A day to remember

"Have you paid for the 'ilaneer'"?, Subramanian asked me. "No", I replied. "You paid right?", "No" either. "People here are recovering after that tsunami" Sub told. "I will pay him tomorrow morning", I said. It was at 2am on 01-04-2007 and we were on the 16 th floor of ashramam; I was at Amrita Vidyapeedam Kollam for the NetBlitz program conducted by Cisco academy there on Networking.


Networking is my favourite subject. I found troubleshooting OS and networks very interesting even more interesting than coding. So when Sub first told me about the program; I registered. I found that only network Quiz interests me. I don't know java much. My java experience was a netbeans experience. May be I will have some time to burn rubber playing NFS MW.

Even though I confirmed the registration on the next day, My schedule was so tight that I found no way to prepare for the event. Somehow I finished the work; cut Friday's classes. I reached home only on Friday morning. I was very tired I slept for the whole day.

Sub called me in the evening and told me that he paid the registration fees. He told me that there are many good talks about everything on networking and it will be useful for you to manage networks in the coming year. I called my friend midhun who is promised to accompany me but found him in sick bed with fever. I was not ready to spend another hectic day. I was very tired I decided to relax. I promised Sub to come. But my mind was that "see it tomorrow". I browsed very long that night up to 3.15 am on 31/03/2007. Then I slept. My father called me in the morn. I decided to go and I just want to spend a day at Sub's college.


I reached Vallikkavu by 10. After Registration there was inauguration. The speeches were pretty long and I found it very boring, true NITC style may be. I slept very little last night. "I may sleep any time soon" I told sub. Then the first program started. It was a talk on future techs by (I forgot his name) .... Manager corp. relations cisco south asia, I think. It was ok. The ppts were pretty long hard to keep track. And then after a short break the next talk started. I was about network security. He found the many don't know networking , so he started from scratch. And he took a lot of time. So my first program Quiz prelims was postponed to 1pm . Then we had lunch and food was good. The session seemed to be boring I didn't go back to the hall again. I went through corridors talked with Manesh , Amar, Jaya Shankar, Jayasree, Sreedevi and Anoop. It was at that time I heard an interesting truth. " My reg fee was paid by Anoop!!!!!!!!! and Sub is a good friend.

I registered for the quiz and I got login id candidate130. It was very hot there. I drank water from one of the taps. 'Hard water', it took a long time to drink it. And I had to take one gelusil to prevent vomiting. Already my stomach was upset and this added further irritation.

This time the quiz started on time at 3.00 pm. I was presented with 45 questions 15 mins. The exam was like a formula 1 grandprix and I was very quick in a Michael Schumacher time. I finished the 44 question in 14:55 and 45 in 15:29 . Yaa I exceeded the time limit.

I want to go home as early as possible. I planned to return to calicut on Sunday itself. So I asked them about the results. They said we can't disclose it now. OOPS!!!!!

I and Sub then went to ashramam, the beach and in the flat he arranged me a room for 30
minutes to take rest as my stomach was upset and I was very tired. I told him we can go may be in vachinad express. We returned to the venue. Sub was trying to call navya but never attended the call. I then saw her at college. She and deepa was there. We chatted for some time. Navya seemed to be married to assignments at the moment.

The exam was not a good one for me. I was not satisfied. So I was pretty sure that I won't get selected for the finals. I needed to go home. I asked Sreedevi about the results, She asked Anoop, He asked Praveena ma'am and she returned a null pointer. She told that result will be announced only at the start of the final round and I was irritated. I told Sub to pack bags so that we can leave after hearing the results . I was sure that I won't get selected because the competition was huge; 65 participants 4 finalists.

And the competition started at 7 pm. The arrangements were superb and stage was arranged with a projector in the middle. They shortlisted 16 and from them they select 4. They started to call the names; the countdown started.... I told Sub as there are 16 I have a chance. But by it reached 3 name i was sure that i may not be there. I told Sub that we can pack bags. And they called the final name,The numero Uno slot..... And to my surprise I am the numero uno for qualifying. Really delighted....

That means there are two rounds now. A single round with 4 of them to reach final; if it is possible. And the final round. The next round started. There were 3 questions for each of 20 30 40. The round started. The girl who sat opposite to me got first question right got 30 points. In that round i got 1 question wrong. That means 0 points. In the next turn I got 30 points. And now tied with the girl. The other tow guys still have to open their accounts. And last and final turn came. She got wrong so I have to hit this question to win. The question came and I don't know answer............OOPS it is the only question that I don't know answer in round asked to anybody... I guessed and I got it right!!!!!!! So no need to tie breakers into final round with 70 points...Actually it was then only nervous moment in the quiz..

And into the final round... One guy got ahead of me early with 40 points. I tried only for 30 points got that answer right. He again tried with 40 pointer to put pressure on me. He got that wrong. Got -10 . I got the next right and lead the round. I was able to lead all rounds and finished with a final score of 210 . 100 points ahead of second place. Clean sweep......

The prizeless watch. Seeing the logo is great..


Sub seemed to be very happy with the performance. And there were congrats from everyone around. Sreedevi told me she need special treat as she was writing the score!!! And karthika gave me a couple of Ubuntu CDs from shipit.

As it was 10 pm I have to stay there. After the dinner; Sub promised to arrange accommodation. The food was not very good. Karthika told it is the best they got after a long time, especially salad.

Sub and I went to ashramam. It is situated between kayal and sea. The bridge from college to ashramam is very beautiful. The whole surrounding of the ashramam is quiet and very beautiful. I love that peace. Sub tried to arrange a room. I got one with a staff. We went to see him. I was bit terrified seeing him. He seemed to be irritated by us. I told Sub arrange a room for us otherwise we can stay in hostels. We went down talked with the one who is in charge and he showed green flag handing us key of room no 312.. Life here is all about negotiations Sub commented.

"I would like to see the sea from top. I may not get many chances like this" I asked and Sub agreed. It was about 12 am on April 1 st. We went to 16 floor. Went to a side where I can watch both sea and kayal. We sat there watching a ship going past the horizon... It was a nice experience....

On the next day i wake up at 9 pm early by my hostel standards. I had only one aim. Collect prize money and go home. I have to reach calicut by next morning. Anyway this time they distributed early. I just have to wait only for 15 minutes to a talk to complete. Sub went to hostel to pack his bag at that time.

The prize money was 5000 rupess and a watch from cisco . I like the watch..I then went downstairs to wait for Sub. I chatted with a girl who was there in registration desk previous day. I just want to asked her whether she is a staff or a student.. But I didn't ask.. that seemed to be a stupid question for me..

Oops!!! it seems to be too large for my small wrist..

And I made the final mistake of the weekend. I went back to see Anoop to thank him and say good bye. And he asked 200 rupees he paid for registration!!!!!! OOPS...

And it was the end of weekend there for me. It was actually first time after my +2 I was participating in a competition. And I won!!!

The people at Amrita are very good; especially staff, praveena ma'am. I missed her talk. And guys are cools and girls are beautiful...

I left with a happy note..