On the morning of 10 Feb, 2020, Divya had walked through the corridor of the auditorium with a scrunched up face. She knew the smell that was coming from here with that these people had surely done more than just some small stupid antics that they somehow always did.

"this whole place smells like cigarettes." Priya complained as she covered her mouth. Divya quickly turned towards her and said "Shh don't be loud, and if anyone asks you about the smell you just came here and you don't know anything."

"technically I really don't know anything."

"well in seconds you would understand, so I am warning you about the time after you learn about it."

"But how do you know who did what?' Priya asked. halting her steps, Divya smiled at her and said

"three years, I know the lots sitting inside for three years and I very well know what all things they are capable of." The elder sister waited as the younger one nodded her head in affirmation, processing the knowledge and then began walking down the stairs to the room, when they saw Aman and Rishi walking out the two doors. Divya quickly walked up to them and hissed.

"This whole place is smelling, I can smell it right from the front corridors...Aman, Rishi literally how many packets did you all finish in the whole night...and what the hell look at yourself," She studied the two along with Priya who had her mouth wide open in shock.

The day prior being a Sunday, and with Divya's health not being well had taken a leave. from the reports that she had received, it was clear that a whole lot of set up was left and hence as usual the boys were staying back at college. Throughout the night different scenarios had flooded her mind. These people staying back was cool, but then the kind of mess that they always created was never cool.

Divya shook her head and pulled out a piece of sellotape from Aman's hair and said, "you know what just go, you guys go home I will handle whatever is left over here."

"yeah we were actually waiting for someone reliable to come. Thanks." Aman said as the lot made their way inside. Divya stopped after walking in a few steps. The whole room was decorated the in typical signature manner with the lights covered in red gelatin papers, the black cloth covered the walls and were now decorated with different posters and designing materials, on one side of the room there was a photo booth, on the other side the chairs were divided into two sides making a straight path for anyone to walk through it. The guests table along with the college's table cloth was step up in the middle with about 7 to 8 chairs, and right opposite to it at the end was the stage, the wall had a huge banner that was hand painted with different doodled articles and Milange written over it, the and on both the sides of the poster were the screens for the projectors that were yet to be set up.

"this is amazing." She complimented and then turned around to see Dev waking up from the floor. She had almost let out a scream at the way he looked, his hair completely messed up, the shirt was surely ruined, his eyes all puffy and red. But then that was the same thing with Aman, Rishi, Dhawal and Sanket who were now waking up and rubbing their eyes.

"Divya we did most of the work here but now you will have to handle it." Dev began speaking as he handed her the chart papers. His face looked like that of a little kid who had been working for hours. Divya nodded her head as her eyes took in Dhawal and Sanket. It took her everything within her not to coo at them and pull their cheeks for how cute they looked. Just like that of kids.

"I will look after it, but you guys move now this place is stinking like cigarettes especially you all."

"heeh? Really?" Dev asked as he pulled up his shirt and smelled it, scrunching his nose he shook his head and began collecting stuff, as Divya started arranging things with Aman and Rishi along with Dev instructed her on the things that were yet to be done.

"That zaid will be getting the chart papers. We have to use 4 of them and put it up there and then there is one more guy from production to get him the laptop. I have told him what all is to be done."

"Alright and did you guys checked the previous talks, the introduction videos?" Divya asked as she moved aside a table and began picking up a few boxes when she saw two boxes of cigarettes lying there. She looked up at the trio who gave her a sheepish smile as she picked it up and asked them to keep it in their pockets and to dispose of it off.

"and what about the anchors are they sorted? The decorations do you think anything is left?" picking up the last piece of the cardboard she kept it aside cleaning up the place so that later on she could call up the peon.

"yep that is done.. Divya you don't do that I have asked the peon he will be here in an hour. You just make sure that if any one comes here than you don't know from where this whole smell is coming from." Dev explained.

With a huge deep breath in she turned around and folded her hands on her chest and said, "what actually did you all do here?"

