aBaCUS’11 – A look back

Deadline:

When our first official aBaCUS meet took place we could see only a rough 40 days ahead of us to realize our works, leaving many raised eyebrows asking if we could really get things done in/on time. A few meek attempts were made to postpone the event, but our CSEA president was very strong in not postponing the event & asked us to CHASE THE DEADLINE..

And yes.... Our chase began there on...!!

The work:

After one or two preliminary meets and deciding on the teams, we caught our breath, the one u will catch when u start running, being chased by 10 dogs on a straight endless road. ;)

·        Sponsorship

·        Marketing

·        Getting the site ready

·        Workshop arrangement

·        Launching online events

·        Pongal holidays

·        First review

·        Assessment

All in a span of 30 days.. WTF.. And the common response was, “You CSE guys really have gone mad!!”

But the guys with us were tireless, always ready to burn extra calories .

- The web team-Paul n Naga, ready n making changes whenever asked.

– Subash and his friends designing something or the other late night. Subash’s role in aBaCUS is very vital, I must say. The design on every single poster, ID, T-shirt, banner and notepad was his contribution

– guys waiting as late as 4 A.M to bring t-shirts.

– ever dynamic workshop team, sending some sort of a mail or other to the participants

- Sethuram, who would have attended atleast 500 calls in 2 days, if I am not exaggerating.

- Harish Swaminathan, always ready with alternatives whenever there is some problem.

- Jai n Ravi – IR team

- Shahul, Chandru n Arun Sivasankar working day and night across all possible depts.

- Harrish, our student-treasurer, such a patient guy who never lost his cool. If u noted any guy with a bag on shoulder or a folder in hand always, then u must have run into Harrish.  :P

- Kathir, Harish Swaminathan, Manasa n Lavanya being my associates in managing events.

- Jagadish n his content factory and

- Our Chairman, Dharani, THE MASTERMIND.

Such a vibrant n determined team was ours.

The days of aBaCUS’11:

The dates chosen for aBaCUS were a little unconvincing in nature. Kurukshetra was just on the heels and IIT-M’s Saarang was going on at the same time. You can easily expect us to lose participants for those two big reasons..  Hurdling these barriers, we attracted a really good no. of people.

3 workshops – 13 onsite Events – 3 Guest lectures. These are with what we pulled crowd to aBaCUS’11.

With participants arriving as early as 27th morning, aBaCUS actually started early for us.

I have stayed awake all night quite a few times before. But this time it was totally a different experience. It had a reason.. a sense of responsibility.. After sleepless nights came restless days.. Running across halls, auditoriums.. Checking if things are going fine.. eating late.. Making/answering calls.. These were a few symptoms common to every1 who was a part of the organizing team..

And all these had one fruitful result at the end – SUCCESS OF aBaCUS. :)

When Guindy almost got re-Christened..

“Haste makes Waste” n this proverb never went false.. When u do things in a hurry, u can very well expect imperfections and we were no special case. A minute mistake/carelessness it was and it cost us big time. We almost made some 1000 people spell Gunidy. Thanks to the timely help from a few sources and first years, Guindy persisted. 

Special thanks to

·        All event organizers.

·        First year boys n gals. Their interest n commitment was awesome. Ready to help us any time not showing even the smallest sign of regret or complaint. Chanceless.. !! 
& Sunil - our photographer.. :)

Something I will cherish for long..

Taking up responsibilities.. Being a part of an organizing team.. deriving a sense of satisfaction and pride when u see the event succeed.. Its altogether a different experience. This aBaCUS month will continue to remain among the most memorable pages of my college lyf.. :)