Extracurriculars
Microsoft's code.fun.do
The 24 hour hackathon started off with 65 teams at IIT Bombay campus, of which 36 showcased their successfully completed projects. My team, TeamX, (I was the only member in it !) was adjudged the Campus Winner. I had built a chatbot (that I later named CheerBot) that interacted with the user using a predefined set of questions, estimated his/her emotional state from the responses, and tried to uplift it by fetching relevant, funny memes and motivational quotes from the internet; I pitched it as an approach for tackling depression.
- Receiving the Campus Winner prize at Microsoft's CFD 2016
- A group picture with all winning teams and mentors at IIT-B
The top 3 teams from several campuses across India were invited to MS-IDC Hyderabad for competing against each other at the code.fun.do Showcase. Although I ended up not winning, the event taught me several lessons in building quality software that can solve real world problems, namely teamwork/collaboration, customer obsession, user experience, and building an effective marketing pitch.
- Invited teams from across India at code.fun.do Showcase, MS-IDC Hyderabad (see if you can find me!*)
Basketball
This sport has been a favourite ever since I started playing it in high school. I pursued it even after coming to IIT Bombay, and shared some amazing moments with fellow ‘ballers during my first two years here. I was a member of NSO Basketball during my first year, where I relearnt the basics and improved my game - we even used to participate in local tournaments (against much stronger teams, so we lost almost everytime) just for the sake of playing!
- After a tournament at Borivali YMCA, 2017
- NSO Basketball Batch of 2016
I had a great time as a Warrior (that’s right, we named ourselves after the Golden State Warriors!) during the Institute Basketball Playoffs (2017), and we ended up bagging the runner-up position! Kudos to us!!! I was later selected for the in-semester camp for Inter-IIT 2017 where I had the priviledge of training and playing alongside experienced seniors.
- Runner-up in the Institute Basketball Playoffs (IBP) 2017
- Warriors team huddle at half-time, IBP Finals 2017
Web development
I admire creativity, and often use web designing as a means for being creative (well, what else did you expect from a Computer Science undergrad ?). I served as the Web Secretary of Computer Science and Engineering Association (CSEA) during 2017-18, a student body responsible for making the lives of department undergraduates a little less monotonous by organising treks, lunches and sport events. During my tenure, I revamped the official CSEA website to make it more beautiful and accessible. I also participated in the annual Web Dev General Championship at IIT Bombay, and won the 3rd prize amongst all participants!
- The new CSEA homepage
- My submission for Web Dev GC 2017
Painting
I loved painting when I was a kid; although I find it difficult to take out time to pursue it now, my liking for art has not dwindled!
Other hobbies
As of now, I have resorted to less exhausting sports such as table-tennis, which too I can play decently well! I am also fond of listening to pop music, and reading thriller and fiction novels (especially those by Dan Brown). Some might call me a movie/TV show buff, since I follow a bunch of them - Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory; and who can forget the Marvel Cinematic Universe!