DAY 2

This time, I had a bit of trouble getting up in the morning, because I’m not that used to late nights. Anyway, both me and Karthick were up within 5 minutes of the alarm going off. Karthick’s mobile too, had an alarm, a rather irritating beeping one, unlike the soothing melodies of Clocks from mine. Anyway, after having brushed my teeth, I with a common problem…I needed to crap…bad.

Some would say that such details are not necessary, but the fact that I needed to go, is not the focal point of the issue, the fact that I wasted about 20 minutes deciding which loo to do it in is. Like the shower cubicles, there were 3 pots – 1 western and 2 Indian. The western one had a mug with something I couldn’t identify, in it. The fact of being in contact with that seat was of more concern to me. One of the Indian style toilets was not exactly the cleanest around, if you get what I mean. The middle one seemed the most bearable. I also checked out the loos in another toilet, across the hall, but they were equally bad.

It was the first time in an Indian style loo after a long time, so I had a bit of trouble sitting on my haunches. But actually, the real problem was that there was an army of mosquitoes on the wall behind me which I ignored. As soon as I was ‘in position’ they began their assault, and I left the loo with around 5 bites on my butt.

This time we were ready early enough. The breakfast this time consisted of aloo paranthas. And nice fat ones dripping with butter, the kind I’ve never had in my life. Yum! Aishwarya, Vishaka and ma’am were already in the lounge of our hostel. Vishaka was completing her chart, and Aishwarya was taking tips about maglev from one of the people staying in the hostel. The first event that day was Elevate…the bridge building event. We decided to walk, instead of taking the bus, and indeed, we arrived before the people who would’ve come with us on the bus.

On the way, we met 3 people – rather – dogs. One was a brown one called Karthick, another a black and white one called Shikhar and a third unnamed one (partly because it was a female!). I also found that Ritu ma’am and Vishaka are petrified of stray dogs. I’ve often found that strays can be more amicable than pet ones.

You don’t see a stray dogs with spiked collars, and Beware of Dog written on them.

All the teams were waiting for them to allow us in. In the meantime, I called up Mom, and we chatted idly. But when they let us in, it was all business. We had about 2 hours to make an overbridge out of ice cream sticks, Fevicol and scotch tape. Our attempt was what could be called average – it tended to sway sideways. It was not likely to snap in the middle, but fall sideways. Also, we had been provided with a lot of bad sticks, possible because we were a corner table, and only bad ones were let by the time the guy reached that table, or everyone might’ve got bad sticks.

After this, we had an hour to go back to our hostels, have lunch, get our exhibits, and come back to the same room. The girls decided to come to our hostel, where they were given permission to have lunch, but just this once. After this, once more, we walked on foot to the main complex, and back into the room where Elevate was held.

The tables had been rearranged, and we had gotten a table near a window. We put up our charts, got the fan we needed to showcase our windmill. We had attached a small bulb on top of the windmilll to show that it could generate electricity. We also had the laptop for the presentation.

We also realised that we didn’t even know what one component was. It’s called a LSM or Linear Synchronous Motor. We asked several people, including Shithead, but no one could explain very well. Oh well, now it was just a matter of waiting. We all rehearsed our parts, yet, we tried to make it a bit extempore, we didn’t want to sound like we just memorised a prepared speech and were rattling it off. The first judges were the faculty judges. They listened patiently till about halfway through, then he asked us

“What is your innovation in this?”

To be honest, this stumped us to a certain extent. Maglev wind turbines wasn’t exactly our own invention, we were more like presenting it. With a few thoughtful additions. We had thought they would ask us this kind of question. We somehow went through the remainder of our presentation, but somehow it felt that he wasn’t really that interested. He really lost interest when we came to the PowerPoint presentation. I was feeling really glum after this. Like the rest of us.

However, there was a second judge we didn’t know about. A college dude…Ashish…a really nice guy actually. He had real interest in our project. We could talk off-hand with him, without him frowning. He even started going off-topic with us..started discussing the nuclear deal with us. If that isn’t a good sign, what is?! It was nice to end the exhibition on a high. After this, I got some time to see the other exhibits. I even saw an exhibit which was an exact copy of an exeriment from ‘I Didn’t Know That’ from National Geographic. It was the one which showed how to get electricity from lemons and apples.

