Realising a Dream! Yukthi ’17

First of all, let me apologise. I am only used to writing out figments of my imagination and writing facts out is very different and I am in all probability not at all good at it. My writing may not do justice to what was actually one of the best things in my life.

Where do i start? The beginning? The beginning was just a wish said out loud half-joking among a group of friends soon after the 4th A.T. Markose Memorial National Moot Court Competition. Yes! That was exactly how Yukthi ’17 began. “Aliya nammal nadathumbol moot maathram alla, fest venam!”

This sentence was soon forgotten and the competition too missed a year until the same group of friends reached their final year in the School Of Legal Studies, CUSAT. The dream was remembered and a will to see it through burned bright in them and the rest, as they say, is history. 

The day we decided to do this, we did not know whether we would be able to do it. More than half of us, including myself, felt that it wouldn’t happen. The start was slow, we had a little difficulty handling certain things, there were different opinions to consider, some made just to hinder progress, others genuine. Our seniors who made the previous moot possible had shown us the way, but we still struggled with attendance and exam schedules. Some of us, especially myself, was like a fish out of water. We didn’t even have a name. We had something that resembled a plan. But, We had a dream.

The slowness was lost as the dates drew near. We had a countdown calendar made in the committee room. As the number on it decreased our speed and enthusiasm started gaining momentum. We ran for sponsors. We ran for promotional materials. We ran for permissions. The actual people who did the running must be in a state of inertia now, they’ve been running for so long that now the fest is over they must be feeling awkward. To those persons I bow and I bow again. While i bask in the glory of ‘we’ being the reason why Yukthi was possible, i know it is those runners who actually formed the backbone of the event and i do admit a feeling of regret for not having done more.

We were even at a point where we expected only a handful of participants for some of the events. Boy were we wrong! People turned upon such numbers we felt we would run into trouble accommodating all these competitive souls (we didn’t though).

My dearest friends we’ve grown closer over the course of running this event than we ever have and you my gratitude for bringing a change in me. I have never missed my school and I went through college expecting it to end the same way, waiting to escape. But you, crazy people, you’ve made me miss things already and here i am dreading the approaching end.

To the wonderful and talented juniors who’ve shown nothing but love and support, I am very glad and proud to call myself your senior. I may have talked to some of you for the first time during Yukthi or while preparing for it, but rest assured it wont be the last. But you have a responsibility now, to continue what we’ve started. Take it forward, making it bigger every year.

On the first day of the event, Feb 16th, I reached the venue just around half an hour before the start (yea, the suit is the reason) expecting an empty seminar complex. Boom! wrong again, it was nearly filled by the time the program began and a special shout out to the participants from schools! You little ones are awesome! Thank you for being a part of our dream.

Fast forwarding, i was one of the lucky few (being the photographer) who got to actually see all the events. Most of the people behind the fest were working through it as well. A special mention here to the amazing food committee ( from which I conveniently escaped) for the great food and the greater effort you guys put in. I wouldn’t have been able to do this half as good as you guys did. The management events were off the charts engaging and the legal events had more than thrice the number of expected participants. Most importantly, no one forgot to have fun!

While I etched writing this into my mind with the wind on my face and a beer bottle in hand i never expected it to be so difficult. I am already at 777 words and i still have so so much more to say. This event will remain one of the best few days of my life that I will forever treasure. All of us who were a part of Yukthi are now etched in the history of CUSAT. Thank you again, for being a part of this and having me being a part of it too. Also i would like to thank the person who named the fest, my suggestion was SOLS-FEST, that would’ve sucked.

To the people who couldn’t/didn’t attend or want to be a part of Yukthi, you were missed. No, we didn’t face any trouble or shortage of hands (Bobby probably handled half the work himself) , but you were missed because this was an opportunity for all of us to put aside our trivial differences and come together as a department. To the naysayers who wanted Yukthi to stumble and fall, meh I wish i could frame your expressive faces in a photograph now!

We did people! A dream was realised! A path cleared! Now on to glory and greatness and the monotony of everyday life! Love you all! [ and yes my timing for going to change the suit was extremely horrible! missed the group photo. Damn 😦  ]