The three looked at each other and began smiling and then said, "first maam was here..."

"oh she came?"

"yeah she was here for sometime, but she won't be there for the event." Rishi clarified.

"yeah, so once she left, My mom got us tiffin, then we were tired, hence we all got a few cigarettes and even a drink..." Aman trailed off at the end as Divya's eyes went wide like that of saucers.

"have you all gone nuts, what if someone would have caught you?"

"oh no that would never happen, we then smoked a few more packets then got this whole black cloth there on the wall...it was a headache man Divya...I am telling you I won't do that again." Divya smiled at Aman as Dev then said,

"Later on we all got bored, and at the nick of time Dhawal got the bat and the ball, so we were playing bat ball in the corridor at about 2 in the morning." For a long while there was a silence as Divya kept on staring at them.

"please tell me there isn't anything alarming that happened, and that none knows what all you guys did." The three idiots looked at each other thoughtfully and then finally Aman said,

"well not really anything as such, just that..."

"just that?"

"just that the professor...Mr. Prateep might have some doubt on us and he might have or not have called the coordinator." It was an instant move as Divya slapped her head and shook it. She didn't know whether she was to feel sorry for them, be angry at them or to laugh at the whole situation. She decided if they were to be here even for a minute more she would collapse with a heart attack listening to their endeavours.

"you know what get out...all of you who were here last night get out now." Her voice was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. She was about to yell once again when she heard a groggy voice from right behind her . letting out a small yelp she turned around and for sure she would have fallen back if Aman wouldn't have been right behind her.

"what the hell?" she screamed as the rest helped the black colored cloth covered human stood right in front of her, his voice and clothes that could be seen through the small gaps seemed to so familiar, and as if it were a lotus that was blooming, its petal opening up one by one the cloth began to unveil slowly and steadily and once done Divya got the biggest shock of the day.

"Madhav?" the whole lot began laughing as the said person began to struggle once again to get off that cloth. While he did so Divya took in the way he and the rest were sleeping. The cardboards were laid on the ground as beds, the big yarns of black cloth in which Madhav was entangled acting as that of like blankets, some even used the last years banners that they might have retrieved from the staffroom. She had seen this a lot of times, it wasn't anything new, but she really felt bad that she had been sleeping resting at home in her comfortable bed, while all of them had been working hard here, and sleeping in such poor condition.

She walked upto Madhav and finally made him relieved of that black cloth and once he was done dusting off the little dirt on him did he finally notice her. "Oh Divya thank god you are here. listen, we all are going home you please handle it here."

"Madhav chill." She adjusted his hair a bit for him, quite shocked herself for this small act of hers and said "I will look after this you guys go home and take a nap...we won't be starting before 11:30 so you can come by 11, till then I will handle here."

"Thank you so much, don't worry we will be here by 10,, and I guess in sometime even Atharva will be here." Aman said as she watched the rest making their way out.

"alright, just go and get some rest... and Aman, Thanks..thanks a lot this is really amazing."

"The event is ours Divya, no matter what, and as it is I am the event admin and you the member, it was my responsibility no matter what."

Divya glared at him as the two laughed at the same time. After a few minutes Aman was gone along with the others and Divya was looking into the different videos that were to be aired, when she saw Madhava and Dev walking up to her.

"what happened?"

"I need my tiffin, it's there inside,, and sir is taking the lecture,the both of us smell like liquor and smoke." Dev explained. Divya nodded her head and walked upto the adjacent classroom and knocked on the door, the professor gave her nasty look as she explained,

"sir my friends left their tiffins here, can I please get it?" the middle aged professor nodded his head as she smiled a small thank you to him and was about to pick up the bag when he asked.

"do you and your friends know how this whole smell and smoke came here? there wasn't any kind of short circuit here."

"umm no sir, we don't, they all had been working the whole night here, and had just slept in the wee hours, you see we have an event today."

