KCG Bazaar – the “pre” events

E-Week was over. All the documentation for it was done, all the events completed, all certificates distributed, all finances settled. Now, it was time for the KCG Bazaar, again an initiative of the students’ entrepreneurship development cell of the college. Scheduled to be held on the 16^th and 17^th of March, we had precisely four weeks to plan and prepare for the Bazaar. The core team this time consisted of six people – Arjun, Hari, Varun, Ram, Paul and I. Arjun was our photography guy while Paul was our design guy. Hari, Ram and Varun were the doers and the thinkers of the team, so to speak, while I was the documentation girl.

               Phase 1: The word-spreading-and-meeting phase 

                  With the guidance of Dr. Rosy Fernando, our mentor and Dr. Sumathi Poobal, our vice – principal, we began our work for the bazaar. It started with us spreading word about the Bazaar and setting up meetings with interested students. This was easier said than done. Some students needed a nudge in the right direction while others needed a big shove. We arranged over three meetings with the students who seemed interested and showed promise. As each meeting progressed, more and more students enlisted for the Bazaar. The numbers swelled from a mere 50 to hover around 250. The students teamed up and began to prep for the Bazaar. 

                Phase 2: The we've-gotta-do-this-we've-gotta-do-that phase

                    The part where the students decide what stalls they want to put up and how they are going to procure the items for their stalls. Yet again, Rosy ma’am was there to help. While we were running all over the campus trying to get On – Duty slips signed for all the students (the toughest job of all) , Rosy ma’am would meet the students and talk to them about their ideas. She helped all the students and gave them a lot of suggestions to improve their stalls as well. Using the ideas and contacts they gathered, the students began to look for places to buy their products.

              Phase 3: The I'm-in-I'm-out phase

                The phase where some students back out and need to be convinced again that they are capable enough to put up the stalls. We faced quite a few of these cases and handled them quite well. We gave them some tips and examples; helped them organize their stalls and then they were set to go. Another part of phase three involved the sponsors. While some of our sponsors were very true to their word, some backed out at the last moment. They had to be replaced – this was not an easy task.

                The end of the beginning phase:

Somehow we scraped through phase three and came up with the final phase. The setting up, numbering and allotment of stalls. The location where the stalls were to be set up was changed due to various reasons and there were the usual issues that accompany any event that takes place in any institution. In spite of those issues, we successfully set the stalls up and had all the stall holders pretty satisfied with their stalls. It was indeed satisfying.

On the eve of 16^th March, we left the college after making all the arrangements for the Bazaar. We were to come to college before the stall holders did and stay longer than them. It was definitely going to be a long weekend, but we all hoped it would also be a fun and successful one.