CHAPTER 1 - MUN (MODEL UNITED NATIONS)
"Yes, the Delegate of United States of America, you have the floor for the next 60 seconds", exclaimed the chair, as I, Abhimanyu Mantri, the very enthusiastic delegate of USA, picked up my presidential statement and went forward, taking the mic from Sahil, the only volunteer present in our room.
For an instance, I looked into my watch which had the date and time set as 3rd August - 1:45 pm.
A hot sunny afternoon, our stomachs full of the PBM and Gulab jamuns, which were seldom made in our school, as well as the cool breeze along with the fans working at their top speed, (which is usually 5, the most common ). All these, so called events, were quite successful to create a drowsy atmosphere in the committee, just before my encouraging speech.
Out of the 51 delegates in our committee, I could actually observe at least 15 of them, in no mood of challenging each other in the next motion. So, my immediate objective, was to lift up the spirits high of my fellow room-mates in the conference room, in the character of Donald Trump, because the presidential statement is all about your character sketch, along with some typical proverbs, usually copied from Google.
At the same time, I had to compete with the students of St.Martin school, who had the only motive of taking the best delegate trophy home, defeating us, the recognized "VIDYARTHIS" of Delhi Public School.
My speech went off pretty well. There were about a 20-25 students banging on their desks, most of them being the members of my bloc. However, walking back to my seat, I was gazing towards a single person, the one with a perfect formal attire, matching an actual delegate, in the United Nations. She had her hair tied with a single pony tail (I am amused by these words - pony tail), perfectly fitting black footwear and a Titan watch on her left wrist. The most attractive part of her entire attire, according to my skillful eyes (as I was observing her very accurately) was her spectacles. To be frank, I have a significant amount of knowledge, about the female attires. Thanks to my elder sister, who is the most beautiful girl in the world.
Coming back to this another beautiful girl, she was sitting on the third desk of the middle row, and I, exactly at an angle of 180 degree, which means beside her, nevertheless in the first row.
Don't increase your expectations guys, it wasn't this easy!
Suddenly, after one complete Moderated Caucus followed by an Un-Mod, there was a motion on the floor. Although, I am a very attentive Munner (Munner stands for "a delegate of MUN"), but I had my complete attention at the resolution to be submitted in an hour or so.
The only words of the motion, which I still remember are "....I would request the chair to allow me to challenge the Delegate of France and Russia, with the delegate of United States of America at my side, in a 2 on 2 debate."
I was never as anxious as now, before standing up for any debate. The thought of withdrawing myself from this motion, raised by Shrushti, the delegate of India, a good friend of mine, was running all over my mind.
And the only, major and the very important reason of this weird thought was the fact that the most elegantly dressed girl in a black suit, with her pony tail, formal shoes, titan watch, in short, the girl, whom I was staring, ignoring my very important resolution, was none other than the Delegate of Russia.
I got the same reaction from Kabir, my BFF. He knew most of my secrets, and this one toh he was the only one who was aware of. He gave a pat on my back, looking at me, with his mocking smile, as it was my turn to get up and answer, whether I would join Shrushti, to debate against the delegate of Russia, Shweta Kalantry, whom I supposedly liked.
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The Writer's Note -
At this particular instance, if I give you a time of 10 seconds to imagine yourself in this hypothetical situation, what would be your answer?
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Nevertheless, I agreed, as I had a few points in my laptop against France, and being the captain of the most successful house of Delhi Public School, the yellow house, I thought that winning the best delegate trophy is more important for myself.
Finally, as time passed by, from 1 in the afternoon to 5:15 in the evening, it was time for the voting of the resolution. Taking into consideration the fact, that I was one of the authors of our resolution, I went forward, onto the stage, for the voting process. Every single time, when any of the delegate, raised his/her placard to vote for the "Resolution 2.1", which belonged to my bloc, I experienced a certain sense of happiness.
However, when the delegate of Russia, voted for our resolution, with a beautiful smile on her face, her cheeks pale with an imaginative color mixture of pink and cream and her hand in the air with the placard high up, looking at me, I blushed, for no reason. She was a student of Delhi Public School and a member of my bloc, so winning her vote, was not at all surprising, but "yeh dil hain...ke maanta nahi".
