Indore comes alive
The lazy winter Sun and the cool morning breeze would make an average Indori feel as if it was just another Sunday morning. It was 7 am when I reached Hotel Ginger to pick Asgar and our special correspondent Nishant for the day ahead. We had a lot of activities lined up on our agenda today , a day which was to begin with a marathon and a bike rally organized by not one, not two but four of our participating institutes; and guess what? All of them within close vicinity of one another! We proceeded to Chappan (56 shops), a famous Indore hangout for foodies to grab the staple breakfast of Indore, ‘Poha & Jalebi’ before we embark on our yatra.
At chappan, there was more energy than usual and somehow we were able to sense excitement in the air. Post Poha and tea, we moved onwards to Janjeerawala square; the starting point for marathon organized by Malwa Institute of Technology. On an otherwise deserted Sunday morning, we suddenly saw masses of Red, Green and Blue. These colors were nothing but the reflection of the energy of the students. The Director, Training and Placement Officers and other faculty members were also in their brightest best, ready to go and run as a part of the NEN marathon.
Just half a kilometer away, I could hear bikes going Vroom Vroom and it seemed students of Prestige Institute had roped in all bike clubs of Indore as sponsors to run for the cause ‘Real Men make a difference’. When we walked in to check out what was happening, Rajat, our student entrepreneur and main chef of Hungry Birds (Campus Venture) came running asking for tea. Before I could shake my head, a steaming cup of tea was placed before me. Tea was arranged for all participants courtesy ‘Hungry Birds’. Red was the colour of the season, or so I thought till Arpan (Prestige E Leader) came and tried in vain to sell Red Hoodies to me (again a product of Aaghaz Ecell), that were selling like hot cakes.
While the organizers were rushing around, shouting orders, giving interviews, I suddenly heard loud slogans of ‘Jitega bhai jitega Acropolis jitega’ and in comes Mr. Atul Bharat and team all branded NEN; faces full of excitement. Amidst all the chaos and confusion of who is from which campus, Sujith drops in from the airport all set with his camera wondering which institute to start with!
Things are on a peak when I get a call from IPS Academy asking about our whereabouts. They just finished their marathon, had close to 250 participants and wanted us to join their celebrations with tea and poha! Again! So off we go to join the madness and from there on to a new destination.
Next day sees NEN boldly shouting out loud from pages in Indore dailies: Four colleges, an awesome bunch of charged up students, Harley-Davidsons and handsome dudes sure made the marathon worth a watch on the streets of Indore. It was not so lazy a Sunday after all!
