Nostalgia (v.EDC)

I was “recruited” in this organization by a bunch of people who thrived on grilling a first year student by mere power of numbers. I remember sitting in the centre of this huge semi circle which had 8-9 people shooting questions at will. One and a half hours of interview, and a small notice in the morning stating my entry into EDC.

The first few months are vague in my memory. There was lots of work which I did politely and sincerely. I never thought of building any passion for it then. I found the seniors nice and friendly and got along well.

Next came in Tanmaya Mathur, with all his “dudeness” as the secy. Long meetings & healthy discussions marked those times. We were into conceptualization mode and we needed to be clear of everything we did at that time. And we did that pretty well. Made rapid steps and a blueprint for EDC was in place by then.

Tanmaya becoming the past, gave way to Satya Vyas. The aura kept us awake and a fire burning within. People like DJ and Sonali traumatized us with their incessant focus on how and what EDC should do. And believe me that trauma still forms my visions for EDC. We entered the scale up mode. Did lots of things and had a great number of events under our belt in that year.

Then entered yours truly ;). The world seemed completely different on the other end. We were doing good but there were no junta interested. We entered experimentation mode. I picked up all the random ideas possible to push something in the brain of IIT R junta. Recession had the better of us and we end up struggling for funds and finally managed the biggest event (not in terms of participation though) of EDC till date. (Call it bragging, but this is a fact :P). A heartily thanks to my EDC batchmates like Sudhir, Hitesh and Saikat and juniors like Jaggi and Ashish who slugged it out day and night with me and make me look good infront of the team :P.

The journey with EDC lasted about three and a half years. But sincerely speaking, it brought out the best in me. I met great people in this cell, people with passion, with talent, with dreams, with visions, with sincerity, with ideas, with principles and people with hunger to do something different in the society. Learning became a part of the job at EDC.

If you are wondering why I wrote this…. You can call it NOSTALGIA!

Something For U, the Passing Outs

Before I actually begin writing this blog, a small introduction about it would be necessary. I had written this article in my first semester to satisfy my writing desires. Since you guys have completed your graduation from our very DARLING INSTI and have become grown-up engineers, posting it here for you seems quite apt to me. So, here I go fellow travellers:

BEHAVE LIKE A CHILD

The title itself seems quite contradictory as it goes against what we hear regularly from our parents and elders. Perhaps no body in the entire cosmos would like his/her grown-up ward to behave like a child. Everyone wants his or her son/daughter to be the guy/gal next door. So, whay at all, should one behave like a child ??!!!

The answer is too simple. Behaving like a child, we will always have the child-like inclination for play and work. Children get absorbed into the activity they do. Have you ever seen a child playing in the garden being worried about his cloths getting soiled? Ans this 'timeless involvement' is the root of all happiness. Isn't it ??

Nobody would agree with the fact that one can move forward without any back-up or appreciation. Do children need this praise as well? Yes, the do!! And perhaps, to the maximum extent. They have the desire to be acknowledged as a good person but unlike grown-ups, this desire never gets transformed into the will to be acknowledged as better than someone else leading to adverse psychological adjustments.

Keeping all these points apart, children have the ability to make a person, sunk in deep thoughts, laugh. Not convinced?? Close your eyes and imagine a child playing on the seashore.
DON'T YOU WANT TO BE LIKE HER??

Ashish Agrawal
( ashish.iitrk@gmail.com )

Dating in Dehradun

Well, it was not actually a date but someone thinks it was. So, the title is to please her/him. But as far as the impression of this so called 'Date' is concerned, it would remain deeply engraved in our ( Hitesh's and me ) minds, more deeply than a 'True' date.

Confused ?? Bewildered ?? I know you are. So let me take you to some of our experiences of the day which have made it unforgettable.

For those of you who don't know, Hitesh and I went to Dehradun for the publicity of E-Summit. The point worth mentioning here is:

• Hitesh and I now hold the record for going out of Roorkee together for EDC work maximum number of times.