I had this sense of satisfaction in my mind, for another reason. There was a great deal of enthusiasm in the committee about who will be declared "The Best Delegate". Luckily, the delegate of USA was the name in the mouths of most of my school-mates.
Our resolution passed, thanks to an attention-seeking ending speech by Manav, the delegate of Brazil, and my batch -mate, who is the most talented Munner I had ever seen.
Yet, the probability of me winning the "Best delegate Award" overpowered the other fellow competitors in the room.
According to me, another applauding and happening activity of MUN conference, is the Placard-writing, wherein, after the committee is declared closed, the delegates share their placards with the other delegates and the executive board members, writing on each other's placards- their feelings, reviews, acknowledgement etc.
This definitely provides me a golden opportunity!!!
The first sentence, I spoke to myself in my mind, was "control ABHI control, Apna time aayega".
I was proud of myself, because of the fact, that I created a charming impression in the minds of other delegates with my content, confidence and speeches. So, after sharing my placard with few other fellow delegates, we, USA and RUSSIA (sounds a bit hypothetical, if seen politically) looked at each other and exchanged our placards.
"Waise toh main ek sakht launda hoon, but yahan main pighal gaya"
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Okay, before we continue further, let me describe my present equation with Shweta, very clearly.
Both of us are in the same school, same class, Grade 10th. I am a student of 10th A, while she is a student of 10th C. I am the topper of my class while she scores between 80-90%, well, usually more than 85%. She is a state-level badminton player and I am a substitute player in the school basketball team (but I usually play in the team, though not in the first 5 minute). I am the captain of the Yellow House, on the other hand, she is a member of Life-Skills club. Most importantly, I am an experienced MUN delegate (because this is my 4th MUN conference), while she is attending her first ever MUN conference now. Both of us are one of the best dancers in the school. She is beautiful, I am a simple boy.
We are Good friends!!!
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Purposely, I sat on her chair and finally, toning down all my high spirits, I spoke to her calmly - "Finally, aapko humaare liye time mil hi gaya, haan. Itna busy nahi rehna chaiye Ms.Kalantry, ki tum apne doston ko hi bhool jaon".
What in the world, gave me the idea of this statement, God knows!
Lifting her spectacles falling below her eyes, and putting her hair behind her right ear, very softly and sweetly she replied - "Look who's talking Mr. Mantri. Maine itne baar conference ke beech mein tere pass dekha, but you are so freaking engrossed in your work, ki kya batau "
She further continued, "Humesha first aake kya milenga tujhe, kabhi baaki logon ko bhi chance diya kar".
My happiness had no limits. This was my most favorite pick-up line, because this is the one, which people and friends use the most, when they are praising any topper. However, hearing this from her, indeed made a huge difference.
Kabir Chaudhary, my BFF, finally coming back into the story, started speaking, "yeh toh humesha first aa jaata hain, phir baad mein apne parents apne ko bolte hain". Speaking mockingly, he continued," Dekho tumhare bestie first aata hain aur tum..."
Now, there was a discussion among Shweta, Preeti (Shweta's very close friend), Kabir and me. I, being the topic of their discussion, was indeed delighted. To add on to this, the announcement was made to head towards the auditorium and the four of us walked together. Kabir, (sacha yaar hain woh mera) purposely walked a little behind, giving way to both the girls and me.
Then, he called Preeti, and gave her his placard for Preeti to write on it. Meanwhile, it was Abhimanyu and Shweta, both the marwadi children, walking together towards the auditorium for the Prize Distribution ceremony.
We talked, discussed and laid our views on the entire 2-day conference which we were part off. As we stepped into the auditorium, she exclaimed delightfully saying, "Congrats in advance Abhi to lift up the trophy of best delegate, I am sure tujhe hi milegi".
I replied, "that's not compulsory yaar, there are many other competitors, jinke speeches bohat ache the, lets hope for the best."
She further said," Tu tension mat le, I am sure, it's gonna be you".
To which I replied, "Woh toh thik hain, but what about my placard?" which she was still holding in her hand.
She finally answered ending our short-time conversation, from the conference room to the auditorium, saying - " Oh, I am really sorry, I will complete it in 2 mins and give you back, please, chalega kya tujhe?"
