Such a long time before I last wrote anything. Even the touch of the keyboard feels so nice.
Hey everyone,
You must be thinking why have I kept such a title for something that I did “Oyster- An Emotion of Failure”. It has a story. The reason is that Oyster has made me what I am today. It’s not like the things before never contributed anything but Oyster is my second but a raw interaction with the outer and corporate world.
The number of times we (My Team) failed would seem to be just three as an overview. But that’s not it. We failed each and every day. But the way how I want to put it is that, we learnt each and every day.
It was on November 1st, 2013 that the Idea of Oyster came to life on papers. And in December, Me and Tejasvee were introduced to it along with other few friends namely Yamini, Pooja etc. Rakshit was leading it from the front, him being the President of the organization.
Talking about what we did. We decided the dates of our conference to be somewhere in March. But nothing went as per the plans and somewhere due to some or the other reason, be it work or commitments or lack of the feeling of being a team, not even one task out of the decided 100 got fulfilled. As a result, on 20th of January, 2014 which is my Birthday too, the conference was called off. I’ll be honest here, it pained a lot. That was probably the first time that we tasted the joint failure together. Rakshit called me up (The voices were heavy, his followed by mine:
“Bhai, sun !”
“Haan Bhai, bol !”
“Kaisa hai ? Kahan hai ? Kya kar raha hai ?”
“Bhai, abhi airport pe hun. Jaipur Literature Festival ki volunteering k liye. Theek hoon. Bata, kya hua ?”
“Bhai, we’re calling off the conference as we are left far behind the schedule”

…….. A long pause…….
“Theek hai Bhai, its sad. But no issues. Phir se kabhi kar lenge”

We knew we couldn’t talk much so we just said our goodbyes. When I mentioned that “Phir se kabhi kar lenge”, I myself had no idea when but I just said it on an optimistic note. I didn’t know, that this optimism will take a lot to be kept in future. Tejasvee’s reaction for the same was that he cried “Bhai, cancel mat kar, please”. But we know that emotions never outweigh the papers, sadly.
It wasn’t a good day as cancelling something you worked for that too on your birthday doesn’t feel good but despite all that, you put a smile on your face just because people are meeting you, talking to you, wishing you etc. While Tejasvee and Rakshit were on a phone call, I was busy coping with myself and my emotions as I’m not among those people who share much. Even over here, I can’t write how exactly I felt. But then its past and is gone.

Similar things happened the second time we decided and worked for the conference. The dates were of May. The difference was that the team was a much shorter one. Just three of us and that was it. It also got called off because everything was completely in air even though we thought that it wasn’t.
So, we took some time off. Planned Rakshit’s birthday bash. Attended Manipal University Jaipur Model United Nations and gathered a few new friends. Things were just good as despite these failures and daily Learning, our friendship was safe and blooming.

A morning in the month of August :
This was a morning which decided a lot of things for us. This morning not just planned a few success stories but also decided new challenges and way bitter failures for us.
After having 3 bottles of Coke at Jaigarh Fort in the morning, we were busy taking a look at “Black Faced Monkeys”. Then we thought of heading back. We already were clicking a few photographs on the way. Suddenly, on the way down the hill in Rakshit’s Alto :
“Bhai, ek chota sa hi sahi, par MUN karte hain” said Tejasvee.
“Hain ??” surprised Rakshit exclaimed.
“Bhale hi 50 delegates ka ho” Tejasvee again. “Kya Bolta hai, Shrey?”
“Okay” I was looking out of the window, then I turned to both of them “Fine, let’s do it” I said after a deep sigh. I think I was just making myself determined. Rakshit was just trying to get himself to the pace of sudden set of events that took place.
“Dekho, is baar tum dono initiate karo. I’ll join you both, if you do good” said Rakshit. We both were good with it. Later, that is after months, Rakshit confessed to us that he was just trying to hide that he was disheartened by the previous failures. Well, what I think of it is that it is okay to feel so. We’re humans after all.
Next evening, me and Tejasvee decided to meet each other at Mc Donald’s at Crystal Palm Mall, Jaipur. We planned the schedule for the next two weeks. Somehow, after those two weeks, we saw that we were totally on the schedule. After months, this was a nice feeling. 🙂