So, half asleep, somehow we managed to reach Dehradun at around half past 9 in the morning. And the first college we visited was 'Graphic Era Institute of Technology'. The college campus is too beautiful, I must admit. But apart from that nothing was good there. We had to roam around the campus thrice to take permission to put up the posters. It was here we got an insight about the difficulty we were about to face while going to colleges in Dehradun. Well, Hitesh, for sure, would have enjoyed the visit to Graphic Era. Afterall, he met Mr. K K Jingham, the Sports Incharge of the college , an ex-Ranji player and most importantly, an admirer of Hitesh. Woha!!
Finally, we managed to come out of Graphic Era, safe and secure, at around 12.

Taking Sun-Bath in the Hot and Scroaching sun, we then visited other colleges, everytime cursing the unnecessary formalities we had to face. In DIT, I came to know about 'Nothing for you dear'. It's a book by a DIT student, or I should say a love story by him which was to be released today. So, we have another engineer turned writer with us.

After finishing our college trips, it was the time to return to 'Our Darling Insti'. We were lucky to get a bus very quickly. But were we actually lucky ?? No, not at all. The bus didn't have brakes working properly!! Yes, you read it right. We boarded a bus which could have taken us to the 'Final Destination'. But it stopped somehow, somewhere in the middle of a jungle with the driver and the conductor revealing the truth. And the best( read worst ) part was that both of them knew about the brakes before we left Dehradun. Shouldn't I say like Govinda now "It happens only in INDIA" ?

Well, after the bus stopped, we had to wait in the jungle fighting our thirst and the red-hot sun for about one and a half hour. Thanks again to the false promises of the conductor to get us into another bus.

Finally, we moved from there and got a bus after sometime. But since, it was a day reserved for 'Lady Bad Luck', we had to stand through most of the journey back home. Truly speaking, I kind of enjoyed it as it reminded me of the bus journeys in Bihar and was still better than those. But I could clearly see the frustration and anguish on Hitesh's face. Hitesh, I can understand it was quite an uncomfortable and frightening experience. But it was an Experience, right ?

And aren't Experiences something which matter the most in life ?

Ashish Agrawal
( ashish.iitrk@gmail.com )

And It Went in A Different Way

No, it is not about the mid-semester examinations which got over very recently. If not the exams, then what ? Well, it is the last Monday meeting I am talking about. For those who attended the meeting, do you remember what actually we wanted to discuss in the meeting ? We mainly had a meeting to talk about the progress of E-Summit scheduled to be during next weekend. And the meeting ended with the entire restructuring of the event. 

And for those not present during the making of the HISTORY, let me tell you that it was not all that serious and gloomy a meeting. Rather, it was a fun-filled meeting. And everyone was contributing his/her bit. But alas, I had to face the prejudice once again !! While everyone, including Mayanka ( although he has denied of this ), was throwing bad ones, my jokes were not at all taken seriously and I was repeatedly being forced to keep shut :(:(

Now, coming back to E-Summit, I guess we will have the best and biggest E-Summit this year in the completely redefined structure. Best of Luck Team EDC !!

I don't know whether people have taken this change in structure with an open heart or with some reservations. Though I like the new structure more, I too have some stuffs coming at the back of my mind. But whatever the case may be, this is quite true that one must be able to accept the changes. And I guess that one must be looking for changes. Because changes are something which keep our lives interesting and moving, don't they ?

One more change which I am going through these days is "lack of engagement". Surprisingly, I have very little EDC work too these days. Believe me, I never was so 'vella' in the last semester. And the good part is that I am enjoying this change by getting more time to sleep and less running around to do work at really short notice. 

OK Guys, now it's time for me to change to "Going to Canteen" mode from the "Blogging" mode.

Hope we keep enjoying the changes in our lives !!

