techNITi '09 n stuff

If there is something surely unfortunate about the ongoing student agitation, it has got to be its timing, just after techNITi it completely overshadowed the fest. So just in order to renew the memories, here is a my ( little long) account of what I saw and experienced during the eve of fest as well as during the fest.

During the eve of the fest there were mixed reactions ranging from...' yaar fest ki to koi feel hi nahi aa rhi ' to 'dude, dis time around techNITi is going to be something which we have never seen before!'....both of these reactions were the extremes of reaction spectrum....most people had opinions somewhere in between.

The publicity committee guys were constantly running around, looking extremely busy, pasting posters, collecting banners, attending there endless meetings. Guys around suddenly developed deep passion for robotics...automaxi, robo combat, robo roadies, mud rally, aqua bahn to name few of the events they aspired to participate ( or rather win, most of them cared only for the prize money) .

Then there were the accommodation committee guys whose lives seemed to revolve only around gaddas, takiyas, pedestal fans, entries etc.

The hilarious part is always the rumors...

Days before fest it came to light that first yrs. are not allowed in the fest. Now these were a few explanations doing rounds..

• ' its an MHRD norm, first yrs. are not supposed to interact with seniors during first 3-4 months...'(okay, maybe)
  
  
• ' someone from the first yr. has complained to the admin. about ragging..so they r being cautious..'(err..still okay..)
  
  
• ' someone from the first yr has complained to the MHRD' ( but why??..)
  
  
• ' no, no... he did not complain, just gave a missed call to MHRD...'
  ( next I was expecting somebody to say that the first yr had sent a complaint scrap to MHRD on orkut!!)

considering that the CSH was full to its brim during the performances, nobody was really complaining later.

then of course there are pessimists sort of people...spreading their own brand of rumors...

• ' you know half of the sponsors have backed off...the budget has gone really low...'
  
  
• ' the workshops are getting canceled, without first years whom do you expect to participate??'
  
  
• ' some guest lectures have also been called off...you really believed that Dilip Chhabria and Dabbawala man will be a part of our fest??!!! you are really gullible...'
  

Of course none of these turned out to be true.
( I tried searching for these people during the fest..it turned out that most of them had gone home..)

The D-day arrived..18th Sept. and techNITi commenced ( without any opening ceremony.... nobody I knew had any explanation ).

Few of the events which I attended...

AUTOMAXI : the arena was fabulous, so were the line following robots. It was fun watching the proceedings..the successful participants simply beamed...others had lot to say...


'I will never touch a breadboard in my life.. stupid damned thing!!..cant even hold an I.C. properly...'

' Microcontrollers were allowed!!!..this is cheating!!'


ROBO COMBAT : It looked more of a derby race with participants screaming at there warring robos which were getting cut , severed, scratched n all.
( the Wall-E replica was getting as many admirers as the competition...kudos to the creators!!)

ROBO ROADIES : the arena was yet again perfect... the participants had a hard time going through the obstacles.

ESTHETIQUE : it was the usual fashion show....boys cheering up for the female models...I do not need to add more.

GENERAL QUIZ : the quiz master had brain racking questions to offer which the participants did their best to answer. For the audience it was merely an occasion to gather facts.

GAGSTERS AND MUSIC VIDEOS: the event started late, which lead to only three gags being screened. Some music videos were really good....the Malluworks' video( which eventually won) got much appreciation.

ADGINEERS: just like the above event there were a few entries, out of which some were trash , some were good and few were really good ( my favorite is the insurance one)

One event I must mention is ENGENIUS, of which a very dear friend of mine was an integral part but despite his repetitive invitations, I failed to participate in it. Anyway I heard that it got good response, so maybe he has forgotten that I had promised to be there ( good for me!!).

Then there were the guest lectures.

The teleconference with Dr. Sam Pitroda did gather many people, but I can bet half of them had no idea what he was speaking about in his monotonous voice.
The next day we had Mr. Mahesh Murthy whose lecture I missed but the students' reaction was fabulous.
Then the lecture I was eagerly waiting for.... one by Mr. Dilip Chhabria. Well most guys dozed off....waking up only when the slide show of his creations began. Some questions were asked as well..most of which tended to get repetitive.
I missed the entrepreneurship workshop too... but the kind of brickbats it got....I do not think I missed anything exciting.
Lastly there was the Dabbawala guest lecture where Mr. Manish Tripathi explained the nuances of his organization, distributed gandhi topis ... which people did enjoy.

