Madras 360 and Me.

 Let's have a talk.

Today's post is going to be a little different from the ones I usually write. Today, I went to Patrician College to participate in their Intercollegiate event - Madras 360. And I wanted to share my experience of being in that competition and everything that happened.

This event happens every year as a way of celebrating Madras day, and this is the second time I am attending this event. I went there last year, and it was my first intercollegiate event ever. As someone fresh out of school and around all these older students who have had experience before, naturally, I was very nervous. My dad had dropped me off, and my hands were trembling a little bit. I had participated in events in school before and won but never with other schools or on a big scale like this. My senior encouraged me to do my best, but alas, it was an event I was not comfortable with - Spin a Yarn. For those who do not know, Spin a Yarn is a story-telling event. You will be given a prompt on spot and you have to build a story for a minute. You will be judged based on you consistency, fluency etc. And this was not my forte. But I participated. And I didn't win anything that day. In fact, I went to 4-5 other Intercollegiate events last year but I never won anything. And, naturally, it pulled my confidence down. As each event passed by, I could feel myself thinking from "Maybe I can win something" to "I'm not going to win, let's just go for the experience". But, as I got into my second year, things changed.

In school, I never got to be a "senior". I was in the infamous "Corona batch" in my tenth grade. 11th and 12th grade flew by so fast I couldn't look after myself, let alone juniors. But going into college and looking at the relationships I had with my seniors made me want to have that with my juniors as well. I wanted them to be comfortable enough to approach me about anything and I wanted to share what I learned from going to all these events. So, I thought I will just help train the juniors this year and not go to any events. But then, I got the information about Madras 360 this year. And I knew this would be a great way for my juniors to start their journey of going to competitions. But, I wanted to go as well. I did not want to give up on that experience. So I thought, even if I don't win, I'll just go have fun. But looking at the rule book gave me confidence. I was not a child fresh out of school anymore. I had the experience of going to events like these and, this time, I knew how things worked. And another huge thing was my favorite event was there this year - Block and Tackle. So, I signed up for three events and got ready to go there.

I took my scooter and drove myself there. I heavily underestimated Taramani traffic and got stuck near Madhya Kailash for an hour. As soon as I got there, one of the events had already begun - Debate. I got the permit tag quickly and rushed in. The debate was really weird, to say the least. Every one were given the same topic and expected to bring out new points. The topic? "Does social media help to improve relationships?". I was talking against the motion. And while I was pretty good, I knew I messed up my rebuttal and I knew there was no way I would get placed. The next event was actually the one I was really excited for - Block and tackle. I rushed there and chose an early slot since I had to leave to practice for the group music. For those who do not know, Block and tackle is an event where you will be given a prompt and you start talking about it. Midway, the judge says "Tackle" and you have to switch and talk against the topic. Your switch should be as smooth as possible. The judge will say "block" or "tackle" as many times as they want as you are talking and your points will be awarded based on consistency, fluency and creativity. The prompt I was given was "Should all superheroes wear capes?". The one plus in this event was, since it is Madras day themed, you can talk in Tamil. And that is exactly what I did. Tamil is the language I am comfortable to be funny and make jokes in. So I started. And the way people laughed as I spoke is still engraved in my brain. After I finished, I realized I didn't really care if I'd win or not. I had entertained people and they loved my take on it. I was happy.

The group music was such a long event and it took so much time. But we finished it. And after that came the Valedictory ceremony. We were all really nervous. As they started announcing the winners, I could hear people shouting in support and that made me really happy. They announced the winners for creative writing and one of my juniors won the first place. I was ecstatic. This would encourage them to participate in more events and give them confidence. Then they announced the winners for debate. I was not placed, and honestly, I was not surprised. I knew I wouldn't win anything. Then came shipwreck, Spin a yarn. And then they announced the winners for Block and Tackle. For the first prize, they called out my name. And trust me when I say, no one was more shocked than I was. The most I was expecting was third place. That was also a maybe. This was because my hands and my voice were both shaking so much and I made a mistake throughout my whole talk. I though "Shaktimaan" had a cape. After I was done they called me to tell me that Shaktimaan did not have a cape. I made this huge mistake. And yet, I won. I still do not know why or how, but I won. I know this might not mean a lot to people reading, but after a year of being disappointed with myself, judging myself and almost giving up on competing, this felt like a sign for me to keep going. That too winning something from the same college that I  started out with last year took the happiness up by 2 notches.  Even though we were sad we couldn't win the overall trophy (Shift 2 from our college won that), I left that college today a happy and confident woman. I proved to myself that I can do this. And this has given me the confidence to compete more. 

(P.S: Honestly, I never thought I would even be going to events like these in college. I should really thank my senior, even though he bullied me into going last year. I will also bully my juniors into coming to events so they understand the joy behind all this. Thank you.)