Shaastra Part 2: IITian eXperiences

“Shaastra 09”, the technical fest at IIT Madras, is neither a story to create nor an adventure to narrate but it is an experience worth reliving. It is always a pleasure to know where we stand at the all India level by competing with the best. Today we are proud to say that 4 of the 5 teams from NMAMIT won laurels in various competitions. Our journey from the west coast to the east coast began on the 29th September, 4:00 pm by the Chennai express. We traveled with loads of luggage and a team of 19, out of which 11 were from EC. (Here I mention luggage first because it weighed more than us). With all our excitement and anxiety about Shaastra, we reached Chennai half an hour prior to schedule. With guys like Lakku (our tamilian) on our side, we managed to argue with a cab driver to take us to the main gate of IIT.

Day 1: On reaching the hostel by 10 am, we still hadn’t done our morning duties. Somehow we found a patisserie shop. To suppress our hunger, we had food without even brushing…! After that came the disastrous wait in the sun to get accommodation (Someone also renamed shaastra as disastra). Finally by 2 we managed to get our rooms and immediately after having a bath we started our respective projects i.e., SCDC, Simchamp, Contraptions and The Rising. Having sleepless nights and foodless days was the routine for almost everyone except the Simchamp team.

Day 2: KK: Struggling with the circuit, we slept hardly for half an hour. Not getting the output, we were thinking of something new to make our circuit work. While Basti and his team were also in the same condition, GS was struggling with the soldron and PCB on his bed. The badam milk from the patisserie was our only nutrition for the full day. Raison was peeping from time to time to see our work progress. RD: In order to save more lives with our bot, we did some last minute changes to our code in the morning. Our event was scheduled for the afternoon. Being the last team to perform that day (2 IIT M teams performed the next day), we made it a point to showcase our code as better than the previous teams. We saved 36 with single bot and 86 with two bots. There was a cloud of nervousness on our heads. I and Kastury explained to the judges about the algorithm and code while Kenneth was giving time to time inputs on what must be explained.

Day 3: KK: In the morning, we were so unfortunate that we couldn’t watch the contraptions. At the same time we were worried because our circuit was not giving the desired output after combining the designed modules. The SCDC event was scheduled to be at 10. On reaching the event location, we were amazed to see some teams without even the circuits, some teams with non working circuits on the breadboard. We could breathe easily because our circuit was at least half working on PCB. The power of power electronics was evident from the working circuit of Basti, Sona, Vasu and Sandy. Ours was the first team to make the presentation. Pai was shivering on the dais. The judge was so happy to see our circuit on PCB and he came to know how to build it from us. At the same time Basti’s team also performed well up to the expected level. Ah… Finally some sleep. Having a small nap in the noon, we moved towards ‘Aerofest’ which included miniature plane models controlled by remote control. Their tactics in controlling the plane was amazing. When the audience requested for a Shakira move, the controller moved the plane vertically with shaking its belly. When we returned from Aerofest, we got to know that the Rising team won third place and the contraptions team had already lost. Our hope was fully on Simchamp because they were on top on the previous day with only two more IIT teams left. RD: The day started with the contraptions team setting up their module starting from 1:00 am!! Due to sleep loss they could not give their best performance and ended with a low score. We were totally disappointed. On the other side, SCDC event was taking place but we couldn’t attend it. Then we went to attend the remainder of our event, Simchamp. After sitting for 3 hours straight, the results were finally announced and we were ecstatic at winning the second place. We were on cloud nine. Our joy knew no bounds. Kastury wasn’t present when they announced the results, hence I and Kenneth had to go through the full thing again. This was just the start of greater things to come.

