My inter IIT Journey - Part 3 (2010)

Then came 2010. We didn't practice much in the even sem or the summer. The odd sem started and we were now like soldiers preparing for battle. The team remained the same. ISI was the new captain and he led by example. Our coach was putting full enthu too. There was a new addition to the team- Vikrant Singh Poonia. He is a student in IIIT D&M, so he couldn't compete in inter IIT. But he was always with the team and his addition added to the fun we had. We took a print out of the results of inter IIT 2009 and stuck it to the wall in our Weightlifting hall, so we know where we should be at the end of the sem. And we reached there far before that.

Schroeter 2010 was fantastic. Me, Bala, Moot and ISI either beat or equaled previous inter IIT records. I did 73kg Snatch and 91kg Clean and Jerk (inter IIT records in my weight class were 71kg and 87kg respectively). It was like the golden age for the team. It wasn't just the lifts, but the way we stuck together as a team. I can possibly not describe how much the team means to each of us. And as we neared the end sems and started the main camp, our lifts only got better. Our maxes improved. Mine went from 73kg, 91kg to 75kg, 95kg. And then the other things about the main camp- like the food (and the girls' teams dining in the same mess), the joblessness, everything was too good. We would play cricket in the morning and when the coach asked why we looked tired, we would lie. We would cook chicken in Asif's room. We'd play cards and watch movies together- Garam Masala and American Pie (till the 5^th one) were the favorites.

The time came to leave for IIT Delhi. Again, loads of fun in the train. We were given rooms in their hostel named “Zanskaar”. My best memory is of the time we would sit in front of the fire that was lit in front of their version of Guru, which was right behind our hostel, drinking mosambi juice. Even thinking of all that brings back fond memories- you have to be a member of the inter IIT contingent to know what inter IIT means. Vikrant also accompanied the team- he lived in Delhi, so he came to IIT Delhi every morning. We made him come to our practice and also to the competition and we made him lift backstage, where we warmed up. He is a really strong lifter, and we told the other teams that he was a freshie and he wasn't in the team because we had problems with contingent size- all other teams would get psyched looking at his strength.

For me, the theme for this inter IIT was about going there and showing the others how good we were. We knew we were good enough and we were hungry after our disappointing performance in the previous inter IIT. The first thing in inter IIT was March Past. Some members of the contingent were apparently passed out and some were too lazy to turn up, and we had lost some points for attendance in March Past (and all of us who attended were extremely pissed about that). The events started. We weren't doing very good. Actually, we were losing. . We, as usual, were jobless enough to be watching the matches of our other teams and cheering them. Basketball was our favorite.

We had 2 serious problems- Bala did not leave to Delhi along with the contingent as he was sitting for placements. He hadn't practice much during Main Camp either. And Moot had a minor back injury in the first few days of Main camp, and he spent the rest of the camp doing only light weights to allow for recuperation. Our chances of winning were still not 100%. But we were all very focused, ready to push our limits to get that gold. We had to make some small sacrifices- 1 or 2 days before our competition, there was a dinner and a DJ. We couldn't thulp at dinner as we had to keep our body weights in our respective weight classes. We didn't want to dance for too long since we didn't want to take the risk of getting even a small cramp. Then there was this thing about Moot- he was so psyched up and restless that he got a fever. Among some of the crazy stuff he used to do was eating a lot of coffee powder (just coffee powder, no milk or sugar) on the day of the competition to stay awake. And he would also ask us to pull his hair and slap him before he would go for his lift, just to stay awake and psyched up (we often have to give the same treatment to Balaji and ISI). Bala had arrived in a flight just the night before the competition, at around 11 PM.

The competition started. In under 56kg, Bala thulped in snatch, and he attempted the highest in Clean and Jerk ever attempted in his weight class. He took silver and thus it started. In under 62kg, it was a piece of cake for me. My lifts were 73kg snatch, 97kg clean & jerk- both new inter-IIT records. Balaji and Dilli contributed 1 point each. We were on top with 10 points on the first day. That night, Deba, the then Volley captain, came to my room and asked me to write down what I felt like when I won my first inter IIT Gold. He said that on that night I would feel very different from the other nights. And I did write. I'd quote a little from what I wrote-

“The feeling after getting that gold was not happiness or excitement, but just a sense of relief, for I had not fought hard for that medal, I was not struggling with the weight. I had to lift less than what I could. It was nothing like in the Olympics, lifters struggling with the weight, shouting their lungs out, giving it all they got. It was just about staying focused and thinking about my lift. In the end, it was about keeping my mindset in those 30 seconds of each lift. “

“We, Weightlifters, probably have inspired all the other teams from our institute, we have inspired them with our performances- Me, Dilli, Bala and Balaji. As ISI said before I went for the 97kg Clean and Jerk, I showed them what Weightlifting is like. I am satisfied, if not happy. I’m relieved, if not excited.”

Then, on day 2 of Weightlifting, Moot gave his worst performance ever in the under 69kg class and he bagged silver. In under 77kg, ISI got a little unfortunate in his 3^rd call in Snatch- his foot slipped and he fell down when trying 88kg (he could do 90kg). The other guy in his category is an extremely good lifter and he managed to beat ISI with 1kg to win gold. Asif did his best, but couldn't get any medal, and Lalu got injured during the competition and had to forfeit his calls. And so the result- IITM won Gold, with 16 points. That moment was ecstatic. Coming from 0 points in 2009 to Gold in 2010 was an awesome feeling. The feeling I felt when the team won the Gold was much more euphoric than what I got from my personal medal. The Gold was actually confirmed the moment ISI got his silver. And right after his lifts, we all lifted him up in the air, we were dancing and shouting. Words can't describe that feeling.

Some guys from hockey, volley and footer teams came to watch our competition. I do not know if our performances in particular had an effect on them, but after our competition, our other teams started winning. The first few days were really bad for us, but towards the end we started doing better. On the last day, we were in finals in hockey, TT and Volley.

Ila was totally dominating the field- the opposite team actually tried to make a foul everytime Ila got the ball, that's how good he was. The game finally went down to penalties. Our sports sec at that time, Hic, was the goalie. He did an awesome job saving some of the penalty strokes. I don't exactly remember who scored for us, I guess the hockey team can fill in on this. Finally, we won the match, and you know what happens later. After a few minutes wildly running in the field and shouting “Madras Madras”, we rushed to the Volley court.

Volley finals was an extremely close match. It went down till the last set, I guess we were down 1-2 after 3^rd set. I'm not so good a writer to describe this stuff. The result was, we finally won. And as we were leaving the Volley court, someone got a call saying that we won in TT too... Imagine that- starting off poorly in inter IIT, then I put records, our team dominates in Weightlifting and wins gold, 3 teams in finals in the last day, we go to cheer 2 of them and both of them win and then there's a call saying we won in the third too. That was one hell of a day and there were celebrations everywhere. IIT Madras, which totally f***ed up in 2009, falling from 2^nd in 2007 and 2008, retaliates to win the GC. And remember we lost in March Past? So, during the closing ceremony, the moment the GC trophy was awarded to Hic (the sports sec), we all run to him and then we start marching in the stadium- at around 6 30 PM, we marched in the stadium, the whole of IIT Madras contingent. We were called back by the organizers before we were done with the marching, but we still went marching and running and shouting, before the ceremony was over.