And then came the end...

I shook his hands, and then walked out of the auditorium. I walked straight past the food stalls, and began the long solitary walk to the main gate. A look up into the sky made me feel complete. Or really did it? I was confused. Then, I saw the moon. Amidst the clear sky. It had been quite a task to find a clear sky over the last few days, as the clouds and winds had been hovering over the institute threatening to glum the feel down. The moon had found her way out of all the hindrances now, and was at her shining best. I could see her as one beautiful disc, all bliss, the divine contrast to the darkness that surrounded her. Then she reminded me of the die, the Shaastra die. The dot on the Shaastra die. The dot on the die, the symbol of probability as Einstein referred to it on the die, the lifeline of a die, was up in the sky, and the die was there in the sky, along with the stars, the die was dead. DIE'MER' truly had occured.

SHAASTRA WAS OVER!!

It was a period when I really realised how much I loved my institute, and Shaastra of course. It was an experience like never before. It was orthonormal to both my first Shaastra, and first Saarang. But, the experience had a norm greater than either of the previous two.

The SOE was definitely the highlight from a personal point of view this Shaastra. T-Talk was a huge success this Shaastra, and the first two days almost went off in giving interviews, and explaining the project to varied people, from friends in institute, to outside students, to outside mango (aam junta) people, to professors from insti, to science related junta from outside, some n foreigners, and many many others. T-Talk didn't cup to one single visitor and that was an ethereal feeling. Shaileshh's bro had come, and he was there with us through out, a mental support in a great way, with inputs every now and then, which prompted Shaileshh to call him our vol.. :D CJ even promised him coupons which were finally not given by Mr.Team Leader. CJ became a celebrity from an almost nobody in institute over the four days, to the extent that the CFI badge designing junta had forgotten his actual name, and had CJR printed on his coord card!!

As for the participation, I went to TUE, Math Modelling, SMQ, and many others, of which sadly I could make a decent impression only in Math Modelling. SMQ could have gone better, and same with Short Circuit. Atleast these failures should push me to do better next time. TUE was an event I was in with a chance to qualify the first round. But I made a mistake by running back to the SOE area for a newspaper interview. Lesson learnt in the end, What you are doing now is more important than what's over. Karmanyevaadhikaaraste Maa Phaleshu Kathachana!

But one thing I observed very closely was the fight of the QMS team. The first day enthu was huge considering Shaastra was going in for re-certification. My QMS Coord Saruku was behind me to get done with all work for Online Math right from the beginning, without paining me actually. That tells how stud they worked, they event coords just enjoyed the way they were treated by the QMS. Shaastra did get its ISO:9001-2008 certification which made every IITM guy feel proud.

As for the food, it was awesome, except for no Coke, no Pepsi, only Nimbooz!! Nimbooz tasted worse than booze. Byt, the stalls were cool. The wraps were costly but tasty. Subs were dead cheap and worth the sixty they were selling for, just that one wished there were more varieties they sold. The chats were amazing, the dead tongues of the Gurunath fans were just excited and gastric juices were secreted in a hurry, and chats went in like pancakes! :D

Shaastra was fun. It made me grow up in certain aspects. I had a hand severed and another gained in the process. It was an experience of a lifetime. And it would take me another lifetime, or selective Amnesia to forget Shaastra 2009. Go Shaastra!
GO IITM!! :)