Day 4: KK: Our previous day had not ended till 5 in the morning. Though I had slept at 12, I was woken up at 5 by lakku . Opening my eyes I could see them fully energetic and they asked me to dance with them. They had danced at 3 too!!! Then we slept by 530 or so. Woke up by 9 in the morning, we had another competition-‘SHORT CIRCUIT’, both the SCDC teams formed 3 teams and participated. Then we roamed around the campus a bit and then had our lunch. Nap was a must in noon. Later in the evening, we SCDC teams planned to go to the Marina beach and then to THE CITICENTRE MALL. Catching the local train from the nearest station, we could reach the beach in only 20 minutes. It was a nice spot to lose the footwear and Basti’s sandals were drowned twice. Like a lifesaver, Ganesh was always ready to catch the sandals from the waves. He helped Basti to regain his sandals! On the way back from the beach, we found a nice shop selling seashells. Entering the mall, we could see the blend of royal architecture as well as the modern technology. By the time we reached third floor of the mall, all looked hungry. And Lakku was so desperate to taste the chicken in the KFC. Filling our stomach, we caught our train. Reaching the IIT gate, we realized that we had no bus to return to the hostel. No other way, had to walk back. But it was really a nice walk for 3km in the cool night. RD: The previous night was a bit noisy from the next room, but as usual we got good sleep. In the morning Kenny and Kastury were so stubborn to get up that I had to literally kick them out of their beds. We attended a hacking workshop which was really boring. Fortunately we could watch the air balloon event ‘The Rising’ . Few minutes into the event , and we were kicking ourselves for not taking part. Because of the 11 teams, only 3 balloons flew. The remaining either were too heavy or got burnt. In the midnight we attended one of the toughest quizzes ever. I and Kastury were irritated by the sheer nerdiness in those IITian jokes and left the venue at 2:00 am.

Day 5: KK & RD: We had a lot of free time for roaming AROUND. Planetarium was the first place we went to, but the next show was scheduled to begin in one more hour. Next was the Planetarium, which looked good in the beginning, but eventually as it continued, we got bored and Kenny was fast asleep. Moving out of planetarium, we decided to go to snake park of Guindy national park. Moving to entrance, we found that the Govt. was charging much for cameras than for the people. Lakku was in no mood to look at the snakes, he was just moving around looking at the people around. We were all hungry, so went to a hotel along with Karthik Kastury (he looted our pockets), who was our guide for Chennai for the moment. Later some of us wanted to buy some books, so went to Noor market. PC was bargaining so nicely that the shopkeeper finally agreed to sell the books for half of the price he initially argued for. On the way back we found a really nice sports shop where we had a lot to see (buying was tough, because almost everyone was running out of cash). Having our food in patisserie, sat there for some time talking about our Chennai and IIT days and how we will be missing it in future days. There was another bad news for us. We had to return our mattresses. Now, no other option, we had to sleep on the floor.

Day 6: KK & RD: Waking up early (sleeping on the floor had made our backbones pathetic). Now our work was to get our entire luggage to the entrance of Mahanadi hostel. We booked two cabs to make our luggage reach the Chennai central railway station before us. We found our train ‘WEST COAST EXPRESS’ and walked a long way to reach our sleeper coach bogie. As the train started moving, we were sad that we were going to miss Chennai and IIT. But we were also happy to return with the prizes. All were so lazy in the train that I began to think that the journey will be boring throughout. Once all woke up, the fun began with ‘SACH KA SAAMNA ‘(KK and pai revealed a lot) .And later we had dumb charades also. We noticed that the time was already 1030 when TT came and told us to sleep.

Day 7: Hmmm… the day began in Kudla itself. We were so happy to see our college again, but still we missed all the moments spent in IIT. EVERYDAY CAN’T BE A SHAASTRA DAY. Isn’t it?

Written by @Rakesh_KK and @RaisonD

My Nitte to-do List

Its been a hectic start to the new semester at College; my seventh. The Final Year of B.E. life, the final year to realise our dreams, the final year to live life, to have fun and the final year to complete “the Things You need to DO while at Nitte”. The Newest checked item on my list is Having Bun-Palti with Cheese at Shashi’s. I had to Wait for about a year after i heard about it to actually taste it.

This list is more or less made of stuff that you need to try atleast once while at Nitte. Everyone has their own interests and their lists should reflect this. Me being a foodie and fun loving guy , my list essentially consists of these interests. They may seem mundane but sometimes you realise that you haven’t done that. Its the experience that s required.

Some of the stuff on the list that i have done are :

1. Visit Parapady Falls.
2. Eat Bun Palti.
3. Take part in Fresher’s orientation.
4. Ride in Toofan.
5. Visit the “tribute to rock” murals at Shabari and have a bite to eat too.
6. Eat Awesome Puri Bhaji at hut ( although i did not end up in panaji)

Well there are also some that are more like a personal achievement. Like staying real late in college, starting a club in college, being backstage, practising for events, singing in the department library, hanging out at MBA forest, watching a movie at Forever, roaming in Manipal and Karkala, studying at Sanmathi and definitely eating out at all the nearby joints and riding the College buses.

