Of mooting, among other things!!

A month of mooting, and you start cursing everything existing on this planet!! :P However, now that I sit to write this, a part of me feels incomplete… It is those days I want to go back to… And, so nothing could have been better than writing a blog entry!.. So, here it is.. I’m sorry, it may feel irrelevant to those who didn’t moot, however, whatever I will pen down will probably connect with all the people who tried their hand at memorial making and the grilling orals!! :P

We were given our problems on 24.12.09,(Yes! Doesn't feel like last year…) however, considering that we are the most diligent people around, and taking into check the fact that we had 1 months holidays to look forward to, the moot problem was certainly the last thing we wanted to look at! And so we technically started work around the 3.02.10, and the news postponing the moots, came like rains in the movie Lagaan.. :P .. So, work started, confusion overloaded, “Please help! Signs came up everywhere!! Sections, articles, acts and statutes were words we started hating! However, those were the days of increased phone calls and Gtalking, reassurances over the mess table, parents calling to ask if we were eating properly( which we obviously were), bunking classes(9 days in a row, yes, I did that)…! The times when people ask you about the progress in moot work( Trust me, that’s all people ask at these times!), and all you can do is *Sigh*..

The memorial submission comes as the part where you feel everything was worthwhile, afterall!! And then when the jumping subsides, and you have had a nice-big team celebration, you are made to realise the amendments you need to submit… :D..

And then came the D-day-Prelims!.. All drenched in sweat, cracking jokes which were not funny, checking heels and shirt, missing annexures, look of sympathy for the first speakers, and some unknown case in the memorial, curiosity regarding judges( We were checking out 5^th years in formals and the possible threats attached!!) were somethings worth mentioning!!.. All the bests and you will be goods flew around!!.. With the last round of hugs (Girls do that!!) and melodramatic gestures, we went into our respective courtrooms. And what happens next and the rest, you will have to moot to know it! The only formula that applies is, “if you know it, then Dude(\m/) or if you don’t, Dude( :|).”, and leave the rest to God and Your Lordships!! We were unaware of what happens when you stand at the podium and begin to talk, or rather when you are stopped in mid-sentence!! But, we made it alive... :P The second day had to see another round of butterflies and hazy vision, and the unforgettable moment of panic after seeing the nameplates of the judges, which was the deadly duo of Navin Sir and Tanuj sir, however, they turned out to be awesomeness defined... :) !! And it ended well, with a little melodrama and presence of mind… And then the ecstacy and surprise of making it to the Quarters!!.. Trust me, when you begin to moot, you leave all hopes of making it to the next rounds, and all you pray is that you are not thrown out of the courtroom or your memorial is not flung at your face!!.. Neither of which really happened... :D

There are times when you just want to chuck everything, and go for a long holiday, and that’s when you realize that you have put down the wrong Statement of Jurisdiction! And then urgent calls follow.. :P There are times when you forget what was the case all about, when you want to burn the Constitution to ashes, when you are falling over the laptop but can’t afford to sleep, the dread of the oncoming mid-terms, the convincing parts with the parents when you have to show them that moots are the most important things on the earth, the reminders of mark deductions when you are late(Ahem ahem!!), the ‘Man!Thank God” feeling when they tell you no marks being are being deducted, the hugs after winning one part of the so-called battle, and the glares people give when they see you not working!!.. And somehow, on times like these, God grants everything you ask not-to-happen!! :P

You have to moot to be in an unprecendented situation of the same petitioner-respondent memorials, to know how it feels to see the smug smiles on Akshay’s face just before memorial submissions, to not being able to find a Supreme Court judgement, to know all the WPs and SLPs, to feel the panic of missing CPCs, to have skipped breakfasts, to know of the Supreme court working days, and the Chief Justices of India…(Yikes!!) :P.. You also have to be there to understand how it feels to be up against your best friends, which in this case would be Shreya and Surabhi( who later were the winners, credit obviously going to me and Krithika... :P)out of which one is your roomie (Shreya and me), in a knockout round!.. But, we had the happiness in knowing that we will never end up against each other for any other rounds, whatsoever!!.. :)

