I’m not the most active person on social media, so it’s always a pleasant surprise when a memory pops up that genuinely makes me smile. This week, Facebook delivered exactly that; a photo from 10 years ago, reminding me of a hackathon I participated in.

Seeing that picture instantly brought back a flood of memories. It was my very first in-person, 24-hour, overnight hackathon. My friend, who was in the photo with me, and I had to fly to Delhi for it. It was a whirlwind experience, and looking back, it was incredibly enjoyable.

The picture wasn’t just about the event; it was about the project. We poured our (sleep-deprived) energy into a fun idea we called “MoodsApp.” The concept was to build an application that could detect a person’s mood at any given time and then rate it on a visual gauge meter.

What makes this memory so striking is the technological context of that time, a decade ago. Today, AI-powered filters, real-time emotion detection, and complex augmented reality are commonplace on our phones. But back then, this was all just beginning.

Our “MoodsApp” was a fun experiment at a time when:

• Computer Vision was just on the “initial horizon” for mainstream developers.
• AR/VR as we know it today wasn’t really there yet.
• Face recognition algorithms were still in their early days and hadn’t been fully developed or widely democratized.

Building a “mood detector” felt ambitious and exciting for a 24-hour sprint.

This memory also reminded me of the incredible tech community scene back in Bangalore around that time. It was a period filled with active meetups and thriving communities. I was active within a few of them, and those events made most of my weekends genuinely productive. That hackathon in Delhi was an extension of this vibrant spirit; a chance to learn, build, and connect.

Ten years is a lifetime in technology. But the best part of this memory? The friend I flew to Delhi with for that crazy 24-hour challenge is still a close friend today. I’ll definitely be sharing this memory with her. It’s a wonderful reminder of a fun idea, a very different era in tech, and a friendship that’s lasted long after the code was written.