Tags: Guwahati, IIT, Symposiums

We were ushered into lecture halls for this. One of the organisers looked really, really bad. He’d coloured his hair, but not properly, so it looked really sick. So I nicknamed him Shithead. It was a bit of a LMAO moment when I first called him that, for the entire team. And then we really had to wring our brains out. This is just one question I solved – Complete the series: 6, 25, 64, 81, 32, _ … should be a piece of cake. I liked it because I had to think twice about it. I always like those kind of questions. We missed out on one 10 marker and were unsure about one or two small ones as well. Anyway, now we had a lunch break before Dexter’s lab. This wasn’t an event, more of a tour of most of the labs. We covered biotechnology, physics, nanotechnology, energy sources and design. I also got a peek at the video editing lab. Too bad it wasn’t important enought to be included. I would’ve liked to go in.

By this time, we had branded ourselves, the four of us. I was a murga because I could imitate a chicken pretty well, Karthick was a piggy, cause he could snort and grunt as well as any pig, Vishaka was a bakri, cause she could bleat and Aishwarya became a duckie, cause she seemed to quack…actually not…but she needed to be an animal too! Later, we called her Ashi, cause she didn’t like her new name

Well, after the lab tours, we checked out the eatery stalls outside the main building. Pizza Hut was there too. Anyway, it was pretty expensive, so we decided to have food from the mess. We all headed back to the Married Scholars’. Mom called while we were walking, and berated me for not calling often enough. Everyone there had Maggi, which I was staunchly against because:

• I didn’t want any more monosodium glutamate in my system
• I wanted to have the mess food. Dinner to be precise.

Anyway, all of us had to head back, because the other team, of Vishaka, Siddharth and Shikhar had to finish their project, as did we. Then, at the T-point, Aishwarya got a sudden interest in Karthick’s bag. Wanted to yank it off his shoulders/use him as a mule. In the process, her own bag’s zipper came open, and most of it’s contents spilled out.

Although we just needed finishing touches. The girls were not allowed into our rooms, even though there was going to be a teacher in there with us. So, we had to sit in the common room, on a pile of mattresses. I had dinner, and found it quite fulfilling. By the time I finished, Karthick and Aishwarya had almost finished the exhibit. After this, a laser show was supposed to begin at around 9:30 PM. Aishwarya, Karthick and I ran to the football field, but could only witness the closing moments of the show. Plus, as a result of running on a full stomach, I got a stitch. I was bent up double in pain on the way back.

Then, all of us decided to go on a little trip to the library-cum-cyber cafe. It was near the lecture halls. Unfortunately, the library was closing down, coz it was 11, so they just let us in for 5 minutes. As for the cyber cafe, they didn’t let me and Shikhar in. Guess why?

We were wearing shorts…

Apparently, anyone wearing shorts, lungis or baniyans wasnt allowed. Actually, the last two are OK, but what’s wrong with a good pair of shorts, not even boxers! The guard said it was because of electrical shocks, but I beg to differ…just think a bit…out of the box…bear in mind that it was a lab with internet access, allowing everyone to…oh heck, I’ve given away too much, haven’t I? Anyway, I set up ma’am’s laptop outside and fiddled around till they came out.

Then, Karthick and Aishwarya had a duel with water bottles. Eventually, Aishwarya smashed Karthick’s bottle out of his hand, and it broke and started leaking. So we had to finish of the bottle there and then. Then, we started the great reverse parade. Everyone, with Karthick as leader, started marching backwards, in time to Right-Left-Right. Vishaka, who wasn’t willing to, got punishments of carrying her gun (bottle) over her head. It was fun, because we eventually ended up running backwards. A few near misses, a few splashed puddles later we reached the T-point, where we were to part ways. Yawn…

Tags: Guwahati, IIT, Symposiums

Sorry guys, this was the chapter I accidentally released before the exams. Anyway, that wasn’t exactly complete. Ankur, feel free to lol again.

—–

Can’t believe it’s taken 7 chapters, just to reach Day 1!