While all these things do bring up fond memories there are still quite a lot of things that i have not been able to do. A visit to Kemmanu temple, The Hanging bridge, Gomateshwara statue at Karkala, Bhoot bungalow( Rajat suggested this place) and the most awaited one undoubtedly is “the middle finger” like monolith (only 23ers will make sense of this one)

So there goes. I hope am able to complete the list and maybe add some more stuff to it while am here this way.

Betting on ye old ways

People say that you need to try out everything at least once in life. Every experience teaches you something; may it be good or bad. With the second edition of the IPL, the craze of betting hit the class. These were low level bets made just for the fun of it, with the collected ‘pot’ funding a party eventually. There are 2 such clubs in class betting below 5 bucks per match thus making it quite affordable. Nope i didnt take part in it coz as it is i dont watch much cricket anyway and didnt want to be sucked into the chaos. Some of the guys however do foray into betting slightly bigger amounts and luck may court them at times but at the time of writing this post they are undergoing a loss. But its fun to observe this and yes its an en”rich”ing experience, provided its doesnt turn you into an addict and ruin your life.

My 21st

I never did finish that Tag from Advi. Sorry about that. The first question on that was to google the image of how old you’ll be on your next Birthday. Naturally i already knew that the Movie 21 would suit it right but what did really happen on my 21^st is something i could never imagine. This is a short write up on what happened and also a THANK YOU! to all those who planned and made it happen. You people are the Best friends that money cant buy. The Nuttiest Nmamitians am glad to have known. Also thank you to all the people who wished-right from the midnight calls to the last sms that night!

Okay so i had been predicting that something would be up for my birthday. So on Saturday when Rajat started to turn the wheels in to motion i got the hint and decided to trouble them a bit Lida got a bit stressed and tried to convince me into going for mass on Sunday morning but i was just playing with them because anticipating i had already gone for mass on Saturday. Rajat’s Yarn was also quite full of bullshit too; on why he wanted me to come to Pabbas. Anyway i wanted to know how much of a surprise this would be so i decided to play along with them.

Around 4:45 i reach Lalbagh. Megan and Rajat are outside Pabba’s waiting for me. There’s some time delaying done until things are set. We loaf around till then. Praahas apparently finds a locked gate too high to jump over hence the delay. He was supposed to ambush me and tie a blindfold and kidnap me. Finally after some hiccups this gets done. They take me to the car driven by Elias and put me in. The car started. The blindfold was set right. My camera starts rolling. To skip boredom we have a casual conversation during which Rajat inadvertently lets out that we are going to Sulthan Battery. Another goof up on their part Finally we reach Battery, blindfolded with a dupatta i become quite a spectacle on the river shore as we wait for the Ferry. Madhu comes and wishes me. She couldn’t wait longer as she was bit busy that day. Praahas and Rajat lead me on. Finally the Ferry appears. They had booked the entire ferry for this. Naman helps me guide down the steps into the Ferry. I Hear Raison say something. They remove my blindfold. All my close college mates are here! Sindhu takes over the Camera from Elias. The Birthday song is sung in the Middle of the River and the Cake is cut! I would never have imagined this!! We reach the other side and then there’s the gift giving ceremony, the chocolate facial and also the Birthday Bumps(ouch!). All firsts. Somehow the chocolate gets cleaned off my face. We go to the beach. After some time these guys catch me and drop me into the water. We drench Sindhu and i help drop Rajat and Naman into the water. Karthik gets spared as he’s got to travel back to Manipal. Elias and Praahas are too huge for us to carry We spare the rest. We play Dog and the Bone and also do the Sunset Wish before leaving for home! Thats how it ends.

Inspite of all the goofups i absolutely loved this birthday surprise and i Love all these people who made it happen- Lida(Lidu), Rajat(Imp), Rishitha(Riz), Praahas(Mots), Elias(Goldberg), Mario(Mad), Karthik(Karth), Raison(Cow), Rathan(Rbk), Naman(Envy), Sindhu(Sin), Madhu (Madu), Akshatha (Aks). Also thank you to all those who couldn’t make it. This was one birthday that i could seriously never Forget!

The Video i made of it all is 30 minutes; too long. So wont be uploading it.