Nitish Reddy
Being a 19 year old student, son and a friend - My life was quite the average story to tell, until a very average day turned extraordinary when i was 'drenched' with expectations to fulfill one task :
A week of anxiousness had passed since the day my Co-Organizing Committee President and I were made responsible for Recruitments, but the moment had arrived when "They" were announced. Seven individuals who i was going to spend the next 45 days of my life through thick and thin. My Co, my Organizing Committee and me, made The Nine of us. We were slightly acquainted people who would soon be known as....
~ the rOCk 'n' rollas ~
It started off slow. The first day brought us our first form sale. I named the day Random Day 1 because, it was my first time experience to go up to random people, at random places, tell them something random and get a random response. The first day itself brought us success and the ability to deal with failure.
Over the course of the first month - we Rocked and Rolled from one college to the next to look for THEM and we took over Face-book and put AIESEC Hyderabad on 10000 homepages! We Searched for THEM in 25 different colleges. I brushed shoulders with 3000 of Hyderabad's finest youth who were oblivious to the potential within them and the opportunities that lay ahead of them and it was upto us to open the 'Doors to let the light In'. I came across people who yelled " AIESEC !!! Gimme a Form ! " Most times I wasn't so lucky. It sometimes took me half a minute to convince them, sometimes 2 minutes, sometimes 20, but once a group just said " Ok! Stop talking! And just give us the form." :)
Our Hunt for THEM was a long drawn out battle with stairs, big cardboard boxes, sore throats, thirst, whiny young girls :p, tired legs and most of all HUNGER ! Every afternoon in every college our Hunt turned from THEM to IT. And IT was the COLLEGE CANTEEN ! Every canteen had its delicacies, from veg to non-veg to rice to noodles to biryani and to 65s of every kind. The quarrel still goes on - "Which canteen is the Best?"
Our Search for THEM then led us to meet our very own old friends, acquaintances and people we'd rather not meet, in the places we least expected. But my real friends were the Eight walking right next to me through all times. It wasn't limited to just walking. We shared bus rides, bike rides, accidents, car breakdowns. We were in office meets together, we went broke together, we chilled together, The Worst and The Best - we were in a Maruthi 800 all together! But most importantly We Rocked together & We Rolled together. My search for THEM led me first to the greatest team ever. None of the records we broke, none of the experiences i had would have been sweet without the ones i call my Team - my Family.:)
Finally the Week had come , when OUR Search for THEM would culminate down to Three Days of Recruitments. THEY now, had found US. A gentle Friday and an empty Saturday gave way to a SUNDAY. No adjectives could describe It. We did not realize THEY were so many !!! 500 applicants in a single day were to be accommodated in 7 small rooms systematically through 3 rounds. We tried - we failed. We tried - We failed. We tried really hard again....This time we OWNED IT! :)
We went through a blissful Wednesday and I sat on the floor with the last of THEM and then Nostalgia took over, I went back to days when I had my form sold to me and my three stage recruitments. The anxiety, the nervousness, the excitement of doing something completely new all came back when I saw it on THEIR faces.
The day had arrived. 83 wonderful people were chosen to to be given all the opportunities that AIESEC has to offer. I remember receiving my call with little enthusiasm for something unknown. This time it was me who made the call and the enthusiasm at the other end made me jealous. I knew this one was going to enjoy Local Training Seminar. The Local Training Seminar needs no words to describe it. It was just me at the back of the hall, watching with pride and jealousy as THEY learnt the AIESEC Culture and the AIESEC Way as I did 6 months ago.
When it all had begun a long time ago, I was told , warned and taught about the journey ahead. To LIVE the Organizing Committee Experience was the Teaching that could not be taught. I owe it all to AIESEC which gave me my OC and my fellow AIESECers.
6 months ago, I was at the back of my class. 6 months later I found myself at the back of THEIR class.
The time had come...
They were no longer THEY...
THEY had become US...
And i could for the first time call them
They were no longer THEY...
THEY had become US...
And i could for the first time call them
"My Baby AIESECers"
Nitish Reddy Koripalli,
Organizing Committee President,
February Recruitment 2010,
AIESEC Hyderabad.
~ the rOCk 'n' rollas ~
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