Monday, November 13, 2006

ISA functions!!!



Why is that people always complain so much about ISA and it's events?

Is it because it is genuinely bad?
Is it because it's always in us to find faults?
Is it because we are jealous of what they(five or six students who are also in the same level as us) have done and that we cannot do?
Is it because our expectations of such events are really really different?
or
Is it because people complain because of genuine interest....so that ISA will improve the next year?

ISA is a small organization whose decision making body is just 5-6 students whose real goal is to make the manhattan indian community a more compact unit.

They DO work hard!!!!Either it may be because they(ISA) are so caring about the community or it may be because they just want to prove a point--"we are/were better than the past ISA committee"....

I was in the executive committee........

We brought in some new things which we thought would be better than the previous year's events, so that more number of people will turn up for the event....most of the times it was a huge success...sometimes it was a colossal failure!!!

Not always the events that ISA organizes may be a good event...some are 'super hits' while some are 'flops'. Its all a part of ISA's growing up process..

Do you think that ISA's executive committee want to organize an event if they think it won't be successful? I don't think so!!! After some research...lots of arguments...lots of time spent in the union foodcourt, ISA decides that the particular event can be organized (hoping that it will attract lots of people). They sponser the event...wait for the people to turn up...If they did, good. If they didnt, it's a lesson for the next committee to make some changes to make it successful.

The next committee after our term was headed by Satya. I saw that some of the mistakes that we did during our term was corrected. They in turn made some mistakes, which was corrected by this year's term. The process will continue.......

What people see on stage is no where near to what happens backstage. People work a lot for the event to be a success. When I say "people", it's not only the committee but a lot of volunteers who help the big 6. So its important for us to give them a little credit for what they have done for the community!!!

"So, Do you mean, ISA is always right and we are always criticizing them?"

"No"

ISA makes mistakes too (It's organized by some people who are only as experienced as we are!!!)...Some people say that if ISA puts in some genuine effort and organizes some interesting events then they deserve some appreciation. But sometimes the way certain events are organized..it looks as if it was done in a haste..then why organize?? Its not a rule that there should be a certain number of events in a year...so if ISA thinks they are not prepared then it should not organize the event. Then the main question arises: who can judge whether ISA is ready or not? Not the committee (they organize it!!!), not the people (they have to experience it on the event day!!!)...then who?

I donno!!!

First thing is, ISA should gain respect among people. The only way they can earn respect is by sponsoring good events. They should continously try to improve. If they let the people think that they are bad...then its very difficult for ISA to bounce back. All we have in a year is 4- 5 events...so ISA cannot risk spoiling an event and then trying hard to attract people for the rest.

This year, the annual function was good. Dinner was the best in the last three years. Again, its my personal opinion. Congrats ISA!!! I cannot comment on the function because I wasn't there. There will be lots of complaints after the function. Infact it will be more than the congratulatory messages. ISA should take those criticisms positively. ISA should use those comments as stepping ladder to improve next year.

And more importantly ISA should volunteer themselves in collecting people's responses after an event. I may not criticize today, but I will never attend an ISA function again. But if someone from the committee asks me how the function was or how the dinner was, then I will say that the naan was bad!!! Its all about communicating.....

But anyways, Thanks ISA for organizing the event...It was good!!!

P.S: I think the Answer to the first question is that people really want ISA to improve and hence those bad comments!!!( atleast this is what I wanted to believe)
Secondly, ISA should not always complain that people are not responding to their calls. If it's really really good, then people will be there...Screen RDB...Screen a boring movie...You can see the difference...

You know what I mean!!!!

Kansas State- Texas Game


It was not a regular saturday football game.....It was played against the No. 4 team in the nation- Texas Longhorns. In addition, it was on ABC's Football Night Saturday (50% of US will be getting it Live on their TV sets)

Conditions were near perfect for wildcats....Bitter Cold(38 degrees), Purple Clad people screaming on top of their heads and more importantly it is played the week after K-state's convincing victory against Colorado.

Manjesh and Varun Rao were in town to send off Sham Kashyap, who is leaving to India the next day. Ironically, they were presently working/ residing in Texas....I thought that they would support texas in this game....but they were supporting wildcats and proved that it's indeed purple blood that's flowing in thier veins.

Five of them went to the stadium and Five of us were catching up live on television.

Pregame Show......"Varun, we will have dinner"......"Dudes, its gonna start!!!"......"what happened man?".......3....2....1.......

Finally here we are watching the most important game in this season.

Touchdown.....Texas!!!!

"It's gonna be an easy Texas win"
"Yeah, I think so too"
..................................................
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"Hey what happened......is McCoy injured?"
"Looks like he is!!!"
"Oh my God....we have a better chance now"
"Let's see what Freeman can do"
.....................................................
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K- State: 42; Texas: 21

"Oh my God....K-state will win"
"Man!!! its gonna be great ...we should go to Aggieville after this game"

K- State: 42; Texas: 28

K- State: 42; Texas: 35

"Dude, Texas will win man!!!"
"One more touchdown....its gonna be over for us"

K- State: 45; Texas: 42

10..9...8..7..6...5...4...3..2..1

" We won!!!!"
"Oh man, K-state won"
"Unbelievable"

It was one of the best games that I have seen....The game was swinging on both sides and it was a really deserving win for K-state. It was really emotional for me to see us winning against Texas. After the game it was commotion everywhere. I mean, we wont get a sweeter victory than this this season....Even if we win a bowl game...I am guessing this will be our season's best win.

We ended up enjoying the whole night... It was very sweet altogether.

P.S: what did we achieve apart from the attention we got throughout US?
No. 13 Texas is out of contention for the national title game.....that's right Texas is No.13 now!!!!!