The nights were lit up by the spectacular performances...Mr. Christopher James on Day 1 and Mr. Amar Sen on Day 2.
While Mr. James played magic with cards, levitated tables holding just it's tablecloth, produced flowers out of ashes, filled an empty Pepsi can out of thin air, changed Rs. 100 note to Rs. 1000 note... leaving people dumbstruck ( quite many people were keen to learn the last trick) , Mr. Sen endeared the crowd with his unique performance using hand shadows a craft few of us had seen before.


Compared to these the closing ceremony was a bit dampener, with none of the performances really firing up the crowd.....but as they say nothing is perfect. Most of the prizes went to outside participants...( some people grumbled about this, some were content as it meant more outside participation in future)

I forgot to mention the food stall where one could get a glass of soft drink for Rs. 15 only, one dinner meal for Rs. 50 only....and so on.The final verdict : overpriced and not so good food.

Vodafone had set up it's counter with speakers blaring out popular numbers and some fun games being played [ one of them involved doing continuous push ups for a certain time limit ( which I'm unable to recollect) ]...much to the amusement of the crowd.
Next day they were joined by the Mountain Dew counter where one was supposed to do the same push ups on ice slabs....these guys lived upto the brand image.

So this was techNITi'09 from my eyes ... interesting competitions, loads of fun, great learning experiences, large participation, few glitches....overall really fantastic and memorable..



Very well written, Sarthi!! Welcome on board ! :)
utkarsh

Quirky News

Preparations for Techniti-09 our technical fest are on in full swing. Lot of the students on campus are surprised by the number of different events and happenings, the words on everyone's lips are that this is gonna be the best fest on campus ever. The D-day is approaching fast with less than 2 weeks to spare. People who have no idea what I'm talking about or wanna know more plz visit : http://www.techniti.org

In other news, a really different scene unfolded at Himachal Unviersity as reported in TOI... 2 students were expelled for ragging..and hold ur breath.. the victims and eyewitnesses were fined for not reporting the incident to the authorities. That's a harsh stance to say the least. Guess our college might just lose out on its "top ragging free campus in country" tag soon. Two things that struck me about the news were:

1. It took a suicide a year back for them to adopt such a harsh stance.
2. Does this open up an opportunity for authorities to slap ragging cases on unsuspecting students, even if the supposed victim says the event never occurred, that all that was watched by some 3rd party was construed to be something it wasn't..

I guess the answer lies in the future case of some unfortunate senior...

ALONE...

Something sinister in the tone

Told me my secret, my to be known :

Word I was in the house alone

Somehow must have gotten abroad

Word I was in life alone

Word I had no one left but God....

D - DAY

I can't believe if that's true
For i thought i was all but through..
The fear that lied , only grew..
As i stood in shock with nothing but my words to chew.

The morning was cool as i lay in my bed
And I am no fool , to speak of this dream, i had..
The flashes are quite clear as i now approach to have my bread
A rainy day with the sun in it's full flow
Oh! look at the rainbow there with it's glow..

Just a perfect day , i thought
As i sauntered down the road unawares of the fraught..
I checked my cellphone as it rang
Just a message to catch up with my gang..

I wondered if there were any plans
To move out and take a chance..
Today wasn't any class, as i was caught unaware
Like entering a canine house ignoring the sign BEWARE!

And then the moment of reckoning arrived
Like an innocent lamb, ready to be sacrificed..
The board stood there , ever so daunting
As my hopes and dreams were all but sinking..

Finally the result had arrived
And how do i end this, when i am all cross and tied!!

Minors--A Major Problem

I stood there with half my eyes open

Another one gone and my hopes gone too

Still trying to get rid of the hell out of heaven

Was it a nightmare or was it all true?

I sat there for an hour, black words hovering around

A pen & parchment were all I had,to tackle this on the battleground

I decided to go face it with dignity

During those moments of adversity

(As if i had any other choice!!)

I lay there with the monkey on my back

Still not recovered from the horrid sights of the books on the rack

Was it Day or Night I was in or was it just another dimension I had never in been?

Just another question added to my search for answers that was so sissyphean.

My countenances made people laugh

They needed some good amusement after toiling so hard.

I was awake for 6 days(or nights?)

Still trying to figure if i survived.

And the moment I sit and relax with the monkey of my back,

I realise the game has just began, the rat race is gonna return

So, now i sit here, waiting for the inevitable to happen....

Contemplating over what could have been and what aint?

I lie here on my bed - waiting to get things back on track....

Minors - Oh you made me realise - names can be deceptive

For you are the biggest problem of my life.