DAY 1

The alarm wakes me up first, and I switch it off, and kick Karthick awake…sorta…:-P It’s 5 in the morning. We had decided to wake up early in the morning to avoid the morning rush for the bathroom. We did. But the bathroom was already at full occupancy…crowded…with…

Mosquitoes…bigtime…small ones…but lots…ambush…aargh…

Luckily, I didn’t feel like going to relieve myself that day, cause I couldn’t bear to think of proffering my behind to those bloodthirsty (literally) vampires. In one of the bathrooms, the shower head had come off, but Karthick realised that only after he got in. I got in the second. We had been warned not to get into the third, because it was the abode of Aragog, the king of spiders. I really didn’t want to come face to face with him.

The water was ice cold. Seriously, there was a geyser, but the geyser was outside the shower cubicles, so unless I had a bucket, I couldn’t use the warm water. The moment the water touched me, I got goosebumps. Five minutes later, still shivering, I walked to the room, and changed.

Food was based on a coupon based system. You bought a breakfast or evening snack coupon for Rs. 10 and a lunch or dinner coupon for Rs. 20. The school was paying for all this. Thing is, we didn’t have any coupons for breakfast. Ma’am had given us one each for lunch/dinner, but that was it. So Karthick and I had to go over to the Married Scholars’ Hostel to buy it. The others weren’t up yet or were just in the process.

It was raining lightly, so we took an umbrella, mainly for the camera. I clicked quite a few picks, of the morning freshness. Anyway, there were restrictions at the Married Scholars’ as well, like the girls hostel, and we had to enter our names in a register and then the guard knocked on the door. Apparently, the married scholars got a small flat to themselves. So someone else was staying in the main room, which was larger, and ma’am, Aishwarya and Vishaka stayed in the slightly smaller inner room. But they had to share the bathroom.

Anyway, ma’am was impressed to see us awake so early (am grinning from ear to ear), and she gave us the coupons for everyone. We decided to run back in the rain. Except that when a puddle came along, which Karthick couldn’t clear properly, I got splashed pretty bad! Was cursing him under my breath for a long time, because I didn’t exactly bring a lot of clothes to soil…

Breakfast started at 7:00, according to the schedule. And there was still quite a lot of time left. So, Karthick and I decided to make some repairs to the turbine assembly. After Karthick had decorated it, at the airport, we had smashed it, so a few bent blades and a few balancing issues were normal…hehe.

We took it apart, and were in the process of putting it back together, when we heard an announcement outside, that breakfast was at 7:30. After that, something was supposed to happen at 7:45, which we didn’t hear. We thought that breakfast for the hostelers was at 7:45. So, we just leasurely finished our work by around 7:30, and went for breakfast.

It was toast with an option of aloo tikkies or boiled eggs, along with butter. Then we noticed everyone was in their uniforms. Then we saw our schoolmates, and learnt that the bus was going to leave at 7:45. So, basically, we wolfed down our breakfast, and ran back to our room to change into uniform. Luckily, the same bus had to make a few rounds because there were quite a few people in Kameng hostel.

I should point out that the water coolers in all of IIT, Guwahati are weird. They’re about 5’5″ tall, and the taps are really, really low, around waist level, which makes drinking water directly from it, really difficult.

The bus took us to the auditorium. We met Aishwarya, Vishaka and ma’am there. We also gave ma’am the Teachers’ Day card. The girls had signed it in the shop itself. I’d taken it with me, and then gotten it signed by all the guys the previous night. Aishwarya didn’t get time to take a bath, because the people they were sharing the bathroom with got up early, and had hogged the bathroom ever since. They had no time for breakfast, so they went off to the canteen for a quick bite. By the way, Aishwarya was livid when got to know that we had taken apart the turbine blades. Then, Y. Nishant Babu gave a welcome speech, followed by a lecture on fibre optics by a professor of Physics, from the college itself. Karthick fell asleep during this, and we took pictures of him. I discovered a way of taking photos in the dark without the flash. The pics are really grainy and are greenish in color, but you can make out faces. After the lecture, we had a short break, followed by Confuzone, the IQ test.

Tags: Guwahati, IIT, Symposiums

We came back to the T-junction, and waited. Soon after, a taxi came from the Married Scholars’ direction, and came to a halt in front of us. It was an Omni and there were 7 of us in the back.

It was a tight squeeze. Not unheard of, but tight nevertheless.