"Haanji, no worries" because, without any doubt, this had to be my only answer.
We parted our ways, as I walked right, towards the boys' row with kabir on my side, curiously asking about our entire conversation, while she continued walking towards the girls' section.
Right there, in the auditorium, me along with some of my boys, had a small discussion about the entire conference, the speeches we made, the debates in which we were arguing, maintaining the decorum of the committee at the same time.
Abhimanyu Mantri, that is me, being a very experienced delegate, was again regarded in high esteem by all my friends. All of us, were very excited and were eagerly waiting for the results.
Just then, our honorable principal, came up on the stage, stood in front of the mic, and gave a 7 minute long speech. Although, some of my friends did not take much interest in what she was speaking, I always regarded our Principal as an adorable person, and thus, listened to her very carefully.
No sooner did she complete her speech, than we had the Head of the organizing team of the MUN_4_INDIA, the organization which conducted the Model United Nations Conference in our school. He came up with a file, which supposedly contained the list of all the winners of the different committees and with an increase in my heart beat, I was excited as well as tensed.
All the important things happened at the same time. Because just then, it was one of the girls, who passed my placard, on which Shweta had written something. I was definitely curious to read it, but the thought of walking up the stage to lift up the trophy did not allow me to.
I opened the middle chain of my bag, just kept it as it is and zipped it close. The name was going to be announced. Excitement had no bounds, because we were eagerly waiting to know, who is going to be the best delegate of the WHO committee.
"The best delegate award from the committee World Health Organization WHO goes to....
The Delegate of Brazil, Manav......"
An air of despair and dissatisfaction struck me hard. I was disappointed. It was not only me but many of my fellow delegates as well, because they also believed that I deserved this award. Yes, some of the other girls of my committee were also staring at me, and it included Shweta as well.
However, behaving maturely, I clapped and encouraged Manav as he made his way through the chairs and walked towards the stage.
To be frank, I wasn't pissed off with Manav, rather I was disheartened at the chair or the vice-chair or whosoever In the EB (executive board) who took this decision.
These few moments passed very quickly. The prize distribution ceremony came to an end, we rushed downstairs towards the parking arena to load the vehicles back with the delegates who successfully took part in this conference, because taking part is the most important beginning in the process of winning an award.
Affirmative, I believe this statement.
Yes, we clicked some pictures as well, to remember these moments and capture them as memories in our mobile phones.
Kabir also took the picture of Abhimanyu and Shweta standing together. Her car had already arrived, so while leaving, we did not have a proper talk, but she said, "Chal bye Abhi, placard padh lena, Take care."
After 10 minutes of argument, which I had with Kabir, blaming the executive board for the results, my parents arrived. Yeah, with a strong brother-hug and a gentleman handshake with my BFF, I sat in the back seat of our black Honda Creata and ,we drove back home.
Mom asked, "Kya aaye results?"
I answered, "Special mention mila mujhe, which means, I got 4th or 5th rank, jahan pe, we just go on the stage and people clap for us."
Papa, as usual, was very happy, with my achievement, which I, on the other hand, did not regard as worthy of my performance. He exclaimed joyfully," Congratulations beta, very proud of you".
To be frank, my parents aren't aware of these ranks or achievements in the MUN conference, after all, they themselves did not attend them ever in their life. Just the words "4th or 5th rank" which I spoke, describing my way out on the stage, people clapping for us, getting the Participation certificate and all, gave them a sense of honor, that their son had done something appreciable in the conference.
My parents are ever encouraging and that is the best quality about them. I asked about didi, coz she had not come, to which mom said, that she was making some special dishes for me at home.
Immediately, a thought struck my mind, I opened the middle chain of my bag, took out my placard and searched it all over, in the middle of so many comments, to read about Shweta's comment.
I found it at the top right corner, written in black, with her signature at the end.
It read -
"Hey USA, thank you soooo much for helping me in this MUN. You are indeed an amazing munner. Sorry, for troubling you.
#bestdelegateUSA
- Russia (Shweta)
(9895****14)
One second, did she just give me her mobile number :-)
(Please scroll down)
TO BE CONTINUED...
"Bas shukriya kehna tha, iss nazar-e-karam ka
Raat khwab mein mile ho, aur kya khoob mile ho"
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