Things continued. We planned, we worked but gradually we were lacking in the schedule, once again. But we just kept doing it. Rakshit saw that we were doing good and were really trying hard, so that made him join us too. It was a job of about three and a half months during which :
1. We got a team. 🙂
2. We lost that team. 🙁
3. We got a team again. 🙂
4. We wasted a lot of time running after sponsors. This part is not to be talked about, really. 😛

I was taking care of promotions, designing, online marketing. Tejasvee was busy with the appointments majorly. Rakshit was helping us out in all the above mentioned things in whichever way possible.
Later, it turned out that we three were doing almost every task with each other’s help, except for the designing part, as It was only me out of the three of us who had some knowledge about the working of Photoshop. Though, Rakshit and Tejasvee definitely gave their inputs.

Final days were approaching now. We were again on the verge of calling off the conference. Rakshit asked the team that the ones who want Oyster to survive should reach the office at 11 am the next day. The Team members who everyone saw at the conference were the ones who made it to the office that morning. Severe discussions and reality checks happened and we realised how deep in shit, we were. Actually, we three knew it but the others didn’t. But this time, Rakshit, just said it in front of everyone. A wise step.
But in the end, Oyster survived, we survived. The determination exceeded and later on, it was off the charts. September 28th was Kanika’s birthday which we couldn’t celebrate very well. We were just so busy with Oyster. Kanika, we’re really sorry for that yaar. J And the sketch I gave to you as a gift, tumhaare daant itne bhi bahar nahi hain yr. 😛 🙂

The final day had arrived.
1. Venue – check
2. Logistics – check
3. Designs – check
4. Team Oyster – check
5. Suited up – check
Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let the MUN begin. 🙂
The morning when everything was supposed to start. We were just looking at each other because our half of mind wasn’t able to believe that the day has arrived and the delegates are about to arrive.
The two days that passed were the result of hard work, mistakes and what not we did the last three and a half months. Those two days, again we were working like anything.
“Once you get into it, things never stop”
“If you ever feel like quitting, think about the reason why you started”.
We kept these in mind all throughout. My legs and backbone were not supporting me at all those two days. They required some treatment as I’m a patient of flatfoot.

But stories are stories and most of them always remain untold.
I loved it when the delegates said that #IAmOYSTERed. It touched the heart. J
Hard work had paid off. We didn’t satisfy everyone but we did satisfy a lot of them.
We were in tears in the end. We knew we were in tears although we weren’t able to cry at all.
Hearts and voices were heavy. Sleep depravedness in the end took it’s toll on Rakshit as he met with an accident the night the conference got over. It took our sleep away too. We hadn’t had anything to eat properly in the last two days just because we were busy in doing and providing the best possible experience to the delegates. So, 3 am at night, me and Raghav were out searching for some open Dhaba or shop where we could get something to eat. Fortunately, after travelling some 5 km we found a shop. But by the time we came back, half of us were in the middle of sleep. Anyway, we had some food. Then, we bid goodbyes to the girls from Mody College, Laxmangarh. After this, we finally received some 2 hours of sleep. Then we again headed to the venue to wind up the last and left overs. Special thanks to the volunteers of Jaipuria Institute. 🙂

Things just happened somehow and the end was somehow, good. Though, if a few things had not happened, situations must have been entirely different today. But never mind, its an emotion of failure after all.
I feel like writing more and more because I love to do so. What I wrote above, if it was difficult to understand, I’m sorry. I’ve kept this inside me since so long that everything came out clubbed up. 😛

I think I should just stop here.
A lot many stories are there to come.

Good Bye
Take care.