गेल्या शनिवारी आमच्या युनिव्ह्र्सिटीचं ओपन हाउस होतं. आम्हाला ते काय असत याची फारशी कल्पना नव्हती पण खूप सारी शाळेतली मुलं युनिव्ह्र्सिटी बघायला येणार आणि त्या दिवशी युनिव्ह्र्सिटी आम जनतेसाठी खुली असणार एवढचं माहिती होतं. त्या शनिवारी मला नेमकं लॅब मधे काम होतं म्हणुन मी युनिव्ह्र्सिटीत जाण्यासाठी बस स्टॉप वर उभी होते. तेव्हा लक्षात आलं की खुप साऱ्या बसेस भरुन युनिव्ह्र्सिटी कडे जात आहेत (त्या दिवशी ३०० स्कू्लबसेस भरुन मुलं आली होती!!) मग मी श्रुतीला फोन केला आणि त्या दिवशीचे कार्यक्रम बघायला सांगितले. थोड्या वेळाने श्रुती चा मला फोन.."अगं खुप मज्जा आहे आज..४०० च्या वर कार्यक्रम आहेत!"
There was an event organized by English literature department where they were going to present (read and enact) an excerpt from the famous novel Pride and Prejudice! आम्ही दोघी Jane Austen fans असल्यामुळे त्या कार्यक्रमाला गेलो. On our way we literally had to make a way to walk through the crowds. Never ever saw so many people on campus at once! And there were so many attractions..face painting tattooing, making your own footprint in PoP students displaying their arts! But we wanted to go to reading session first. The event was conducted by 2 lady profs and it was simply great! They read and enacted the very last part of P&P where Lady Catherine comes to see Elizabeth and asks her not to marry Darcy. The older prof played Lady Catherine and younger one was Elizabeth. They wore those traditional costumes (which they made themselves!!). We really enjoyed listening to them. That was followed by a slide show where they showed snaps of Chawton Estate, the place in UK where JA spent the last and literary productive years of her life (1809-1817) where she wrote all her 5 novels. Both the profs did a great job explaining about the place with some friendly banter between them! The older lady was british and younger one was American and it seems now the entire Estate belongs to an American who bought it in a sale! So American prof taunted the British one “You people do not seem to care about your national monuments!!” So this old Brit lady replied..”Yeah..because we have so many of them!!”
त्या नंतर पुढचे २/३ तास आम्ही दोघी जत्रेमधे हरवल्यासारख्या कँपसभर फिरत होतो!! सगळ्या departments नी शाळेतल्या मुलांना आकर्षित करतिल असे खेळ, वस्तू मांडल्या होत्या. त्यातुन मुलांना geology, chemistry, music, literature, computers, mechanical engg अशा अनेक विषयांची ओळख होत होती. ITS (Information Technology Services) नी used CDs and similar hardware बेंच वर मांडुन ठेवले होते आणि मुलं त्यातुन वस्तु बनवत होती. टाकाऊ मधून टिकाऊ त्यातला प्रकार! शिवाय आमचा लाडका Bevo (Longhorn) मुलांच्या भेटीला आला होता..
संध्याकाळी ५ वाजता आजच्या सर्व कार्यक्रमांची Main Mall (University चे पटांगण)मधे सांगता होणार होती! That was the highlight of the day!! The UT Open House 2009 Class photograph! All the people who came to visit UT today gathered at the main mall. The famous Longhorn band was played (actually one could rehearse with the band and march with them to the main mall!!) And then from the top of the tower a photograph was taken featuring each individual present at the mall!! This photograph is taken from a very high definition camera so if you download it from the website and zoom in you can see each and every person out there!! Last year they made a UT letter symbol by drawing BIG U and T on the floor and making all the people stand around it (negative shading type). This year it was state of Texas map drawn on the floor and all stood inside creating a huge Texas!! We wanted take pics of the entire event so we did not stand with the crowd. But the event was a hit!! As you will see in the videos and fotos in the album.
मी आणि श्रुती नी त्या दिवशी खूप मजा केली! आणि हो फक्त लहान मुलंच आली होती अस नाही. अनेक पालक (आई-बाबा, आजी-आजोबा) जे UT alumni आहेत आपल्या मुलांना नातवंडांना घेउन आले होते. इतकी माणसे कँपस वर असून सुद्धा कुठेही गडबड गोंधळ नव्हता. सगळं अतिशय सुनियोजित आणि नीटनेटकं होतं. मला आणि श्रुतीला हे सारं पाहाताना " आपल्या इथे असं झालं पाहीजे “असं वाटतं होतं. आपल्याकडे देखिल असे बरेच कार्यक्रम होतात पण आपण planning मधे कमी पडतो. We must learn how to plan things in a better way. सगळं शक्य आहे फक्त थोडी इच्छाशक्ती हवी!
