February-March
Welcome to my blog. Now, I am going to share my experience in an event that I recently attended as well as a few other events in which I participated in the months of February and March.
In the first week of February, my cousin had come to Kochi, from Melbourne, Australia. So, he had visited me and my family en route from the airport.
CUSAT MUN
8, 9, 10 were the dates of the much-awaited CUSAT MUN. As we know there is only just a handful of MUNs in the Kerala circuit so each one is ofcourse important. Being MEC MUNSOC’s maiden participation event, we had 12 delegates. ASWIN SHANIL, Harinarayanan Shaji, Noel and I chose the UNGA DISEC which had the discussion on Solutions to conflicts with a special emphasis on Yemen. I got to represent the Syrian Arab Republic which was the first country I got to represent from the Middle East and the Eastern Bloc. Also, I m bit inclined to towards the anti-US nations thus I was happy with this.
On 8th, we had the inaugural session followed by an intro session for first-timers. The debate for the first day was okay. We slowly moved on the surface of the agenda but nothing in detail. Later the day, at evening I came back home and headed for Ernakulam T. D. temple which had ulsavam that weekend. Next day the MUN, was crucial discussion got more focused on Yemen and R2P- Responsibility to Protect. I had put forward some motions and points hoping to create some movement in the committee. Then we had an awesome Socials session. Awesome ambience and good food was the highlight. I was eating barbecue for the first time in my life.
I spent the night researching for solutions. After all, every problem needs to have a logical solution. I put forward 5 solutions and 2 substantive points. I also called for 5 points of orders for which 2 got accepted, 2 were rejected and one was partially adopted. Finally, the session concluded. Much awaited prizes were announced. Anand Raj got High Commendation, Rose got Hounarable Mention, my buddy Kavith Vishwanath got High Commendation and finally, I ended getting Honourable Mention. That’s my First proper award, and that really convinces me of the work that I put in. The last day was crucial to me. Before heading back home I had a small function to attend.
Next weekend was just a lazy one. Aswin Prabhu, Siddharth Pai and I had participated in the Bodhi quiz conducted by NUALS Nalam Fest’19. I missed the fun of CUSAT MUN, with boring days in class and suddenly I got a message from Dr M V Rajesh Sir, that the college needs a representative for National Student’s Parliament, Kerala 2019. I first hesitated because I came to know that only I was interested in going but as I thought deeper I realised that this is a rare opportunity and as a lover of Politics I should never miss it. Also, I was going to Trivandrum, which I consider as my second home after Kochi. This event was also sponsored by UNICEF and MIT-WPU, Pune. The entire event was to cater to the Student Community and Youth for being an active social member and also for being responsible for the Future of India. MIT-WPU is a university which trains students who want to see themselves as future politicians.
#NSP2019
So, I didn’t have a second thought about the same and signed up for the programme. I informed the same to my parents who happily agreed for the same. I just had three days to plan my whole travel. It was a 3-day event held at Kerala Legislative Assembly Complex. There was a pre-registration where we had to book our seat, pay the fees and download the confirmation letter. The fees were mere 250 rupees.
On Friday, 22 I began my journey from Aluva, by Netravathi express. I reached roughly around 6 pm. We were already informed about the availability of help desk facility at various points in Trivandrum city and one of them was there at the railway station. As I approached the help desk, I found that there were over 30 of them who came by this train from Pune. That itself gave me an idea of what exactly this event is going to be like. We were provided with a special transportation facility from the railway station to the KLA complex where we completed the Registration and were allotted accommodation. The entire complex was well lit and decorated. The accommodation given to me was in the outskirts of the city. The room was good and well maintained.
Next day I woke up excited as it was the first day of the event. I reached the venue at 8 am where we were taken into the dining hall, where we had breakfast. After that, we were given the delegate kit which consisted of a backpack, notepad, pen, a book on Indian constitution, a book on Kerala Legislature. The inauguration ceremony saw Hon Speaker of Kerala P Sreeramakrishnan, Deputy Speaker P Sasi, Hon Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Hon Governor of Kerala P Sadashivam, and Rahul V Karad. It was followed by a plenary session on the Idea of India. The speakers for the session we’re Abdusamad Samadhani, Prakash Karat, M R Raghava Warrier and Dr J Prabhash. All of them had just one thing to say- The Strength of Indian Democracy and oneness of all Indians. A resolution was passed in the session where students had to SMS -yes/no. Both resolutions got passed with 95+ support.
After lunch, we had three parallel sessions. I attended the session- Secularism and Nationalism. The speakers were RS MP Binoy Vishwom and Swami Agnivesh and it was moderated by Dr Achuthshankar Menon. Both speakers were awesome and had talked in two different perspectives. Binoy Vishwom went into historic, the legal aspect and the constitution whereas Swami made a simple speech in Hindi where he explained how myths and beliefs in his early childhood made him think a lot on this. He urged the young population to move ahead keeping religion aside and to see everyone as one. After this session, we had a fun session named Rings of Fire where students can interact with others, and make solutions to various issues faced by this world. The best part is that you can directly suggest solutions to the Government of Kerala. After ROF, we had Sufi-nite followed by dinner.
