Pragma is old now. Wrinkled and forgotten. Lurking in some old memories and hiding in the ancient archives. But the sparkle in his eyes is unmistakeable. And the enthusiasm is still intact. You ask him about those days, his days, and his whole persona proudly lights up.

“Ah! Those were the days!” his eyes turn moist and he sniffs emotionally while you wonder what was wrong with your question. “It was in circa 1997…” his voice trails off, eyes gazing into the past. You have a vague apprehension in your stomach, the one caused by an impending boring lecture, with you sitting unfortunately in the first bench.

“Yeah, 1997…” he continues. “The committee on New Mechanisms of Teacher-Learner Interactions was given the task of coming up with ways of inspiring students. One Prof. Ajit Kumar Kolar (‘God bless him!’ he adds under his breath), head of the committee, suggested creating a technical festival at the institute. At the same time, Prof. UR Rao, the Chairman, Board of Governors, was impressed by the ambition of the newly born TechFest (‘He is a fine lad that TechFest, he is’, he nods) at IIT Bombay and pressed for a similar endeavour at IIT Madras. I, Pragma, was thus born.” he smiles broadly, that toothless smile of his which reminds you of your grandpa.

“There was a gamut of technical events! Technical quizzes, demonstrations and paper presentations! Everything under my banner!” he beams. “I happened once again, in 1999, with a similar set of events and participation but…”. Now, his demeanour slumps a little, ‘but everyone thought I was a bit low-key, you know, lacking ambition… and decided to replace me with a worthy successor…’. He blows his nose on the handkerchief you offer, stems his tears with effort and regains his composure while you shuffle uncomfortably on your feet.

“They wanted to make tech cool (snorts) and wanted to generate interest and enthusiasm in all the IITians. A group of students took the lead, took the title of Core group (snorts again) and christened the yet-unborn festival, Shaastra, and went ahead making preparations for the event. Quizzes, demonstrations, lectures, business games, entrepreneurial avenues, workshops and the like, and some food and fun, were planned. They decided to hold it in the merry month of March (‘I told them it was not a good idea, I did’, he claims) after the Saarang hangover and before the anxiety of the end-semester exams. Students also became Coordinators for various departments and thus the social workforce hierarchy of Shaastra was born..”, he adds with an ominous tone in his voice.

“But of course, Shaastra never looked back once he was born. A fine little kid he was, with well organised thoughts and lots of ambition. Hundreds of colleges across the country were contacted and sponsors gathered. His hospitality wing prepared for large outstation participation and everything fell in place. He was a success story and kept scaling new heights..”.

You now try to smile and take his leave politely but he holds you in place and continues, “They took my advice in 2001, shifting him to the even semester where you find him now, months of September and October. In 2002, he witnessed the construction of the world’s longest paper footbridge (he glows with pride, ‘What ambitions I say!’) by the students! In 2003, they conferred on him the title ‘ISO 9001:2000′ referring to his outrageous sense of quality (his voice breaks, he wipes away tears of joy before continuing). In 2005, he delivered ‘Xiva’, a solution to the chucking problem in the game of cricket, a problem that had boggled the minds of experts for decades! In 2006, he welcomed the then famous MANUS robots from Singapore and they captured the appreciation of the thousands of participants! In 2007, he realized his power and decided to take up social responsibilities (‘you know that with great power comes gr..’, you promise him that you know) and set his theme to global warming. He robed himself in gold, my child, in 2008, that being the Golden Jubilee year of the establishment of IIT Madras and grew up notches in scale! In 2009, he decided to evolve further! He became all-inclusive and featured many new events in that regard. And this coming 2010, he aims to let his imagination fly! He aims to showcase the impact of imagineering! And knowing him, he’ll surely keep up this his promise. You know, he, with all his departments and the enormous student workforce never ceases to amaze me. I can’t tell you how proud I..”, you cut him off and assure him that you understand his feelings thoroughly. You act busy on your cell phone and wade away carefully from him with an overwhelming sense of relief.

A history lesson outside the classroom isn’t too bad you think as you hear the grand old being whistle ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends..’ to himself, in the shadows.