A night filled with shared deep thoughts and mind bending wonder brought to us by the great indeed, Mentalist Aathi, through his show that brought smiles to the faces of some and feelings of doubt to the others, was not just that. This event, brought to us by the RSET NSS club, filled with their dedicated, strong levelled heads and volunteers was a part of the RSET House Challenge, an impactful initiative to build a house for a family in need.

With an extreme lack of time to prepare, the NSS team pulled it off, but was it really that smooth of a sail?

We sat down with a few members of the club, including the Volunteer Secretary Adheetha Krishnaja, Vice volunteer secretaries Anirudh S Pillai and Anagha V P, and Faculty Advisor Ajith Jacob, to walk us through the rocky road that was the organizing of this noble event that took place in our very own KE auditorium on the night of September 25th.

These minds, inspired by reasons including being keen on community activities, or being a part of the National Service Scheme during their years in school and wanting to continue, have all contributed more than what meets the eye at this prestigious yet down-to-earth group. 

The House Challenge was put forward by our Principal, Rev. Dr. Fr. Jaison Paul Mulerikkal CMI. During the NSS Activities inauguration he made it clear: the goal of the NSS this year is the House Challenge. 

The main idea of Insomnia was that, amongst the many other parts of the House Challenge, the volunteers were leaning into including an event that would incorporate an entertainment factor, “we wanted to give the students something in return for their contribution for this cause”. 

When it came to organizing, the volunteers were more in charge of the marketing side. This involved communicating with students and interacting with groups outside campus, and also taking care of arrangements within the college with the help of the Student Council as well as the Principal Rev. Dr. Jaison Paul Mulerikkal CMI.

“We were looking for a way to collect the fund from the students, and that’s when this idea was presented to us by Aathi and his team”, Ajith sir mentioned. With three days and a number of tickets close to two thousand to sell, the volunteers had quite the challenge bestowed upon them. The strongly bonded group showcased their unity through the priceless effort they put into actually achieving this close to an impossible feat. “The positive energy that we got through the unity we felt that night is undeniably what helped us push through this”.

“The main selling points for the tickets were the celebrities that were included in the guest list, also including the fact that the tickets were sold at a lower cost for the students,” Anagha explained when talking about how they approached marketing. “While some of the audience was quite disappointed about the absence of certain celebrities that were said to be there, all this gloomy mood was swept away as the quality of the show made up for it.”

“With the amount of time given being so little, we had to walk in and out of classes all day highlighting the importance of this event, which was tiring”, Adheetha commented, while also emphasizing how the way the team came together made all their hardship worth it.

“Marketing an event and actually getting these many people to come is indeed a success, and like Ajith sir said, the unity that NSS had was crystal clear, it was like a positive energy, and that is the only reason why we were able to achieve this feat,” she beamed. 

“It was fun”, is what Anirudh had to say with a chuckle when asked about some of the behind-the-scenes moments. Nearly twenty volunteers spent the entire day before the event wandering the campus trying to convince people to buy tickets, bringing plenty of fun stories for the team to remember.

“We all had a common goal, and that was to make sure that everybody knows about the program. We would walk up to people and ask them if they’ve heard about the show and if they’d like to buy tickets,” Anagha added.

“If you had happened to be at the bus bay the day before the event, coming across us would have been inevitable,” Anirudh said.

“I would walk in and out of staffrooms, and like a man inviting people to his wedding, would get members of the staff to buy a ticket to the show. It even got to a point where the staff would walk away as soon as they saw me”, Ajith sir jokes as he recalled his part in the marketing efforts. 

Despite all the fun and games behind the scenes, they were genuinely worried that they would not hit the target, or that the event didn’t have that much of a reach. Since, this was the first time an event of this scale was happening after 6 PM on campus, it brought its own risks. But after seeing the number of people that showed up, a huge wave of relief crashed over the NSS Team.

They also expressed their gratitude to the hostel wardens. Keeping the mess open for the students returning after the show so they wouldn’t have to worry about dinner meant a lot for the NSS team, as it increased participation from the students.

What’s the next stage to the House Challenge, you ask?

“The next stage is to conduct enough fundraisers to hit our target. Our ultimate goal is to construct a house before the end of this academic year. Our work is not over with Insomnia. We will plan more events, and as soon as we hit the target, we will move onto the next stage,” Ajith Sir said.

“The night of Insomnia was a night of realization for all of us. The junior volunteers, having not shown much enthusiasm for other events due to exams or other reasons, were coming back to me asking about future events like this to help with because of how successful we were at going through with this, and that is what genuinely brought so much happiness to me”, is what Adheetha said with a satisfied smile when asked when she felt the volunteers’ dedication and work shine through. 

Many teachers and parents, even those who knew they wouldn’t be able to make it,still bought tickets for the sake of being a part of such a big cause. For them, Ajith Sir highlighted, it was “more of a connection than communication”. It felt like an unsaid feeling to cooperate when it came to supporting this honorable program to help those in need. 

NSS unit 232, having carried out quite the onerous but rewarding task, concludes by stating that this is simply the beginning to many more causes that truly make a difference.