Next day, we had three parallel sessions in the morning, I attended the one on New World, New Education. The speakers were Dr Andrew Turner, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Coventry University UK, Dr Achuthsankar S Nair, Dr Saji Gopinath- CEO of Kerala Startup Mission, Dr Kiran G. R.- Dean of Middle East College, Sultanate of Oman and V.K. Babu Prakash. The session highlighted where our education system lacks and what all we are doing at the present to improve it. I also had a chance to interact personally with Dr Andrew Turner where he explained about Kochi airport and how Kochi is promoted as the main hub for UK tourists coming to India. After lunch, we had a much-awaited awesome session on the topic of Youth and politics. Speakers of the session were K. K. Ragesh, MP, Kanhaiya Kumar- Social Activist, Chintha Jerome- Chairperson of Kerala State Youth Commission, Sabarinath MLA, and Valsan Thampu- Former Principal of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi. The Day 2 ended with Rings of Fire and cultural programme.
Last day of the event saw March to Democracy where delegates marched from KLA to Nishagandhi Auditorium. It saw 5000 participants which included 2000 NSP delegates, NCC, and students of various schools and colleges across Trivandrum. There at the venue where we had cultural extravaganza and the closing ceremony of the NSP 2019. The session concluded with the valedictory function which was attended by CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Sitaram Yechury, V M Sudheeran MLA and Shashi Tharoor MP in addition to other speakers who were already there in Day 1 and 2. Finally, with that, the National Students Parliament concluded with a declaration by Muhammad Moussin MLA which included all that was discussed in the Parliament for the two days. Just after the event got concluded I took my luggage and went to Trivandrum Railway station and boarded the Chennai Mail SF Express and finally I reached home at 8:30 pm.
I understood that there are a lot of lessons Kochi must learn from Trivandrum. The primary one will be the quality of roads and traffic. The second one being the cleanliness and maintenance of public places, and last but not the least greenery and open spaces.
These three days were out of the world experience for me. I had received the participation certificate signed by the speaker himself for being part of the event. The entire organising be team has been working hard and it was evident to us as well. Speaker himself spent the time to check out that everything was going well. Food was very good, and obviously, people coming from outside Kerala would have never felt disappointed on the food part. Hospitality of the staff was very much commendable.
MACEMUN 2019
Just four days later I had signed up for my third event which I mentioned. It was the much looked forward MUN in Kerala- MACE MUN 2019. It was the first day of March and I began my journey from Aluva bus terminal to Kothamangalam, from there I took an auto to MACE. I met Harinarayanan Shaji who took the committee UNHRC. I had chosen UNSC- but I still don’t know why I had exactly chosen that.
The session began at 11. There were just 9 delegates in the room and I was one of the two delegates with prior experience in MUN. Our Chair had explained basics and yeah being the first time in UNSC, the pressure was always there. I was representing France(a P5 nation :?). The agenda was Peacebuilding measures in post-conflict areas, and yes it was hard. The rest of the day we just discussed some surface issues. The chair also asked us to research on few topics for tomorrow.
Next day, the delegate of the USA joined the clang. The debate was tight, yet no solution was discussed. In the evening we had socials and as usual, MACE won’t disappoint us in that area. Food was awesome and the ambience- superb. Anand Raj couldn’t come on Friday so he had missed the first day of the debate and he was with us for the socials. We were missing the MACE MUN 2018 where there were over 15 delegates from MEC. (Missing you Aswin, Akshay, Jishnu, Joel, Nikhil and Albert).
Third day and the final one began smoothly but the debate was not great. Most of the delegates had exhausted their research and points. So the committee had to be wrapped up without a conclusion but we managed to make a Press release and present it in the committee. The closing ceremony was grand. Sir Kurien Joseph, retired judge of SC had come as the chief guest for the event. With much-awaited prizes being read out. Harinarayanan Shaji got the best delegate award- the first MECian to get one. Anand Raj got High commendation despite missing a day of debate. He was the first MECian to present his own DR in the committee. I managed to get Special mention too but it was never satisfying. The Honourable mention of CUSAT MUN was much sweeter than this one. BTW, I got a new friend, Alex, from MACE who got a verbal mention from my committee. It was the best performance of MEC delegation ever.
Later the day, MUNSOC surprised us three by releasing the poster with our photos and prizes won. My cousin had invited my family for a dine out at night. The next day the family had planned a temple visit to Purakkad temple in Alappuzha district, so I was again busy. Finally, at night I got back home and started planning on for internal exams which were scheduled for a day later. Next day, less than half the people turned out for class. Thus the classes were suspended for the second half of the day. Finally, my internals was also over by 8th and my first weekend with proper rest arrived. Three days later my classmates planned a surprise unofficial class trip to Vagamon on Sunday-17th. Thanks to Geo, Deepak and Aswin; the trip was great devoid of the fact that I caught cold mid-trip. On the same week attended Aswin G’s talk in collaboration with IEEE MEC SB’s #TalksMEC initiative.
As planned Intra MUN was finally a success thanks to the effort of the entire MUNSOC team especially ASWIN SHANIL, Anand Raj, Nikhil Babu, Allen, Ema Arun, Shemrin, Harinarayanan Shaji and abin mn. All Thanks to Executive board team also for the smooth conduct of the event. I was the deputy speaker for the AIPPM committee as well as the USG for DA, Content and it was a great experience chairing one. Thanks to all participants for taking their time to make this event a grand success. On the same day, books for IARC-UN Certification course had arrived of which I am the Campus Ambassador for MEC. MUNSOC will come back with more exciting activities.
Also, read- https://medium.com/@jairamrprabhu/why-i-write-a-story-dfc48d191dbf
Thank you for giving this a patient read! I hope you will further support me by giving feedback. In the coming weeks, I have planned to release some Election special write-ups. Also, please note that I have a parallel blog on Youth Ki Awaaz page, so please do follow me on that as well. For, informative and useful contents please keep following my blogs :)
