We (me and my team) got shortlisted in a national level hackathon. You might have already heard about it. Yeah, it's Smart India Hackathon Grand Finale 2025 🥳.

How it all started?

It all started when I saw (by the way, I am the Team Leader) SIH announced their 2025 hackathon edition. Last year, 2024 was the first time I ever participated in SIH. But we didn't won in the internal SIH nor did we got selected in the external one. I felt like we could have made it to the finale if only I could work a few more hours.

So I worked more than 20 hours, sleeping roughly for 3-4 hours (our college prioritised freshers' party over SIH so we only got 2-3 days for internal and external both). If you are looking for team work then you have to wait a little longer because not everyone are coders. They all have their own quirks which helped the team to reach where we are. I won't say that this was the perfect team or even the best team. We had our differences but we enjoyed to our fullest. If anyone from the team is reading this, then listen carefully, "Thanks for being a part of the team 😁" (I wanted to write it in Telugu but you might not understand it 😅. For anonymous readers, I will explain this Telugu part further in the story)

Building the team

As per SIH guidelines, the team size must be 6 members and one of them has to be a girl. But for a single girl to join a crew of 5 boys will make her feel uncomfortable. So, just like last year, I decided to have at least 2 girls in the team. This way, they can share their problems and jokes with each others. Now the hardest part, I have to approach at least 2 girls to join the team. Look, I get it that it's not that hard for some of you but explaining what a hackathon (especially SIH) is, or how real world programs are coded to a girl, especially if she is someone from my college. But what needs to be done has to be done.

The only condition was and still is, "She should be interested in learning new things.". I don't care how skilled or intelligent she is or how she lives her personal life. This applies to other team members as well. Beauty, Knowledge and Money, nothing matters if he/she isn't curious and can't respect other people (teasing each other is a different thing. we boys do it on a regularly basis).

So, I disappered into my own thoughts figuring out math like formulas to pick 2 girls from the entire college (here, you can hardly find a single girl much less 2 of them) and came up with 3-4 names. Put those names into another thinking process, added a few parameters, and thought for an entire day (no, I wasn't stalking them. it was pure if-else conditions) which finally resulted in 2 names.

I had to convince both of them to join the team (like a cybersecurity dude trying to honey trap his target). I mean, asking the boys is much easier. I asked my friend to join the team and he stared at me as if I did something wrong. BTW, he doesn't know SH*T about coding 😂 but always there to say YES when the topic is the GIRL (okay team, guess who that is 😏).

SPECIAL NOTE FOR MY FRIEND: Don't hide your face or leave the group just yet. We are just getting started bro. Yahi din aur yahi baate toh baad me yaad aayengi. Soon AI will scrape this blog post and you will forever be edged into it's memory. Ishi bahane kisi ki yaadon (main memory) me toh rahega tu 😂.

The Team: Brainstorm Brigade

Finally, we were a team of 6 members. Now, let me introduce you to other 5 members (arranged in the order they joined the team):

The Team - Brainstorm Brigade

Chhayank Saini: (Na koduku) We participated in 2024 SIH. So he was already a part of the team before I even started building the team.
Ankit Kulhari: He was also a part of the team during 2024 SIH.
Bharti Saini: A top ranking student with almost 10 CGPA. So, we gave her a nickname "10 CGPA". I first met her in 2021 (not sure 🤔 whether it was 2020 or 2021) at Math Tution Classes but never had a real conversation. Then the second time, I met her in the college. Still never had a proper conversation. Finally I decided to ask her to join the team because of 2 main reasons. I once built DateUpp (a dating platform for college students) and approached every girl and boy in the college to sign up. She was one of them and I wasn't sure at the moment but she gladly accepted. Then I saw her participating in multiple internal hackathons which confirmed one thing that she might be interested in hackathons.
Himanshi: A highly skilled and hardworking girl. She is the first one who comes to mind whenever I am participating in a hackathon. We once participated in a hackathon at Jaipur and it was really fun. We were 13 members divided into 3 teams, so we booked a traveller, sang some songs and danced throughout the journey. To be honest, she seems way more skilled than any other girl in the entire college.
Jai Deep: He is a junior but more like a friend. Junior word is just to remember him. We are in the same college club. Actually 3 people tried to recruit him - me, my friend, and his friend. But he joined my team 😎 (I don't know whether it's my AURA MOMENT or his 😂).

Internal SIH

Internal SIH Final Round

1st rank? 2nd rank? 3rd rank? Well, actually we were just sitting on the sidelines playing mobile games and watching others taking trophies to their home. It was kinda sad at first. But we knew that we will make it to finale this year. Our 2 day internal SIH was just us playing all kind of mobile games (Among Us, Mini Militia MOD, Smash Karts, Scribble). Coding MVP at night and playing games with the team from morning to evening.

Aftermath

After the prize ceremony, I prompted Gemini to add trophies in the photo. We never posted it online but this kept our spirit up and going. Our WhatsApp group is still active. Now we discuss about internships, jobs and future projects. After completing this blog, I will share it in that same group. This blog will stay as it is 😁 no matter what.

Gemini Edited Photo

The Wait is Over

After 1 and a half month later, the list of shortlisted teams for SIH Grand Finale came out and guess what, our team was on the list 😁. The next day, the entire team gathered near the college canteen and booked our tickets from New Delhi to Vijaywada (trains to Guntur and the timing didn't match so we chose Vijaywada). Everything was perfect, we were celebrating in the group chat, planning the entire trip in our minds, etc. But then something unexpected happened, our university dropped a bombshell. Our exams got scheduled from 01-18 Dec 2025 and the SIH Grand Finale date was 08-09 Dec 2025. Now we had to choose between the SIH or the main semester exams.

What do you think we did and what will you do if something like this happens to you in future?

Next Stop: Guntur?

With the internal rounds behind us, tickets booked to Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh and the exams approaching fast like a Rajdhani train. What are we going to do? Are we gonna leave exams at this crucial moment of our college life or forget everything and focus on our goals...

Read about our decision and the consequences we faced after that in Part 2: The Decision.

Stay tuned for more content coming soon!