August-December
Hello guys, I am back with your favourite area- the Journal part, where I pin down my experiences, how all my days went and the lessons which I learnt and which through sharing may help you. (The language used here is quite casual)
My last journal covered till the month of July. Read if you haven’t-
So on 1st August, my fifth-semester classes began. I was quite nervous with the names of the subject, not knowing how I will manage the sem.
The biggest shock of the first week was on 5th when the Central Govt decided to nullify Article 370 of J&K. I was in the class when drama had started, had to wait till I reached home for getting full details on it. In the morning I remember having received a message that Jammu was under Sec 144 because of terror threat on Amarnath Yatris. It hit by a lot of supporters of and a lot of opposition on news and social media. What made me angry is not whether you are for or against but the fact that the reaction or outcry is on myths or false notions and people don’t even know what exactly 370 or 35A was. So I decided to write a post on it and MUNner’s daily got it published. The article received 2500 views within 2 days. Also had good feedback from friends and relatives. Read-
Amidst all, there was a mini flood-like situation in many parts of Kerala especially in the Malabar region with a lot of landslides. By mid-august, I planned to go for GEC-B MUN in Trivandrum, so I registered for the same. That was my worst MUN experience. I had written the article on the same which turned out to be sentimental, but today I regret getting sentimental like this.
It was the month of September and Onam was here. I was happy on seeing finally a week of relief on not requiring to go to college as it was turning the worst since I got admitted. During the day, I got an email from OnManorama stating that I have got selected as a Campus Reporter. That was an amazing feeling for me and quite relieved after a bad week and worst MUN experience. But things didn’t go well at home. My dad wasn’t happy with the application (he wanted me to study and not do PT job) and same with Mom, but she was unhappy just because I had applied without informing them (Nevermind though). I had to travel to Manorama HQ, Kottayam for the same.
In the Onam vacation, I went on a small car trip with my family to Coastal Karnataka. I won’t explain about the same as it would be boring and the trip was just a pilgrimage. After coming back, spend a few days in my ancestral home before classes restarted. In between everything I had got selected for IIM Ahemdabad Red Brick Summit MUN, which is the official fest of IIM-A. Even though I was selected, I couldn’t attend the event as there were no train tickets available and the dates of Series examination had overlapped with this.
On September 21st I was privileged to attend the CUSAT MUN 2019 again. It saw 200 student delegates. I was in AIPPM, I believe I did pretty well and I won a Special Mention prize. I was also privileged to cover the same story about the event is on OnManorama and the article got published. My first series exam marks were horrible. I couldn’t perform well as I expected to and the month of September came to a close.
The registration and planning for MECMUN were fully on. This time MEC MUN Society had planned of new things like International Press, AIPPM, all EBs, a good venue, study guides, Rules of Procedure guides, Delegate Affairs etc. I was the head of Delegate Affairs team as well as DSG. I was looking after content, mails, allotments and study guides.
The team was successful enough to put on 4 committees, IP for the first time, cash prizes, delicious food, grand venue, and a strong volunteer team. Despite having some issues with accommodation, the society plans to cover up those mistakes next MECMUN. It happened on 6 and 7 of October. Most of the students couldn’t come because of Pooja holidays and internal exams.
After MECMUN everything was kind of over and back to studies. At the same time, my family planned a short trip to Trivandrum for attending family functions. I was excited for the same as I can take a break from classes.
On 23 night, started from Ernakulam North station for Trivandrum. Early morning at 5 am, dad and I reached Kochuveli. From Kochuveli, we took a bus to the city to reach a relative’s home. My mom and brother came the very next day, as he had exams. In the family function, I got the opportunity to taste the grand Trivandrum style Sadya feast with more than 30 delicacies on a single banana leaf, with four types of payasam. This was a first-time experience for me. I released my blog on the Book review of ‘In the search of Shrodinger Cat.’
After functions, we left Trivandrum for Ernakulam, then later to Fort Kochi, my ancestral home. There was a special Diwali celebration in CTD temple. In the evening of Diwali, I reached home. In the flat where I stay, had sweet distribution on the occasion.
Meanwhile, I got a high viral fever the Wednesday that followed. By Thursday the water started to taste bitter and throat sore began to worsen. I was bedridden for 5 days. I lost some of my weight and energy. I couldn’t even write my blogs on those days. I missed two days of NBA accreditation in the college.
I went to class on Monday, hesitantly. On Tuesday I got a call from Aswin, saying that Vigilance Officers from FACT are interested in taking an awareness class for students in MEC. MV Rajesh sir gave us the opportunity, but only I was present to represent the club, so with the help of Devdutt; Patrick and Ansif of NSS I had to work on this. I was busy the entire day working for the same. I also got the opportunity to cover the story on Onmanorama as well.
From Friday of the same week, Excel 2019 the Tech Fest, happened. It was a three-day event. Everyone was there in the campus itself enjoying. My favourite part was .issue where the topic was on Amending India, referring to latest bills passed in parliament which were controversial in public. Next day was the defacto quiz for school students, where I was part of Organising. I had to prepare a few questions for the prelims. I enjoyed preparing the questions. To my surprise, a lot of my MUN friends turned out for SPOT-ON debating event. On 11th, the entire class was invited to Abhijith’s brother’s reception at Kottayam.
With Excel over, classes had to be wind up by the third week of November. The series exam was scheduled exactly a week after Excel, also I had two lab exams too. Thankfully System Software Lab was easy, but the Application Software Development Lab exam was hard. Had to draw ER Model, make tables, answer questions, get output and answer Viva questions is less than one-half hour.