On the way to G.S. Road, we completely freaked out. It was Aishwarya, Vishaka, Karthick, Shikhar, Siddharth, Amit and me. Siddharth had come, because by now, the opening ceremony was over. We could’ve attended it, but the dharna was much more fun! Anyway, we went nuts. We snapped a lot of pictures.

Karthick and I were the main perpetrators – making noises of different animals, including chickens, goats, pigs, lions, monkeys and parrots. All of us screamed and waved at people outside. We also sang at the top of our voices. I’d got my mobile, which was only serving the purpose of an alarm clock, reminder and music player, in Guwahati. It was one of the most fun rides of my life. Vishaka got quite sick of me towards the end, so I relented a bit.

Also, everyone came to conclusion that I’m a slowpoke of the highest degree. Which to a certain extent is true. I talk slowly, thinking about everything I say twice or thrice. I do stuff slow, thinking of the pros and cons. I’m also a really patient guy, and can wait in line for ages, unlike Aishwarya, who gets really snappy.

It was too late to go shopping. We had decided this back in campus itself. We were basically going out to dine. We decided on a Pizza Hut, because it seemed the only decent eatery around. It was in a semi-mall, called Dona Palace or something. While we were waiting for our pizzas and garlic bread to arrive, Aishwarya and Vishaka decided to have a look around the place. Soon after, they came back, and without letting ma’am know, called me as well. More like gesticulated frantically from behind a pillar.

The next day, 5th, was Teacher’s Day, and there was an Archies’ Gallery on the first floor. Not to mention a Baskin Robbins on the ground floor, next to Pizza Hut (smacking my lips). Anyway, we decided on a slightly smaller than huge card, so that we could hide it in Aishwarya’s bag. We wanted it to be a surprise, and we couldn’t take a huge card along into Pizza Hut, cause ma’am would notice. Vishaka also bought a birthday card for her friend, partly cause there was a birthday, and partly because we needed decoy proof to show that we did buy something in there.

We ate our way through 8 pieces of garlic bread and 4 medium size pizzas. What I found most alarming was the hand dryer in the washroom there. It really gave a blast of air so powerful, that it could’ve turned our turbine without the ruler attachments! I prefer no sauce with my pizza, just oregano and chili flakes. Then, we all bought ice creams from Baskin Robbins. It was the best ice cream I’d ever tasted in my LIFE!!!. Especially the wafer. I’d taken a jumbo scoop

At the school’s expense.

The journey back was equally fun. We all played dumb charades. Quite a few wacky movies turned up! It was quite late by the time we reached back, and I was feeling really sleepy. Aishwarya also sneaked out the card, so that I could get it signed by the other guys. Karthick and I had a challenge to overcome first…there was a huge stick insect outside our room. Not exactly menacing, but not exactly cute and cuddly either. Eventually, we ended up playing a tag-team match with it! One distracted it, while the other unlocked the room.

We had to put everything in order, cause we had just dumped our stuff in our room, and left to meet the girls in the evening. But, as we were putting everything away, the lights went off again. Eventually, I fished out my pod, and we used the backlight to arrange stuff. Then the light came back, halfway through unpacking. A sigh of relief turned into a groan, as it went off again. This cycle continued till about 12:30 AM, by which time, we’d unpacked, gotten sick of the electric situation, walked into the pitch dark corridor and walked into a couple of people.

Around 11:45, we found Ayush, who hadn’t been able to sleep, like us. We decided to go for a walk. As we walked, the light came on and off a couple of times, and we could hear alternate bouts of cheering and booing coming from all the hostels.

We eventually came to the conclusion that the guys in the hostels were nuts, and that a mad, drunk, sadistic person was at the control board of the electric board. I guess he couldn’t clear the IITJEE, and was taking it out on the entire campus.

Eventually, the light returned for good and so did we. Once we changed, I coated myself in Odomos and then plugged in the AllOut, my mobile charger (dunno why, apart from needing to get up in the morning) and my camera charger. Sleep was pretty dreamless…

Tags: Guwahati, IIT, Symposiums

Since we had arrived on the 4th, one day before the event began, we wanted to utilise our time the best, and wanted to go out and see the city. However, the girls and ma’am also wanted to move out of their dorm and into a room like ours.

