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Shadow Diaries #1 - Valhalla 2014
August 10th , 2014 | Shashank Shekhar Katyayan

Valhalla – one of the biggest B-School fests of India. I was there for the 3 days of awesomeness. Or more like 6 days because we didn’t sleep at all for the 3 nights. Running on adrenaline for 72 hours! It was an experience of a lifetime.  

I had never been to an inter college sports and cultural meet of such a grand scale before. Walking into XLRI’s well trimmed lawns, surrounded by huge trees and old legendary buildings, wearing the blue XIMB jersey really made me proud.  I saw all the other colleges such as IIM C and NMIMS arriving. It really started making my competitive side rise up. We were here for XIMB. We were here to win! 

The 1^st day had an unbelievable performance by Ability Unlimited where I saw how a wheel chair was a symbol of power and not being handicapped. We had deaf and handicapped dancers dancing totally in sync, which left me awestruck. When you have a desire to do something nothing can stop you. And they proved it. The 2^nd day all the events started. We were at war with all other colleges.  The theme for the next 2 days was that whenever, wherever XIMB was competing I was there to cheer my team. I supported the XIMB team and booed the opposition. Every sport/cultural was a do or die. It was intense. We won some. We lost some. But in the end we always congratulated the opposition team. Win or lose, what’s important is to do it in the right spirit. But in the heat of competition the real side of anybody comes out esp. the culture. I saw the B-School culture that everybody talks about. Each of the 8 B-Schools had their own culture. Everybody had their own way of doing things. Some are flamboyant, some are fierce competitors and some extremely chilled out. Most were amazing competitors and a few were not. But each of them were definitely unique!

XL Bed Rock the battle of bands - It was what I was here for. Representing XIMB as its drummer. When the competition started I saw that it was intense. We had great bands playing. We were the third on the list. Our turn was coming up and my heartbeat started to become loud and fast. New Band. More than 2 years since I was on stage! Alchemyx, Our band’s name was announced. I went onto the stage and sat on the drum throne. I raised my head and saw the crowd. It was blue in colour. The colour of XIMB jerseys.  Our entire contingent was out to support us. This really lifted me up and I forgot everything else. We were here to win and I played my heart out. It was an amazing show. Everybody enjoyed it and appreciated us even though we did not win.

Next day, which was the last, we had the finals for all the culturals and sports. The same theme continued of madly supporting XIMB teams and cheering them so much that most of us had sore throats. In the evening we had the street play competition which I was also a part of, and we won the 1^st prize. This was the 1^st time I was a part of the street play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Along with this we also won in other cultural events and sports events. Overall XIMB came 2^nd and we were thrilled with this.

What was the take away from these three days? The three days whizzed pass like a blinding light – check. New friends - check. New experiences - both highs and lows - check.

B-Schoolers are definitely a competitive lot. We believe in being the best at whatever we do. The performance in some of the sports and culturals were nearly professional level. We had people of every variety - whacky, eccentrics, maniacs, intellectuals... you name it. But what I do know is that XIMBians are a talented lot and we blaze it wherever we go! Signing Off... See you at Valhalla again next year.