NITT News- Lakshya’18
This year’s edition of LAKSHYA- Lakshya’18, sponsored by Shankar SSB Academy, started off on an energetic note on 23rd March 2018 with Dr.Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NITT gracing the inaugural ceremony at A2 Hall in the presence of Chief Guest Dr.A. Amalraj, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Trichy city. He enlightened the cadets and students about civil services and our duties as a responsible citizen of our nation. Lakshya’18, for the first time ever, informal events were introduced. With an array of exciting events such as Battleship, Escape Room, Maza Run and India Quiz, workshops and informals that included Rifle dismantling and drone flying workshop, Archery, Rifle Shooting and Flight simulator, and an exhibition of aero models and an air show – this Lakshya was by far the biggest one till now, with its own website being launched for the first time – aflightncc.com, which was well received with praise.
The first event of Lakshya’18 – Battleship began with the A2 Hall filled to a good extent. The first two rounds required teams of 2 to form their own armies by buying aircraft and armoury from an allotted amount of money. Each item had a base price and was worth a given number of points. The third round was a quiz-The Quest for Glory-that required teams to showcase their knowledge about our country and its achievers in myriad fields. Finally, the top two teams were chosen on the basis of points accumulated in the first two rounds and the money earned through the quiz. The final round was the real game – the Battleship, a game of strategy and planning, to guess the enemy aircraft’s position and to attack it. This event proved to be a great success.
The next day, on Day 1, Maza Run, Escape Room, Flight Simulator, Rifle Shooting and Rifle dismantling workshop were flagged off with vigour and enthusiasm by the organizers of Lakshya’18, the cadets of A-Flight NCC. In the Rifle Dismantling workshop, all the 70 participants were given hands-on experience on dismantling and handling the 7.62 mm SLR, Pump Action Gun and 0.22 rifle.
Maza Run, an adventurous obstacle course at Jade Ground that tested one’s endurance, perseverance, agility and the ability of working in a team too saw students thronging in huge numbers to challenge themselves. A total of 37 teams and a few solo participants participated in it.
Escape Room, an event where a team of 2 are locked in a dark room with hands tied was one that surprised each and every one. The team had to solve a set of clues and escape from the room by finding the key of the door’s lock. Such was the interest of the students that team after team was queuing up to try their luck at this Escape Room and the event had to be extended to Day 2.
Rifle shooting at the Sports Complex too saw a huge line of students waiting patiently to try their hands at shooting at a target. Participants were given Air Rifles and three pellets each. This event too garnered huge response and had to be extended to Day 2.
Flight Simulator at Orion gave an opportunity to students to experience the feeling of piloting an aircraft through a joystick and projector. This informal too saw positive response from the students of NITT. There was an exhibition of aero models too at Orion.
Day 2 saw the flagging off of Archery and Air Show along with the continuation of a few popular events and informals from Day 1. Archery at Hockey Ground receive a good footfall. There were 2 bows and participants had to shoot at target placed a few metres away. The Air Show at NSO Ground had on display, miniature aircraft zooming around in the NITT sky.
The final event of Lakshya’18, the India Quiz was held at A2 Hall at 4 PM. 15 teams battled it out, using all their knowledge of Indian history, current events, sports, literature, mythology and various other fields.
The valedictory function was held at A2 Hall at 6 PM. The Chief Guest of the function, Dr. Samson Mathews, Dean (SW) spoke about the involvement of A-Flight NCC cadets in a multitude of events throughout the college and encouraged the NCC unit of NITT to keep producing more and more responsible citizens for the nation. The prize distribution too took place at the valediction. The function concluded with the NCC Song, followed by the National Anthem.
– Report by Flight Cadet R.Karthik.
