Wow…in retrospect, I could just about say I’m speechless…just like the WAY-MORE-THAN capacity crowd inside the St.John’s Auditorium on the evening of 11th December, who marveled at the mere decorative brilliance of the venue dressed in all its fantabulous Christmassy attire (I’ll elaborate later); but I mean, being speechless would do everything but justice to writing a report of one of the biggest events on the Johnite Calendar, JINGLE ROCK 2009 which is henceforth known as CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
With the University Exams in mid-December, we, the Batch of 2008, knew that we’d have to work double hard to make up for the dearth of support, experience and talent of our seniors; and when you’re stepping into the shoes of people like Dwayne, Jarvis, Binston and Co. from the Batch of 2005 who’ve pioneered the event, mind you, these are HUGE shoes you’re stepping into.
A week of November had elapsed when the choir started practice. As is the case every year, we had to initially deal with a mélange of lame/preposterous/incredulous excuses of people coming late for practices for reasons ranging from “I had to buy a Greeting Card!” to “I was playing Carom in the Mess!!!” This year, practices were shifted to the Food Court until the start of December, so we worked tirelessly from 5pm to 8pm every evening, as the November twilight and the accompanying chilly weather descended on us.
But even with the horizon of exams looming closer with every passing minute, our seniors showed us their true Johnite spirit. Everyday a few of them (either from Batch ’05, ’06 or ’07) walked in to help us out, giving us inputs on how to improve the choir, personally helping the juniors learn their parts and also teaching us how to handle inefficiency, etc. A huge THANK YOU (and a Big Hug) to all of them. With post-dinner practices from the 1st of December, we had our hands tied trying to co-ordinate the choir and band, each trying to drown out the other.
We formed separate committees as is tradition for Artwork & Decoration, Band, and Choir and so on. I took charge of the Choir, and Aubrey (Batch ’08) took charge of the band. Lisa, Santhi, Victor and Co.(all from Batch ’08) took responsibility for regulating the decorations, and Ann Sarah (Batch ’08) took charge of handling just about everything else from settling Accounts to printing Posters to tying up every loose end possible. Our Artwork committee went into overdrive towards the end of November. With ideas pouring in, literally in frenzy, but a way smaller budget to work with, we set out to work. Tirelessly we worked every evening, trying to balance music and artwork to meet our deadline. I remember people from both the Batch of 2008 and the Batch of 2006 staying up until 5am on the final day to setup the auditorium. We needed Nikhil Dhanpal’s car and about 25 others on foot to finally transport the artwork from the college foyer to the Auditorium. Rahul Fernandez (Batch of ‘06) with his electrical genius and unbelievable energy walked on the rods above the stage to suspend the decorations and complete the circuits. The result: was a breath-taking backdrop painting of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, lit by halogen lamps, into glowing life…Life size Bells in gold and red suspended from the ceiling…Small to gigantic candles (lit by flickering bulbs to mimic flame)…large holly…and massive hanging stars (forming the Stage alone). The foyer at the entrance of the Audi was a sight to behold. On one side, amidst a landscape of cotton-snow stood a 12-foot Snowman, which the little kids could not take their eyes off, and the little ones were crawling into the snow while eager parents clicked photos of them. On the other side stood the cutest looking reindeer I’ve seen, crafted to perfection, full with a red-nose and everything. Whew! I give up! I cannot quite describe the effort that went into the decorations. Hats off to the team!

The nursing college and the non teaching staff did their bit on stage to set things rolling in motion. one cannot forget a little on dressed as an angel jumping on stage waving the wand , posing for photos clicked by fr. matthew and running with full of energy on stage. it defintely was not part of the script but then again the innocence of the child had the entire auditorium in rapturous applause and laughter. Mr.jayasheelan from the estate department amazed everyone by playing popular carols like silent night, jingle bells on the mouth organ.

The director Rev.Fr.Lawrence d’Souza gave a very valubale and relevant message by means of a story and drawing an analogy about how St.Johns is rendering service and giving hope, life nd answers.

Every single person came in and contributed and we’re very proud of it. The MC for the evening Karthik Shyam gave a bit of trivia about each carol.
As for the Band and Choir, we had a blast on stage. I guess it’s fair to say that we gave it the best shot we could with the sound system available. Hours of tuning, adjusting, and sound-checking, finally just about paid off. The Baby Juniors from the Batch ‘09 were great to work with, and together with the rest of the choir and band, gave the audience a fabulous show.

Not to forget the staff  Dr.Arvind Kasthuri,Dr. Kiron Verghese, Dr. Mary Verghese, Dr.Maria Lewin who enthralled the crowd with their singing particulary dr.kasthuri and dr. kiron with their booming bass voices.

Christmas is incomplete without Santa Clause.  As Dr.Kasthuri called them Santae(plural fr santa), the 5  Santae ran among the crowds much to the children’s delight and then dance on stage. they also coordinated handing over the gifts in the amphitheatre.

The PG’s then thrilled the audience with a series of carols reminding us of the sheer impeccable musical talent with which Jingle Rock had begun in John’s. With Feliz Navidad, we threw up our caps, overjoyed at the sheer relief and exhilaration of having done it! Finally…after a month of toil, we had finally made it work!!

The icing on the cake was when Binston on request especially from his babies decided to sing Holy night impromptu which led to the band members coming back on stage.  And as is the case for the last 3 years, the audience were left spellbound by his performance. a perfect way to end the night.
Finally, when Ann walked onto stage to give the Vote of Thanks on behalf of our batch, she meant every word of it, as did we. Every person who was involved did his/her bit to make that evening wonderful.
Looking back as we cleared up the auditorium, we waved away the nostalgia that hit us, the little incidents that made us smile or guffaw, the disappointment of stupid errors and the contrasting joy of tiny successes. Through it all, the Staff Society stood by us, and Fr. Matthew, our Associate Director, graciously granted us permission for almost everything we asked of him; and the Student’s Executive Committee was our Rock, till the very end. Without them, Jingle Rock 2009 would’ve been only a distant dream.
It took until 11pm and beyond for the party lights to fade away that night, but for us, “Jingle Rock 2009” is our Baby, and it’s thoughts will obviously, never fade away from our minds…