Ashish Agrawal

( ashish.iitrk@gmail.com )

18 Days Later

No, this is not the title of the new Hollywood thriller. This is the time left for the final presentation of SAMADHAN'08. With everything going almost at a good pace, delay in shortlisting by judges has started to give me hiccups. Today was the day I thought, initially, I would declare the results of the 1st round, but sometimes perhaps, some of  the forces of the cosmos dont conspire to help you in doing what you want to do. Dear Mr Paulo, your theory seems to get wrong here!! And as it looks to me now, Saikat and I will have to work on this weekend to finally announce the much awaited shortlist. Yeah, the weekend just before the doomsday.Oh yes, the doomsday when we face the trial for what we did ( actually what we didnt do ) during the semester.

So, what am i doing ? why writing this blog ? why not study now ? 

Yaar abhi to 4 din baaki hain. Dekh lenge. And this is how the story goes at my darling INSTI ;)

Anyway coming back to EDC, we had a meeting yesterday and for the first time our secy, hamara "pyara" MAYANK was held responsible for the poor attendance( jayaj hai, use ghar walo ne jabardasti bhej diya to kya doosre vacation na enjoy kare ? ). And yes, how can i forget this, I was ACCUSED of behaving like Prasoon !! Wiase, someone had rightly put the blame on Hitesh for inducing some HUMOUR FIELD  in my mind( I was sitting next to him ). 

Mosquitoes must have had  a good feast yesterday with our blood. So i hope we could arrange for some sprays before we go for the next meeting ( Mayank, i gusess you are writing this in your all important diary ).

And the bumps I got, how can I forget them ( and that too with no season, no reason, no occasion ). Saikat!! you owe me for this. DEKH LOONGA !!

Chalo, now its time for the the Bakar Session in the nearest BAKAR ROOM !! And I hear some distant sounds of laughter coming. Going there to have my piece of it :)

Ashish Agrawal

( ashish.iitrk@gmail.com )

EnVision

EnVision is the Entrepreneurship Newsletter that we take out every semester. This is focussed on all the stories related to entrepreneurship in IIT Roorkee Campus and it also covers stories about various entrepreneurship related news that appeal to IIT Roorkee students. This is the lastest issue (Sept, 2008). (You can click on each page to open it and read it properly).

Samadhan '07 - The Social Entrepreneurship Contest

Samadhan is a social entrepreneurship B-Plan competition organized by Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC), IIT Roorkee . It is an initiative to encourage budding entrepreneurs to realize their dreams . Samadhan believes that economic growth must be multiplexed with social equity for the nation to move forward . It is this thinking which has led to the birth of Samadhan .For the last two years, Samadhan has been encouraging the idea of social entrepreneurship successfully .

Samadhan‘07 is an integral part of Thomso’07 ,the annual cultural festival of IIT Roorkee. Thomso is one of the biggest youth festivals of India. The scale and importance of the fest in this region is apparent with its declaration as the "Annual Youth Festival of Uttarakhand", by the Government of Uttarakhand. Thomso'07 will also grow by leaps and bounds this year and is expected to have a participation of 5000 students from IITs, IIMs, NITs and many other colleges across the country, apart from the 4500 students of IIT Roorkee itself.

Samadhan gives a chance for the youth of the country to take time away from festivities and tackle the problems facing our beautiful nation and the world at large. In the wake of large climatic and ecological misbalances created by man on account of his negligence, GLOBAL WARMING has been chosen as this year’s theme.

Global Warming is threatening the very existence of our planet .It is a key concern across boundaries . It is important to understand the significance that global warming has on not only our earth, but our daily lives as well. It’s also important to understand the effects of global warming that our children and grandchildren will experience in the years to come if things continue the way they are now In order that our future generations enjoy this planet as much as we do, a lot of efforts are needed in order to keep this planet habitable.Our effort might only be a drop in the ocean but the ocean would be incomplete without the drop.