An Introduction to Spandan Part 1

August-September 1993

Spandan is finally here. The festival starts in the next two days and since I've joined, most of the non-ragging conversation has been dominated by Spandan talk. My room in Lister House is right on top of the Volleyball Court and many evenings have been spent watching Volleyball practice. When being ragged in Osler House, I've caught a bit of BasketBall practice as well. Banners have been going up everywhere and I've been told that Lister Square, which currently resembles a dumping ground, will be transformed into the main Spandan area with multiple food stalls, wooden barricades and lots of chairs.

The festival always happens in the first week of September and the merriment lasts for a week from Monday to Friday inclusive. All classes except for Final Year morning clinics are off, but while the rest of the College parties all day and night, the Baby Juniors (like me) are, in Jipmer lingo, going to "slog their bal** off". I learn that in Spandan, the Cultural and Literary events are open to all colleges but the Sports events are restricted to Medical Colleges probably because we would get buggered if it was opened to all, but actually because Sports started life as the Dr Chaddha Memorial Inter-Medical Hockey Tournament and has remained an Inter-Medical event.
Not that I expect to see any of this of course. 

There is a residual French influence in Pondicherry and Spandan has not been spared that particular hangover. Cultural, L&D and Sports-the Core events of Spandan- are called "Les Beaux Arts", "Les Litteraires" and "Les Jeux" respectively. 
I have already been educated that "Les Beaux Arts" is best pronounced without the silent "S" in "Les" and "Beaux" pronounced as the French do. This is best done in front of the girls. 

As a tradition, the following Monday is declared a holiday, mainly to allow people to clean up the mess left behind. This group of the mess cleaning people consists mainly of the Transport Commitee, of which I am an enlisted member. The holiday apparently has a doom and gloom atmosphere since Spandan will be over and the entire campus will go into a silent study mode.
As far as I am concerned, my doom and gloom has already started.

In yet another tradition, something that Jipmer seems to possess in abundance, all baby juniors have to vacate their rooms for the duration of Spandan. Our rooms will be used to accomodate delegates from elsewhere. Ashley and I stuff what we have lying around inside our respective cupboards, put big locks and hope for the best. Our room locks are changed and for 5 days, we shift next door to Muthu's room. Muthu is 2 years senior and he doesn't have a choice in the matter either.
Spandan is about teamwork, if nothing else.

The First Transport Meeting: 

The meeting takes place in Lister Square. It's 8 AM and it's already hot and sultry but it's a welcome break from ragging and classes.
The Head of the Committee is Naren, a well built, serious looking guy who reminds me of Leander Paes but without his squeaky voice.
And the first sermon goes like this:

"Come on boys! I want all of you to be on time, every time, at whatever place we decide. Being late or not turning up is akin to a full blooded revolt, with dire consequences".

Over the course of a hot 25 minutes of a shouted lecture, I find that the Transport Committee is responsible for the Transport of EVERYTHING used in Spandan. This includes chairs, tables, chillers (the real heavy kind), tents and poles and all and sundry. Anything that needs to move from Place A to Place B is dumped on Transport Committee and then Transport dumps them where needed.

 He continues:
"A bunch of you (All Babies) will gather where I tell you and we will be informed of our next mission. So, if it's chairs for an event, I will get in the front and you will get in the back of the van. We will go where about 200 chairs will be  waiting to be picked up." I note the use of "we" with a sad smirk.

"On arrival, I will arrange the chairs to get and then you guys load it. OK? Any questions"? Naturally, there are none. "Spandan needs us! Come on boys". Naren sounds like a General marshaling his troops into oblivion.
In practice I discover that while loading, the chairs are passed from Baby to Baby and eventually onto the back of the van. The chairs are stacked pretty high and there isn't much space for us to sit on the way back. Back in campus, we unload, arrange them and collapse in a heap. (We collapse, not the chairs.)

Another Transport Meeting: 
The next day, just before Spandan is due to start, we are all summoned by Naren to Lister Square. This is an unscheduled meeting. One of the guys, Sheikh, has apparently not turned up when called or was late and he is singled out and called out.  Sheikh seems to be the only guy in class with more body tissue than me. N is standing on the Lister Square stage and is 2 feet above the ground and therefore 2 feet above Sheikh.  After a short speech on the terrible consequences of messing with him or Transport Committee (which, for Naren, are the same thing), he holds Sheikh's collar with one hand and pulls him up till eye meets eye and then continues to chew him off. This little drama is supposed to scare us shitless and it does.

Life in Transport Commitee:
Sometimes, instead of a big pick-up type of van, we use a "dog van". The name mystifies me. I'm not sure if the dog van is called so because it was/is used  to transport dogs or if we were the dogs doing the transporting. This type of van has grilled sides, presumably to prevent us from escaping. The senior member of the Commitee accompanying us sits in regal splendor next to the driver.
It is also very hot and humid but tradition dictates that we are all taken to the shacks and given drinks and in Spandan, we will be given drinks coupons to use in the stalls.

