The Saarang that was

I was sitting by the side of the stage at the Open Air Theatre [OAT] with the audience swaying and Karthik on a roll. A security volunteer comes up to me and asks if could understand Hindi. I said yes. He asked me 'how come you are sitting still when Karthik is singing 'Baar baar dekho' just a few metres away, on 50,000 watt sound?' It was then that I realized I was too happy to move. But then what I was really thinking about was a guy named 'Infinity', a facilities volunteer, who desperately wanted to watch the show, but was sitting somewhere else, lonely and proud.

I really felt guilty about having to send him away and the moment I asked him to go stand guard for some equipment outside OAT, he obeyed with such military precision that it only doubled my guilt. So there I was sitting on the well near the stage thinking of all the guys like 'Infinity' who for the sake of the bigger cause were doing things which could have been avoided by proper planning of coordinators, who knew this fact, but still worked drawing enthusiasm from the thin Saarang air. Suddenly all the things we [coordinators] did, all the things we sacrificed looked very miniature in the light of this guy whose effort was so pure, unbiased and colossal in magnitude. I asked that particular security volunteer who was keeping guard at the VIP gate to join the crowd and that I would substitute him at the gate. He looked interested at the possibility but promptly said no and resumed duties.

People were ecstatic. Sounds were blaring. Coordinators had light in their eyes. Core members were hysteric. And I was too happy to move.

All through my IIT life, I always heard about people talking about something called 'The Spirit of Saarang' . On that particular day somewhere in the series of events I felt it. The spirit of Saarang. It was more deeply rooted and more strongly felt than anything I came across ever in my life.

Saarang, we salute you.