The date was 4th of May 2007 and the venue was Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi. We were one the 11 finalist teams at the National Finals of Imagine Cup '07. What a day it was! It was one of those days that change your perspective and leave you with so much to cherish. I gained a lot and also lost something (read marks in the exam) but it was overall a very fulfilling experience being there.
We won the 3rd prize and a cool 50k rupees. We did not expect to win and the way things started wasn't even encouraging.
We reached Delhi on 4th morning and called the MS rep to enquire about the Hotel where we were supposed to stay. "What Hotel, come straight to the venue of the finals", he said. That was just the beginning of the series of unfortunate events. Disheveled as were, we reached Subroto park, complete with our baggage. Our first impression of the exhibition was very discouraging. We looked like bumpkinly country boys in comparison to the more professional looking participants. Anyhow we decided to look for a place to change. On asking, we were told to use the restroom downstairs adjoining the conference room.
We thought this to be the end of our troubles but alas, troubles have a habit of never leaving you. They keep pestering you. So, after we put on more civilised clothes, we decided to go upstairs but as soon as we stepped out, we found ourselves in the midst of a discussion between the panelists. Now let me list the panelists first so that the reader can have an accurate picture of our feelings -:
Anil Bakht
Chairman & Managing Director
Eastern Software Systems
Prof. B H Jajoo
Chairman - IT Modernization
IIM Ahmedabad
Dr. C R Muthukrishnan
Advisor – TCS & former Deputy Director & Director-in-charge at IIT Madras
(Chief Guest at Imagine Cup India Finals)
Prof. Damodar Acharya
Chairman, AICTE
Durgesh Nadkarni
Head - Usability and Design, Tata Interactive System, Mumbai
Rajdeep Sahrawat
Vice President, NASSCOM
Rohit Agarwal
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
techTribe Networks
Sanjeev Aggarwal
Managing Director - Investment Advisor
Helion Venture Capital
Sujit Bhattacharyya
Director – Technology and Strategic Alliances
Career Launcher Ltd
Tarun Gulati
GM-DPE, Microsoft Corporation
Venki Nishtala
CTO
Rediff.com
Vivek Agarwal
CEO
eGurucool.com
So, as can be gauged, they were all learned people from the academia as well as the industry. Now, imagine us walking right through the room, tucking our shirts, tying our ties and carrying our bags. The panelists and the MS people all looking intently at us. We looked apologetically at the judges and rushed out of the room. It was embarrassing!
We finally reached our stall and tried to get things in order. We put up the posters and tried to set up the computer allotted. We had brought dvds of VS 2005 but the computer only had a cd writer. We started hunting for a VS 2005 cd and it was only after a thorough combing that we were able to find it. Finally having installed it we decided to test our application on the system. Although the system used to hang every few minutes and did not have the fonts for Indian languages, it ran pretty well. But, our system also had a web based service. So we needed 2 systems and decided to use the laptop we had brought. But then the search began for a cross cable but even after getting one, we were not able to connect the two till the very end. So, we had to manag with only one computer
Still, we started our show and prepared for the judges. They came, they saw, they appreciated! We couldn't believe our ears when they said that they liked our project. Okay, our project was innovative and research based but we never believed we could make it to the top three. The feeling of getting in the top three can't be described. It was simply great. It was like a huge load had been removed from our shoulders. A feeling of relief and exhilaration.
But, the best part comes now. After the announcement of the top three teams, one member from each team was taken for a press conference to the conference hall. It was the very first conference I had ever given. It was a unique experience. I also gave a TV interview later, though never saw it on TV but still an interview is an interview :p
After the press conference we had lunch and then proceeded to the auditorium for the final presentation. But, before that there was a Panel Discussion by Experts - “What is required to spur Innovation across Indian Students”. After that we gave our presentations, which was followed by the prize distribution and it was all over for the day!
P.S. - This has been a rather long blog so will post about the project later.
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