started that very day under the banner of blood donation camp, but this time under a new leadership. I looked at Neil, the smile on his face said more or less same lines under the same thought process. We hugged each other with an expression to appreciate each other’s work done in the entire council term, and then walked down the corridor to leave the bustle of the activity for the new people, and the new leadership.