We put up tents and dig poles, arrange chairs in Lister Square and Banting Hall and develop muscles lifting chillers and coolers.  It is very hard, physical stuff, sometimes depressing and sometimes fun.
It is a "deep end" introduction to Spandan.
Every day of Spandan, with strains of music and laughter carried into the room by a cool breeze, I lie down by 11 PM, too tired to think about what I might be missing. The next day starts at 6 AM and sleep and rest are essential. Everyone else seems to be having a blast but I feel left out. When I am not sleeping, I am usually homesick.

One evening, after a particularly hard day, I give up and call home. I tell my father, probably listening with increasing worry, I want to get back home, quit the course and perhaps do a BA in Chandigarh, maybe get into the Civil Services like him. To me,  I sound very rational and normal but my father knows where this is coming from. He is calm and tells me to hang on for a few days and see if I still feel the same and If I do, he will fly out and get me back.
We never have this conversation again.

29 Aug to 3 Sep-Spandan 1993

Welcome to Spandan '93.
The whole campus has gone crazy. People from everywhere are everywhere. My room has been invaded and is occupied by strange people. I am a zombie on auto-pilot regaining temporary moments of sanity especially at night when I'm alone in a strange room with sounds of the odd gossip session (drunk mostly) and loud music floating in.
The Volleyball court in front of my room is floodlit. Something is happening there but I'm too tired to care. I am told Basketball will be "Awesome man. You must be there for the finals". Not because they think I love basketball but because they need people to make some noise. Ditto for hockey and  football. I can't go see L&D because I might get late walking back for our next Transport Commitee Mission. I can't stay awake long enough to see any of the late evening Cultural events.
At least the food in Spandan is something to look forward to. The mess has been turned into a "Spandan Mess" which is a whole lot better than in non-Spandan times. With thoughts along these lines, my first Spandan progresses.
I get a lot of insight into the various Committees' happenings and shenanigans in mutual crib sessions with my fellow Babies. Some of those, not in particular order, are:

1. Reception-The most sought after. Populated by good looking girls and friends of the Head. Located in the Common room which has been turned into an AirConditioned fancy area with an aquarium, tables for Commitee representatives, carpets, and people not in Reception but looking for ways to beat the heat. 

The heat in Pondicherry can be intense so part of the job is constantly chasing people out of the door of this Sacred Space. Reception is protected jealously. Members of this Committee often think no end of themselves and for good reason. They are the only ones with an Airconditioner.  

Apparently this is also the first year where Reception is Airconditioned-a fact that is proudly mentioned over and over again. Before this, it apparently consisted of just a few tables and chairs. One made sure fans were working and that was that.

I'm quite impressed by the way it looks-Carpets, themed decoration, separate makeshift cubicles for representatives of various Committees, flowers, a PA system. 

An important aspect of Reception is the Announcement system. This is where one goes to announce something over the PA system whose loudspeakers have been hooked onto the roofs of Lister and Osler Houses. Typical announcements include : "Some delegates from St Johns have been found drunk on the beach, please go pick them up IMMEDIATELY or  "If anyone has lost his key, his shoes or his undies, please come to Reception IMMEDIATELY" etc. The PA system is guarded like a State secret. ONLY Reception members can make announcements and although anyone can ask for something to be announced, only they have the power to it. According to the Reception PA announcements, everything has to happen IMMEDIATELY. 

Reception is a Command Centre which I think must be admirably managed by a wandering Commander because all I ever hear is "Calling Shom, please come to Reception Committee IMMEDIATELY". Shom is Head of this prestigious Commitee, but I've never actually seen him inside it. We have progressed. My "Good Morning Sir" is now answered with a short "Hi". "Hi" with a cool accent. 

Reception is manned round the clock. The babies have the most important role of all-they are human alarm clocks entrusted with waking people up at all hours of day and night.
Reception is the nerve centre of Spandan and the first port of call for all delegates.

Once a delegate has registered themselves at Reception, Accomodation takes over.

2. Accomodation Commitee
A LOT of people have turned up for Spandan, lured by the promise of a great festival and cheap booze. Colleges from all over India have been invited and most make or try to make the journey. Motivations vary -some colleges like CMC Vellore have a great BasketBall team, St Johns is famous for hockey. A couple of Delhi Colleges register and immediately go off sightseeing and boozing for the nest 5 days.
Not many people miss them.

All of these guys have to be put up somewhere. Accomodation is our responsibility.

Ashley and I shift to the room next door which belongs to Muthu, 2 years senior.  Muthu has no room mate so for the duration of Spandan, I crash on the bed while Ash sleeps on the floor in the space under the bed.
One day, wearing dirty soled black shoes, both Ashley and I step on an Inland Letter addressed to Muthu that has been pushed through the door and leave shoe marks all over it. Having done that by accident, we like what we see and proceed to put even more shoe marks over it with some vigorous stamping. Our little bit of revenge.
The next day when Muthu discovers that we had stamped all over what turned out to be some sort of Love Letter, Muthu gets his revenge too.

Acco, as it is called, put their own locks to be handed back to us after all is said and done. There is a room in Lister Annexe Ground Floor which is used to store and index all the keys, match names with rooms and keep tabs on occupants. All hostels are used. There is constant confusion because keys are lost, then found, then lost again. A new hostel-Blackwell House, meant for Postgraduate ladies has just been completed and is therefore empty. So as a member of Transport, we carry mattresses and pillows and dump them there. More Acco.

And the festivities drag on.

.....To be continued.................