One thing that I have learnt over the past few months is that it is so much fun getting people together and competing against some of the best brains across the country. By participating in anything and everything that is worth its salt, I have come to learn a lot outside the sometimes stifling and constraining boundaries of classroom and hostel life. It expands the horizon of knowledge by letting us explore different domains and avenues. By challenging us, it manages to bring out the best within. Friends when completely trusted, push their potential and come out with amazing outputs and it is a sheer joy to see teamwork in its quintessential avatar for once!
If I don't chronicle a few experiences of this aspect of my college life at Great Lakes, this journal would be incomplete. Some contests, experiences, learning, Here we go -
- XIMB has an event called Skill city, the first round of which was an elimination round that required us to solve aptitude and reasoning based questions including puzzles. With 10 of us in a room, we tried to collaborate and crack the quiz. Even though we did not succeed in the end, it was something that transported us back to our mock CAT days. Solving all those questions made me wish, if only I can go back to writing these tests again! :)
- MICA has this event called Metrotopia, the Superhero challenge, where we are supposed to come up with a superhero on our own which can solve some pressing global and Indian issues. I almost fell in love with the character, my friend, Shruti, conceptualized - Sugandhi. After numerous rounds of brainstorming and discussions over her costume, superpowers, the issues that she can solve, all in the midst of numerous classes and assignments, we managed to come up with a solid presentation. And when all things seemed to be proceeding smoothly, today morning presented a rude shock to me. In what is one of my worst experiences in life, heavy downpour meant, we could not take Sugandhi to MICA. We were crushed and I am yet to come to terms with this lost opportunity! Who said life is fair? However, the early morning drive had its share of joy. We had breakfast at A2B and it tasted divine...
- For a guerrilla marketing contest organized by JBIMS, I suggested to my friends - Shruti and Somnath - that we participate. In the space of 3 hours, some intense hard work yielded what appeared to us, a "solid" solution to the question posed. We submitted and 2 days later, realized that we were through to the finals...with only few days to the finals and our confusing schedule, we couldn't make the journey.
- Sydenham, Mumbai had a book review contest in which we were supposed to come up with a book review for either of the 10 books that they had listed. I chose 'The new age of innovation' to write on. I would have never read that book otherwise and because of the contest, managed to complete it in a very short span of time. Never mind that the review, to my surprise, apparently didn't meet their standards.
- There are these numerous online quizzes on dare2compete. Novices to quizzing, we attempt them with all earnestness and end up having a ball in the bargain! :)
- One contest that we are currently working on is the business plan contest for LIBA, Chennai. Hope we crack this one... I am sure, we can, if we put in our 100%...
Hoping that this wonderful phase of my life presents me with more of these opportunities to have fun and learn at the same time. Sometimes, in life, one has to make efforts to find happiness and when those efforts succeed, nothing like it!
