When Life Gave Me a Second Mic – I Took It

How I Got My Groove Back (a.k.a. My Second Workshop Experience 😄)

The first one was in college and that was pretty awesome-want me to write about it?-let me know in the comments..

So there was this workshop at NPS Sapthagiri College — yep, an actual, real-deal event — where we had to give a 2-hour talk to BSc first years about computer science. 🎤👨‍💻

This went down at the beginning of December 2024.

Now here’s the thing: deciding the topic? Not easy. Took us a while.

These students were freshers, just getting started with C programming. So we thought — hey, let’s talk about why DSA (Data Structures & Algorithms) is such a big deal, the magic of coding, and how Git & GitHub can literally make your life 10x easier. 😎

Our squad (a.k.a. The Vikasana Crew):
Anmol, Dinesh, Kevin, and me — off on a mini adventure to this college.

Okay so... confession time: one of us overslept. Not saying who 👀.
Which turned our morning into a hormonal rollercoaster 🌀, but hey — we got lucky. The route to the college wasn't on the main road, so we dodged traffic like pros and made it on time!

We were greeted by Ramesh sir — who used to be in our uni and had shifted here. He was a solid support to Vikasana back then, and now? It felt like the perfect chance to restart things and expand our reach.

This was actually my first outdoor event with Vikasana, and I was already soaking it all in.

And man, the college building, the parking, the whole vibe — chef’s kiss. You know that saying, “the grass is greener on the other side”? It hit me right there. The place was beautiful.

We got taken to the lab where some students were already seated.

The plan?

• I’d start with what DSA is, how it works, and why it matters.

• Dinesh would show a live coding example.

• Kevin would wrap it up by teaching Git and GitHub in action.

Now here’s what actually happened:

The first session? Oof.
I was nervous — like butterflies, brain blank, words-jumping-out-of-window kind of nervous 🫣.
Felt like no one was interested. I kept forgetting my points and lowkey regretted not prepping harder.

Anmol saw me stressing and was like, “It’s okay bro, you’ve been out of touch. You’ll get it.” That helped. Meanwhile, Dinesh was killing it with his session. 🔥

After that session, we had this amazing convo with Ramesh sir about Robocon and new tech stuff — blew our minds. It was one of those moments where you’re like: “bruh... we know NOTHING.” 🤯

Lunch time came to the rescue: paratha, paneer curry, fried rice — and yes, it was delish. Even the staff aunty was super sweet and full of energy, guiding us around and cracking jokes.

I told myself — alright, let’s go again. This time, better. Collected my thoughts, stitched them in order. Still nervous? Yep. But ready? Also yep.

By 2 PM, we kicked off the second session.
Ramesh sir dropped us to the venue, we clicked a nice group photo 📸 (I even managed to chill with a group of guys who were cracking jokes — helped me calm down big time).

Everyone settled in.
Anmol did what Anmol does best — chatting with the crowd, sparking curiosity. Then, I got introduced on stage.

Aaaaand boom — I just spoke.
No script, just vibes.

It flowed. The examples, the storytelling, explaining arrays, stacks, how coding changes the way you look at life — even managed to slip in a Spotify analogy to explain linked lists 😅. It just clicked.

When I wrapped up, Anmol came to me and said, “Bruh, wow. Didn’t know you’d pick it up so fast. I’m proud of you.”

Honestly? That hit me hard. I did it. I actually did it. 🙌

Oh btw, who's Anmol?
He’s this hyperactive, super-smart junior I met through Vikasana. Back then, he was the COO (Chief Operations Officer) in 2nd year, and I was the CTO (Chief Tech Officer) in 4th year.
He’s been a huge driving force behind making Vikasana thrive, always hustling in the background, and I guess I’ve been more of the emotional backbone of the team 😅.

Alright alright — enough about Anmol. Back to the story!

By 4:30 PM, the second workshop wrapped up smoothly.
We wanted to say goodbye to Ramesh sir, but he was busy with Robocon pre-selections, so we dropped by the area to check it out.

And wow — watching the first years come up with such innovative ideas? Mind-blowing.
It really made me think — with the right push, anyone can do wonders.

We left campus by 5.

Celebration time? You bet.
Pizza party at Pizza Hut 🍕😋.
I’d left my bike at college, so made the others go ahead while I grabbed it.

And guess what — it started raining 🌧️. So there I was, riding back home in the cold, carefully navigating traffic, and thinking about how lucky I was to get a second chance to speak... and nail it.

Reached home by 7:30, cold but content.

I even posted about this whole thing on LinkedIn — wanna check it out? Might inspire you (or even help grow your network 👀).

And that’s all for now, folks.
Catch y’all in the next blog. Stay curious, stay awesome 🚀✨