"hmm I see." Divya nodded and looked at him. She could tell that he was not at all convinced but then she as well knew that he didn't have proof. She walked out of the door and handed the tifin to the two, and shooed them away. She then walked back into the room and searched the whole premises for any more boxes of cigarettes. Getting rid of all the ones that were there, she made a call to Aman and asked him to send the peon for cleaning, telling him it was safe for him to come now.

******

At around 12:30 when the whole event got over and the students had dispersed, Divya made her way towards the bench where the guests were previously seated and pulled up a chair for herself. She then let her head rest on the table and began to take deep breaths to relax herself. The whole event was a success. Though in the beginning there weren't many people who had shown up, and she surely knew whom all were to be blamed to.

"so Ms. Divya how did you found the prevent to be?" Aman's voice whispered in her ears as she felt both the chairs beside her being pulled and being occupied by Aman and Madhav respectively.

"you seriously want to know what I think?" Aman nodded his head as She felt Madhav inching his chair closer trying to hear their conversation. Divya looked at him and then sat back so that both of them could hear her. She then looked around and said,

"To be honest with so many people around in the committee I am a bit disappointed as to how this whole thing came out. We have given better shows, better events this wasn't us. If there had been any technical glitches, I would have overlooked it, because that's something we can overcome in minutes while the event is going. If there had been disciplinary problems we could have overcome that as well... but here." she looked at Aman and Madhav booth and then shrugged her shoulders as she explained,

"I don't know maybe it's just me, but today the audience was aware...the audiences the people around the college didn't knew that a event was coming, the ones who came, we all know were through our contacts, filling in the seats because we asked them....literally begged them to occupy the place, the other who came willingly were there to support us. And that's not Milange."

"I agree..." Aman said,

"And I don't agree." Madhav replied. Both Aman and Divya looked at him quizzically. The two desperately wanted to know why is it that madhav had to say that but then before that divya had two more people whose point of view was important for her. She quickly called Rishi and Yuvraj and asked them.

"What do you guys think of today's event?"

Yuvraj was quick at giving his answers as he said, "I liked it." For a moment Divya was shocked and asked him if he was sure,, once she received the same answer she looked at Rishi and asked him. to which he said "NO I didn't like it , we could have been way way better."

She then nodded her head and sat back in her chair and then asked Madhav to continue with what he had to say.

"See, we had a lot of crises at the last moment. It wasn't our or the PRs fault as well that people didn't turn up, there were two more seminars going around in college and then all of a sudden BMM went off to strike, it was chaos out there, but then we surely got our crowd, the whole place was filled, our volunteers managed the whole thing and it was done. From a person who was there on the stage I will say it was nice...surely there were a whole lot of issues but still it was better."

Divya nodded her head and then looked at Yuvraj and asked him... "what good did you find?"

"I would agree with what Madhav had to say , and then again the volunteers surely had done a good job. I can't really speak a lot since I wasn't here until last night, but still it was managed well."

Divya nodded and then shared a look with Aman and Rishi. The three couldn't just accept the clarifications that were provided to them. And as the meeting began and the professors took the charge, it surely turned out the way Divya had thought it would turn out to be.

The Events team was let off the hook for everything being perfect from their timings, the slots, the flow and the videos everything... but there was one such thing that had been worrying the three of them, such that throughout the event they had sat in a corner silently without their own knowledge they contemplated about... was what finally Fatema pointed out and even Madhav had agreed with.

"The college didn't know that Milange had an event today."

The one thing that Divya was scared of when she had walked up the stairs three days ago on that morning, the one reason why there weren't any people. A weaker PR can surely stand behind the excuse that there were three other events going on in the college. But with the history with which they had been working there shouldn't have been doubt over the fact that There had been three other events going on at the same time in the college. They had a name they had a quality that they always delivered which they knew that if people knew that MIlange had an event that day, there wasn't any second option for them to think over. It was MIlange.

And that day, many people didn't even know that there was that one major option in front of them.

