Out of Place in Thiruvalla

The past week i was in Thiruvalla, Kerala, for the recruitment rally of Indian Air Force. We were roughly around 50 Air Warriors and there werent enough rooms in any hotels to fulfil our requirement. Atlast the authorities arranged our accommodation in a Guest House run by the Syrian Catholic Diocese.

Rules there couldnt be bent, mended or broken. But all these 3 things did happen in the 6 days that we stayed there. Rule No. 1:- Consumption of Liquor in the premises is prohibited. Liquor did flow in plenty, but only the father there didnt come to know of it. Rule No. 2:- Dinner should be taken within 8pm. Generally our evening starts at 8pm and it was a tough call to follow. After much badgering they allowed us to dine upto 8.30pm. Most of the days we finished our dinner only by 9pm. Rule No.3:- Gates of the premises will close at 10.30pm sharp and no let up in this regard. There was an aberration and the gates were made to open after the scheduled time.

All these non-sense got the father there, quite worked up. He was very unhappy with us, but we were also feeling the same for his institution, because it tried to tie us down like this. We were doing a service to the youth in thiruvalla by conducting this rally, and a large number of youngsters turned up. Around 250 to 300 youngsters got selected too. We conducted examinations for roughly 5000 candidates from morning 7am to 9pm without a break. All these 14 hours were spent standing, except for half an hour break for lunch, when we would rush to the restaurant nearby, have food and rush back in record time.

None of us werent used to standing for such long hours, but we did comply as a true soldier should. And thats the reason we just couldnt follow the rules imposed at the Guest House after the hardship we faced during the day. One thing is for sure, none of us would like to return to thiruvalla, more specifically i mean, to the precints of a religious institution. Better say no thanks, than say sorry.