'ANVESHAN'

Another festival to cap off this already illustrious year for me : This time its 'ANVESHAN', the Metallurgical Engineering annual festival of our college!... Its a fun filled extravaganza which gives us the opportunity to participate in a variety of academic and non-academic activities like 'CADENCE' (the literary event), 'PRASHNA' (the event in which we are given an industrial problem, and the best answers are selected for the finals), 'SNAPSHOT' (a 'not-so-orthodox' photography competition, in which we are supposed to submit snapshots of metallurgical operations being performed on day to day objects, for example, 'machining', when we shave a pencil), etc. Thus this fest is a true test of innovation, fortitude and confidence, which inculcates in us, an unstoppable drive to win!... 

But one of the most important events in 'ANVESHAN' is 'RICERCA', the poster and paper presentation competitions. It is one of the only events in the whole year, which demands both knowledge and spontaneity! So, besides participating in 'CADENCE', I also decided to make a paper presentation on 'Fuel Cells'!...

I prepared for a few days, determined to win something, I had never tried before. D-Day arrived, and I dressed up in our new college blazer and tie for the first time. Formals were not a must, but I wanted to carry the whole thing out to perfection. Although I had a teammate, he was busy with other events and didn't have time to prepare; so it was decided that I would carry the whole presentation on my shoulders.

Uncannily and uncomfortably riding a bicycle, wearing our suits, we made our way to the lecture theatre, where the event was being held. We entered the hall and the first thing to grab my attention, was the girl whose thought had haunted me for quite some time (or may be vice-versa)! Looked like we were two of the only teams participating from our college. The facial features of the strict judges looked as if they had just taken a heavy dosage of quinine!!!...

Well, jokes apart, I was fortunate enough to have gotten rid of any stage-fear, right since my early days in school! I took off the sweaty blazer in the burning forty degrees of Varanasi, and looked forward to the challenge, anxiously awaiting our turn. Our names were announced and we firmly and confidently walked to the podium. I did my best, describing each slide to the best of my knowledge and oratory skills.

The judges' expression didn't change as they kept looking at our presentation with a cold glare! Suddenly, I was interrupted by one of them and after all our efforts, the best thing he could tell us was that we were losing marks for exceeding the given time limit! I was a little frustrated for him not letting me finish, but there was more to come! He sourly reprimanded us for all the references we had provided, and started asking questions on related stuff, we'd studied one year back, which we were struggling to remember. After a few minutes, he simply told us to 'leave', without a single word of encouragement or any future advice, which is the least I'd expected, after all the work I had put into it!!!...

Obviously, things didn't turn out quite the way I had expected them to, but it became another valuable episode in my life's chapter. Life goes on, and about a week from now, are the exams which might play an important role in shaping my very future, as can be well understood from my last article! Looking forward to new challenges; at this juncture, I'd like to wish everyone the very best for their future endeavours!!!...