The new semester got off to a great start with the Lit-Soc Scavenger Hunt (or Queen Of Sheeba) on the 12th of January. The inter-hostel competition had the immovable rivers attempting to beg, borrow or steal their way into procuring a very arbitrary and often arcane list of articles for the first 100 Lit-Soc points of the year.
Students across the length and breadth of the city were on call. Right from Express Avenue to Velacherry, they were scurrying around searching for that elusive sundial, Aeroplane safety card, South Park merchandise or ice hockey puck. The list was devoid of anything you’d be embarrassed to ask someone for. As an apology, one of the items was a grade sheet with which ‘SAID PEX’ could be spelt out. There was even an item which had to be fabricated. Described as the world’s most useless article, it simply switches off the knob which has just been activated. Helpfully, a link was also provided – http://static.funnyjunk.com/gifs/906.gif. Apart from the standard foreign currency or old Shaastra posters/mess cards, obtaining most of the fifty odd things seemed a pleasant challenge. A random sampling of the other items that had to be obtained included a bill for purchase of petrol worth lesser than Rs. 15, a tile from the swimming pool, a lollipop (thoughtfully adding that it was the candy only that they wanted), the first edition of T5E’s predecessor Filter Copy, gavel and spiked dog collar among many other.
The evaluation took the better part of two hours with late additions to various hostels only livening up the atmosphere. The presence of a few security volunteers scuttled the prospect of another Godav. As it were, Mandak topped with Saras, Alak and Ganga taking the subsequent places.