On Saturday, I was selected for IEEE Spectrum War 2019 finals. Devdutt was the main curator for the quiz. Met Govindaraman from MACE and Nandakrishnan from CEC. I got the first prize. Most of the questions were technical mixed with general knowledge in science. I was truly disappointed as there was no cash prize awarded, unlike last time.
Exams started next week, most frightening subject to me was Theory of Computation, I had to spend both Saturday and Sunday studying that subject only. It was a big pressure to get marks for this test to compensate for the first one. The series exam went fine because I had prepared a lot for it. On the weekend, Akshay the content head for Excel invited the entire team for a get-together cum treat. At the meet, everyone got to know each other, interacting with everyone, took pictures etc and had a grand lunch.
Despite exams getting over, had to write and complete a lot of assignments as the last day of class was approaching. The official class was over on Tuesday but I had to come to class very next day, just because of Design Project SRS, just worthy of spending 5 mins. Next day was the wedding day of my second cousin. The groom was Prajnesh Guneshwar, one of India’s International Tennis players. In the wedding, famous stars like Rohan Boppana were present. It was a pleasure to talk to them and get a selfie clicked. He had to miss his Davis Cup match against Pakistan because of knee injury. On December 1, I published on a popular topic- why people hated politics? and why people have lost faith in the system.
The university exams were scheduled to begin exactly the next week. There was no scope of postponement of University exams, unlike by last year’s Sabarimala Protests. On the eve of my first exam- Graph Theory, I got a call from Irfan, the secretary-general of TYC, that I am officially invited to the conference as USG Delegate Affairs and also to chair committee X. I was glad and privileged to accept the invite. Graph Theory probably was the last mathematical paper and I am quite disappointed to miss maths here on. I also reported about TYC through Online Manorama.
I got a surprise from TechBridge saying that my blog on automated cars was published.
My biggest challenge after Graph exam was to conquer TOC in two days. I was truly dependant on NESO academy videos for the same. After 2 consecutive university exams-TOC and SS, I got a gap of 8 days to look into the work assigned to me as USG, including calling, emailing, checking study guides etc. But saddening enough, I received a message from Irfan that the committee x has been called off due to lack of registration. That left me out of the list of chairs. There was a lot of chaos happening throughout the country on CAA. I started to learn more about them.
Read my article on NRC/CAA and reject fear-mongering spread by political parties-
On 19th December was Microprocessors, indeed the exam was a tough nut. Questions were quite tough and some questions were confusing too. There was a lot to mug up (8086,8088, 8259, 8279, 8051 etc). Sad enough that my last exam of the year was disastrous. Despite two exams were still left, that too in January, there was a sign of relief, as Christmas vacation was finally here and also to reduce the exam stress.
On 21st, I had my tickets ready for going to Trivandrum for TYC. In the morning, my school friend Hari visited me at my home. For lunch, we went to newly opened McDonald’s in Aluva. In the evening, I caught Jan Shatabdi train, to reach Trivandrum. Ananda Sai, of MEC, was also on the same train. I reached there quite late, no option though; I took low floor KSRTC to the Hotel. The accommodation for two days in the hotel, was absolutely free as I was in OC. The Hotel was managed by OYO; It was neat, tidy and had a lot of facilities. Hashir, Kavith, Aswin, Nikhil, Nebu and Irfan were all waiting for me. After a brisk conversation, we slept. Trivandrum is my favourite city after Kochi.
Next day 22nd, I woke up at 7 and had to go to the venue by 8. I was given in charge of registration work, reached Oxford School. After registration, I was petty much jobless. Met a lot of old MUN friends, meanwhile, the committees indeed went on smooth. Back to the hotel, spent time till 1 am, talking to each other. On 23rd, we had to check out of the hotel. Arrived at the venue for the conference on the second day. After the programme, I had booked the return train back to Aluva that night. Before leaving Trivandrum, everyone including Adi of GECB had dinner before they left me at Railway Station. I returned back by the next train to Ernakulam side. The train was late as well. TYC, was an average conference, don’t know why I don’t have much to say on the same, maybe because I was not a participant. The time I spent with friends was memorable enough. A big shout out to Barath Arjun, Nebu, Kavith and Irfan.
On Christmas eve, my grandparents came home to spend time with us for a few days. Thus my journey for 2019 ended.
Conclusion
2019, was indeed an awesome year. Eventful at the same time, quite enjoyable too. My best memory will be Participating in National Students Parliament, Trivandrum 2019 (Read about it from February-March article). I visited Bangalore after 5 years, that too alone; a car trip with my family to coastal Karnataka. Travelled to Trivandrum 4 times. Won prizes at CUSAT MUN 2 times, MACE MUN, GECB MUN, Spectrum War, conducted MECMUN and chaired Intra MUN and most important, established MUN society in MEC. The Lok Sabha elections was also a superb treat.
Coming to blogging one, this was indeed a year with a turning point. I got my articles published 2 times in Paperkin, one time in Tech bridge, got hired for OnManorama as a reporter. Started MUNner’s daily blog, which crossed 7500 views from June-December and published two articles through it. I also completed my YouthkiAwaaz Internship. I had started a Whatsapp broadcast for my readers, to publicise all kinds of my writing directly to them as links. It has 190 subscribers now, but it had around 220 cumulatively at various points. I also expanded the subscription feature to Instagram as well.
Thank you so much to all my readers, for reading, clapping and sharing. And also, to some for started writing on MUNner’s daily after taking inspiration from me and other fellow writers. Thank you so much to Excel Content team for helping me shape up my writing and blogging skills which helped me create an identity for myself. There a lot of people, who just started a medium account just to clap for my articles. Hats of to you all. Keep supporting me, I will continue to write for you all, suggest me interesting topics, and I am ready to take all your feedback into consideration. Stay tuned for blogs on interesting and useful stuff. That is something you won’t get elsewhere.
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