Sunday, April 12, 2009

Wingmates of Fire


It was a historic event! Atleast for me. For the very first time in three years, my entire wing went out together for a treat!

Yes, all 26 of the 31 of us who were present then in the institute came along, inspite of some of them having some more important commitments elsewhere in the institute. Three Branch Councillors in my wing had a Placements Meeting going on at the same time. Four others had extra classes during the same hours. Another had already fixed a lunch commitment. But nobody could say 'No' to this idea of a full-wing treat. Every single person ensured his presence. Even people like Kunhi, Sufu and Dhawal, who generally do not wake up before noon on holidays, were up and ready in time. Wonderful wing-spirit!

Just the fact that the entire wing was out together had given me such inexplicable satisfaction that I wasn't thinking too much about the food. But the food turned out to be equally satisfaying! The Gujurati-Rajasthani thali at Rangoli was finger-licking good. The Dhoklas and Kachaudis were so delicious that Arjun made a meal just out of them. The Srikhand truly tasted like a piece of divinity. Rotli, Bateta nu Shaak, Ghooghra, Daal Baati, Chana and Ghevar were simply awesome. There were so many other things as well, not to forget the paan at the end. As someone reminisced, "I did not know the names of more than half the things on the thali, but I sure did know that all of them tasted great! "



I would like to make a special mention of my friend, Mukunda, the only non-Gangaster who was specially invited for the treat (that made it 27 treat-goers altogether). He touched everyone's heart when he declared, "I'm a pseudo-Gangaster da! I'm one among you only!" Yes, you're right. Afterall, Ganga is your "hostel-away-from-hostel", isn't it? Welcome!



Some unforgettable moments of the day:









A big note of thanks to all my wingmates for making themselves available for the treat. We have set a trend; now we'll see many other "full-wing treats" (FuWiTs) happening in future.
My heartfelt thanks to my co-sponsors - Hippo, Baba, Parabola, N2O, Sufu, Gunda and Tile. We played a small part in making history happen!
All of us missed the 5 who couldn't make it to the treat - Harish, Vignesh, Rituraj, Achal and Jay. It would have been great had you people been here on that day; nevertheless, be prepared for the future FuWiTs! :)
And Sriram, all of us miss your presence in the wing!

A couple of original video-clips: | Video 1 | Video 2 | The clips have been intentionally left unedited so that the background prompts and comments are heard clearly. Real fun they are, check them out!

Another account of this treat is here, the debut blog-article of my friend, Shankar. Welcome to blogging!

To all my wingmates, I must bow. What wonderful times we have had together so far ! We have been living together, dancing together (Oh no! :) ), 'mugging' together and enjoying life together. I miss those days in the first semester when all of us would be mugging together for the same courses. I still remember the last year's inter-wing tug-of-war when all of us turned out for the sake of our wing. I cannot forget my last birthday when you contributed together and gifted me a birthday present. What a touching moment that was! You all have inspired me, guided me, encouraged me and stayed by me during my low-points in life. You, truly, are my wingmates of fire!

By the way, I'll remember forever the way the entire wing returned back after the treat. As all of us walked together on the pathway connecting the front and rear wings, shouting "Go 5th wing" at the top of our voices, I felt like a king, like being on top of the world! Goose-bump moment that was, seriously!



I'll leave you with a loving recollection of some of our past times!