Gateway 2008

Sorry for the slightly late post.

Firstly, I didn’t tell Mum about the event. Well, at least till the night before. Still, got away with it.

Anyway, Gateway G@teway is the computer symposium organised by Montfort School. We couldn’t go there last year, because there were some riots going on that day, on the very route we would be taking. This year was fun. The event was held on only one day, so this meant a jam-packed schedule.

The Code Warriors are experiencing a slight talent crunch. We don’t have enough of good talent…so this means that existing members have to multi-task. This becomes impossible in the case of an event with a tight schedule. Nevertheless, we try. Me and Karthick were to go for the quiz. I should remind you that this is the first time, that we were sent as a lone team, defending the reputation of the Code Warriors, on our own. The idea was scary.

So, we arrived at the iLab in the morn, and got together our team. We have a new member. His name’s Romil, and he’s an external i.e. joined school in 11th. He’s got a pretty heavy foreign accent – Canadian. Anyway, he was our entry for group discussion.

We realised that we had to set off soon, because Montfort School is in Ashok Vihar, which isn’t exactly next doors to Vasant Kunj. Anyway, we headed to Gate 2, when we were redirected to Gate 1. This mean trouble, because only the van was parked there. Apart from the ambulance. We decided on the van. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get 7 people in the back of an Omni van. I, being the nice guy, let everyone in before me, and somehow squeezed in, facing Feroze.

Yet, the fun hadn’t begun. I took out me iPod. And then we found out that Romil likes to sing. Bigtime. Even in enclosed, embarrasing spaces. Even though he has an ultra-pronounced accent. And hey, he even sang Hindi songs. Then, Karthick, me and Romil (unknowingly) proceeded to irritate the hell out of Feroze, by singing Kabhi Kabhi Aditi out loud. Heck, even Manjula ma’am joined in…methinks. I should also mention that we passed the Britannia factory, and it smelled like heaven…mmm…..

When we reached there, we found that we were just on time. Or rather…a bit too early, because the Principal was just about to begin his speech. Darn it…:-P. Anyway, soon after the speech, the quiz prelims got underway, so, Karthick and I proceeded to the Language Room, which by the way, had ancient tape machines at each desk. The prelim was pretty easy, but we didn’t get a few of them. Dammit.

I had some time to kill, so I decided to go for Gaming. Bombardo couldn’t make it for reasons best known to his good friends and family. Anyway, I was waiting in this hall, with other guys waiting to give the prelim. I took out my iPod, popped in the earphones, and played some soft music.

I fell asleep.

I really did! I got up, later, and nodded off a couple of times, again. So, with droopy eyes, I dragged myself to the PC for a round of UT2004. There was a little complication. You see, after I started, within a minute or something, I got 9 frags, so they qualified me for the next round…prematurely! So, I went back to the hall. But, after a few minutes of heart-pumping UT, I couldn’t go to sleep again! The next round was Warsow, which I was also familiar with, and I came second in my batch. Qualified for the penultimate round.

Oh, and I came up with a joke… Code Wars : Code Warriors :: Gateway : ?

? = Gatekeepers (no offense…:-D)

By this time, I got my refreshments delivered by Feroze. Consisted of a kulcha sandwich, a mayonnaise sandwich, and a drink. Anyway, after this, we realised that we could have a clash between the semi-final in Gaming, and the Quiz final, for which we qualified. So, I decided to try my luck, and see if I could get over with gaming before the quiz. The game given was something called Dawn of War.

It was strategy…shit…

After a few minutes of play, I found that I was losing and that the quiz had started, so I abandoned my game and ran to the stage. I later found that Feroze was allowed to play on my behalf, but we lost anyway. The quiz was pretty straightforward, but we missed out on several sitters. Can’t forgive myself for that. Halfway through the quiz, we were neck-and-neck with RKP and DPS Dwarka. But later, we forged ahead and won the quiz. It was a sweet victory.

It’s pretty easy to joke around with people on the stage, as I did with the RKP guys and the quizmasters, Mridul and Mritunjoy (I hope…if I got your names wrong, PLEASE FORGIVE ME). I think that the RKP guys are not exactly unbearable, and that we could get along if we tried. Joking around on the stage is just the first step.

Anyway, the Gatekeepers are great at keeping prying noses away from results. The suspense was great. Arjun and Feroze came first in Crossword and Digital Imaging. Karthick and I came first in the Quiz. Romil had a lucky break, and came second in the GD. The programmers, I’m afraid, have a bit of work to do. The thing was that overall was tight. DPS Vasant Kunj, Dwarka and Rohini were neck-and-neck. Eventually, we found that we won. By just 1 point. DPS Rohini was second.

The journey back was as eventful as the journey to Montfort. The singing was back, and Feroze and some other guys, tried to jump out of the van, when they found that their buses were heading in the opposite direction on the same road. The van didn’t stop.

We had to take the games’ route buses back. So Karthick and I had enough time to ogle the Macs and also play Mortar Mayhem in the iLab. ‘Twas fun.