Cognition '13: Tech Race- The Lost Symbol

 Chaitanya Ramji | Scintilla Weekly

Day 1:

High atop the classroom 101, two young men laughed and called out to them, “You’ll never find the lost symbol." Their eyes twinkled with excitement. Their smile was magic. As the brethren gathered at the rendezvous they looked upon them, the taller of the two stared at the crowd curling his lips into a lonely grimace. The contestants sat down on the tables marked by their numbers. As the two young men explained the rules of the race, a map was given and they were off. An exhilarating race had begun to find and recover the lost symbol. The fog of weary emotion clouded upon the contestants as they had just an hour to figure out what the symbol could be. Time was ticking faster every second. Undeniable. Frantic. They could feel their muscles hardening with an unexpected grit. The clues were more like a chain. Each clue would lead you to the next. As the teams ran off into the dust, a mystery engulfed them. The search for each clue was like the search for the Illuminati lair. An hour was drawing to an end. A ray of light. A spark of faith. The contestants came back with the clues and plotting the locations on the map. "The final clue", said he. "The final clue is what you need. Solve the clue. Draw the symbol and as Holmes would say its Elementary, my dear Watson". On solving the symbol, the participants showed it to them. "You think that's it?" he said. "You haven't found the symbol." As the contestants returned homeward a new spark was ignited in them. A hope that they would recover the lost symbol.

Day 2:
The silhouette of the two young men was seen as they entered classroom 101. The thirst for the symbol was gripping every single person. As the clock struck 1430, a cryptographic sheet and graph paper was passed among the contestants. "Solve the code. Plot the symbol. And then search for it". And the race had begun to crack the code. To find the symbol. One by one, the teams cracked the code and were off. The lost symbol was broken into four parts. A frantic search had begun for it. 10 minutes later a group of four returned back with the Lost Symbol. The game was over. It was time. The two horsemen said in unison, "This is just the beginning. Wait for the Summer Solstice."

PS The event heads were Vivek Venkatram and Pramit Kumar.

The winning team:

Siddhant Ravi

Ashwin Pillai

Sandeep Rane

Vinay Prabhu

The runners-up:

Abhishek Labhe

Kamakshi B

Bharat Shankar

Anand Sreekumar