Moot teaches you how to take criticism in the best possible way, act on it, expect the least expected, teaches you diligence to a certain extent, teaches you how to remain calm, how to sit in the pressure-cooker and yet not get boiled, become sleep-deprived zombies, reading between the lines, how to go round and round on the same things yet being good, reading 300 page judgments(Uh..huh.. Kesavananda guy, u wait!!), the crossed fingers before the winners are announced, and the hugs and You-did-its followed!! .. You get out stronger, and happier..And you realize that winning does not matter, just like I did... :)

Many might feel that I’m against the idea of mooting, however, you have to understand the underlying obssession which made me write this!! As somebody rightly said, “You always have to moot the second time”! J.. And not forgetting, there’s always a moot hangover… :P

-Kriti

P.S: I'm sorry, I never realised this entry turned out to be sooooo big... Hope its a happy read! :)

Of empty hostels and bonfires

On the 24th of December 2009, smiles that had been lost underneath never ending stacks comprising mainly of unorganized photocopied notes, subject material and books that were never actually referred to, returned on the faces of most of the students at NLIU as they packed their bags to return home. The MP Tourism taxi service probably recorded peak profit that day, as most of us rushed to catch that trains they don't know the name of, for obviously that didn't matter to them. What mattered, was the belief that this journey will take them outside the godforsaken campus that had been haunting them in the last two weeks, thanks to the end-terms. So as 'most of us' vacated the hostels, the unfortunate rest stayed back to face a painful round of negligible social contact, no food on campus, empty hostel corridors and locked rooms. Why? Exactly the question almost everyone of us staying back asked oneself at the end of the day, 'Why did I pick this moot!?' Among the 15 or so students staying back were not many heavyweights of mooting, but there were some hopefuls. The teams that stayed back included those representing NLIU at B.C.I, Jessups North, MM Singhvi, DM Harish, Vienna East, K.K. Luthra, and the GLC-T moot. And somehow, we managed to make it an experience worth reminiscing.
With the library closed for the first 3 days due to local and national holidays, the mooters stayed in their respective rooms for a substantive part of the day, only coming out to find the tapra closed and walking back, or to arrange for food. I made regular rounds to the Jessup team's room, to fetch some inspiration from the quartet stuck to their laptop screens. It helped me out a little, but couldn't prevent me from wasting my time on various futile issues like thinking about where to eat for hours and planning meals in advance. So, the year 2009 was ending with most of us making honest attempts at researching, yet often finding ourselves checking out the amazing download speeds that we were getting. GBs in an hour, the WiFi lord was impressed I guess. Some of us did manage to resist the temptation and work, which is something I can never be proud of, because sadly enough I couldn't follow suit. And I paid the price later, working non-stop for more than a day, and convincing the courier service to take my package even without proof of identity. Managed all of that, and learned never to repeat some fatal mistakes that I made during the period.
Some things still need a mention, because of being the only light moments that we had, moments that were free from pressure, and filled with humour. This would obviously include the Christmas Dinner that was delicious, (according to what I am told, couldn't be there) the Bonfire which included ideas like burning the dog and smoking the bonfire flame(one of which was turned into a practical demonstration, I leave it upon you to figure out which one ) and everyone's submission date. All of us managed to submit on time and those of us who didn't quite know how to format, acquired the knowledge the hard way, and the rest we decided to keep for later.

Advice to future mooters staying back:
Make sure you know who else is in the hostel.
Keep listening to music, BUT work!
Always have stuff to eat.
If you're not experienced enough at it, don't sleep for 20 minutes, thinking that you will wake yourself up on time. (You're going to wake up the next morning, take my word)
Keep talking to people. (don't let the big bad moot get you)

And, DHL doesn't take packages after 8:00 PM.
This piece of information, would certainly help.
(I submitted at 8:25 PM, but I was lucky)


-Yash S Vijay
Batch of 2014