So, we decided that the girls and ma’am would scout out the next location – the Married Scholars’ Hostel. As we were heading back, we met the 11thees as well. Apparently, Ayush and Ankit wanted to stay to watch the opening ceremony, as did Siddharth. So we parted ways. Meanwhile Aishwarya, Vishaka and Ritu ma’am went off to check out their room, and Karthick, Amit and me, went back to our hostel and came to the rendezvous point soon after.

There we had to wait for quite some time, and when the girls and ma’am eventually turned up, it was with bad news. They were being offered a room, slightly larger than ours, but the three of them would have to share it, along with 3 more! This wasn’t good news.

By this time, Ritu ma’am had ordered a taxi as well. He would charge around 600 bucks to go to G.S.Road and back. By the way, according to Ritu ma’am, the school was paying for all this. The taxi was supposed to come to Subhansiri hostel, so we started walking towards it. When we reached, ma’am had a stroke of genius and remembered that originally, Y. Nishant Babu, the organiser of Techniche, had offered them rooms in a hotel in the city. She tried calling him up, but he wasn’t responding, probably because of the opening ceremony.

Eventaully, ma’am did get through to Nishant, and while ma’am was talking, the driver for some reason, decided to drive out the hostel gates. Naturally, I got alarmed, and gave chase, hollered at the top of my voice, and he stopped outside the gates, and told me that he was just parking outside the hostel. I beg to differ.

By the way, all we missed in the opening ceremony was some martial arts performed by some professionals. Anyway, the girls also realised that they had to take out their luggage from Subhansiri, regardless of whether they were going to the Married Scholars’ Hostel or Hotel Presidency. Me, Karthick and Amit waited in the car, laughing our heads of at nothing in particular (actually only Karthick and I were laughing, Amit was just bemused by all this) However, the driver proved to be a problem. He wasn’t willing to take 1 teacher, 5 students and luggage. He was charging 150 bucks extra for all that.

Ma’am wasn’t willing to give in. That taxi eventually went off, without us. All of us, the girls with their luggage, were stranded outside the girls hostel. The dormitory was not a option they were willing to consider. So, we just fooled around for about an hour or so. Then ma’am realised that she could call Ankur Tyagi.

There were several reasons why we should’ve called him. Firsly, he’s an ex-Dipsite. Also, he was the regional co-ordinator of sorts in Delhi. Ma’am had been in regular touch with him, before we left. We called him, and he said that he’d be there as soon as possible.

Meanwhile the great IIT dharna began. All of us, sat down on the road in front of the hostel. Aishwarya had a tin of cookies, which we finished. I also realised that empty cookie tins from Cafe Coffee Day make good percussion instruments. We also played cricket with some empty drink cans and somet long sticks out of sthe bushes.

The best part was when the lights went off. When I say the lights went off, I mean that hostel room lights, streetlights, verandah lights, everything. It was pitch dark. Then, everyone went nuts. Karthick kept trying to scare Aishwarya out of her skin. Going up behind her, and screaming ‘cuckoo’ in her ears. Actually everyone’s ears. We took some pictures in the dark as well. Unfortunately, the darkness did not last as long as we’d have liked it to. But we had lots of fun.

Anyway, after some time, Ankur turned up. He was walking a bit uncertainly towards the girls hostel, cause he couldn’t see anyone waiting inside. Then another guy who had come with him, nudged him in the ribs and pointed towards us. Remember, we were on the road, sitting cross-legged. Ankur just shook his head and took out his cell and dialled Ritu ma’am’s number. When the cell in ma’am’s hand started ringing, realisation dawned upon him.

His confusion was understandable. Not too many people decide to have dharnas on the road like that, at least in IIT-G…

He said that he would’ve got them the rooms in the Married Scholars’ quite easily, if they’d called earlier. Not that he couldn’t get them now! He would get the 3 of them a separate room, like they wanted. Also, ma’am also mentioned if he could get them a taxi, and he helped us quite obligingly.

We decided to walk to the Married Scholar’s Hostel to keep their luggage. At the point where the routes to the Married Scholars’ and our hostel parted, me and Karthick decided to head to ours – I needed my medicine.

Tags: Guwahati, IIT, Symposiums