As the meeting proceeded Vivek along with Divya and Meher began pointing out on things, the picture began to get clear, the PR team along with the creatives team gave an assurance that here on nothing as such would happen.

"but my team members aren't trained."one of the coordinators for PR spoke up.

"what do you mean?"

"I don't mean to offend someone but, there are only two people with me whom I can rely on, and PR doesn't work on two peopke."

The excuse that the coordinator was providing was really disturbing for Divya, she shook her head and laid it back on the table, listening patiently to what everyone had to say.

"are you okay?" Madhav whispered in her ears.

"I can't believe I am seated amongst these nuggets. This is how an international level event works Madhav? The Coordinator is complaining that her members aren't fit enough... damn I wasn't fit enough once upon a time to be here as well, but that didn't stopped my seniors, fuck I can't event imagine what those volunteers might be feeling right now..fuck she had an audaciuty to say it right infront of everyone...does she even realizes that its not her members incompetent but she herself?' Divya hissed and sat back up straight as Madhav took hold of her hands and began patting it as if to console her.

"the last time during spot light, I remember each one of them stumbling on their words, and even the team members laughing at them...that's not done. The more we try to train them its not getting into their heads how is it to be done." Divya just could stand it any more,as she sat up straight and said,

"I have to say something." Fatema nodded her head and asked to continue.

"you said that you weren't able to train them, I would like to ask the members as well as all the coordinators here, how many times have you seen the PR team pitching the event to you all? How many days prior to the event did you all begin doing the PR? And if you were not able to get it through did any one of you went up to the curation or to the marketing people to ask for help?"

Divya then turned back to Fatema and said, "I was there seated in the class while the announcement for spot light was going on... they themselves didn't knew what was it that was to be said, one would start the statement the other would end it up for her and then from somewhere god knows how someone would jump in... is that how PR is done? In Fact that day, Maam herself had to jump in to explain and answer people's questions."

"I haven't worked in PR for Milange but I have worked in BTM, we didn't had a name there, milange has, but that doesn't mean that people know everything that going on, we have to explain everything in detail... and if you think your Members are not competent enough then please let me remind you, and I sorry but not so sorry if you get offended, but you were neither, your coordinator made you capable enough to be where you are, and it's your responsibility to do that with others...none of us have experts here."

"I have to agree with what divya has to say here... I work with 10 volunteers, all of them just know the bookish knowledge of Marketing, but that doesn't mean they are incompetent you need to train them,, you need to sit with them and make them realized where they are going wromg,I explaimed them how things were previously and are going to be just once and then it was all practice and feedbacks for them..." Madhav gave in his point and then sat back as Divya took out her bottle and drank a huge gulp of water. She then passed it to madhav who was very much thankful for it as they listened to the coordinator explaining how they aren't yet able to do it. As Divya sat there listening, an idea struck her.

"we can do one thing." She leaned into Madhav and whispered, "we can have the PR trained right in front of Curation me and the marketing we all can help them of various things as to where what is to be said and how it is to be said... nothing more may be just an hour each day is more than enough, they can go back home and practice."

However Madhav rather than replying to her raised his hand and said, "Oh we can do this..." he pointed towards Divya as both Fatema and Divya gave him confused looks as he continued. "so divya has this idea." He explained it to the whole committee, and surprisingly many agreed to it, some even volunteered to help in their own manner.

"we can even do this each day the PR can select one department, as it is many department and our committee members itself aren't aware about what all things we are planning and they can brief these members about the events, the members can as well ask all possible questions regarding the same , and while we are at it the PR gets prepared to face the bigger audience while facing the smaller once and at the same time the members will get to know how is it that they need to anwer, what to say about a particular event when someone approaches them."

By the end of the meeting it was decided that the Curation, Marketing along with Divya and Aman were to help the PR with the preparation and along with that a new list was to be prepared for their next upcoming event that was Adventure... that one event which Madhav had been so excited about, and the one which gave Divya a hope to stay away from him..alas not all things happened the way they were supposed to.

Happy Reading