DAY 3

manu, akshay , ravi , ghayoor, shabin and i were at the cafeteria room. at the convention centre. the nucleus of all mayhem.
11:30 pm.
accusations flying across the room. arguements hitched up out of the stress that all of us were under.
our muscles tired after running the cleaned tiled rooms that made up the halls of the t.m.a pai convention centre.
"where's the money? where are the bills? who's picking up the guests tomorrow? is the guest going to speak at this time only? what if we start a little late?
are we still going to have the session as per schedule? where are the certificates? why is this momento broken? have we some last minute invitations?"
well, if it weren't for the effort that our dear junior volunteers put in, we wouldn't have figured anywhere as organizers of an 'international' conference. thank you so much batch of '07!
and faheem as well! and suma.
but yeah, getting back to the scene on day 3.
in the middle of all this confusion, one of us gets a call. manu speaks to us, ashen faced." 3 international delegates are missing.they haven't reached their hostels yet."
then, like as though a storm was put on pause on some giant plasma screen and surround sound, we all fell quiet.
akshay: "do you have their numbers, sharath?"
me: "no."
akshay: "ghayoor, shabin.. do you?"
they shake their heads. more silence. there wasn't a word we could've uttered. we understood each others thoughts perfectly.
wasn't it our responsibility to keep track of them? or assigned members of our team to be in charge of them? wasn't there a curfew to be imposed in all hostels, as a safety measure?
what if they went missing and never turned up? what if.....?
each of us could picture ourselves behind bars, shirt ripped off and squatting on the floor.
the great indian lock up.
(gawk!)
akshay decides to inform a staff member about the situation. he'd probably know better how to handle it.
and at that moment, shabin runs in holding his phone to the ear. speaking quickly to someone at the other end. he picks something up, and rushes out. and while he does so, all of us(akshay, ravi, ghayoor and me) believe that he's got a lead and follow him. he runs out, gets on prashant agal's bike, and rides off.
now at this point, ravi noticed a few men on the road carrying rolled up banners and walking away from the convention centre.
a banner, is nothing but a poster representing the company that sponsored parts of our conference. its a huge piece of cloth, so it costs a lot. and it so happened that some of 'em were stolen the day before.
akshay having noticed this,shouts out, "oye! kahan jaa rahe ho?" (oye! where are you going with our banners?") and runs out into the street, following those people.
and i, sensing the trouble that we're in at the moment, use my micheal johnson skills to do the same.
so imagine us, with our black and gray coats, ties, and formals shoes, running in the middle of m.g road, at 11:45 pm in the night, after theives who are at least a hundred meters away.
and run i did! i managed to catch up with them. akshay soon following suit.
i shout at them.. "what are you doing with our banners? where are you taking them?"
they look a little surprised...and reply..
"your banners? these belong to the city corporation. " and he shows one of them to me, evidently belong to the corporation.
i feel a little bad for accusing them wrongly, and reach out a hand to say sorry, and we dint mean to do that.
at that moment, one of them grabs my hand, and grips it tight. he said, "tis alright, tis alright".
i smell alcohol in his breath. and there were 3 of them.
i can honestly say, i thought those ppl would thrash me on the street and leave me for dead that very moment. my heart skipped more than a beat, and i pulled my hand off, (luckily!) and joined akshay and ghayoor, who were walking a little way off to join them at the convention centre.

and yeah. the international delegates reached safely. at 12.