Season of college festivals

Festivals in colleges and universities of Delhi are occasions to look forward to for the students since they provide them with a platform to showcase their talent either through cultural performances or participation in academic events.

Organising a festival can turn out to be an arduous task for the core team, which includes students as well as professors and volunteers.

These festivals generally take place between the months of January and March, as winter is receding.

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“We are going to conduct our annual fest this time on March 15 but we’ve had to face challenges. The first and foremost of these challenges is getting sponsors for the fest. I think convincing and procuring sponsors is one of the toughest jobs. This requires solid planning as the entire event depends on it,” says Arunabha Chaudhuri, the president of the English Literary Society of the Zakir Husain Delhi College.

Prior to Covid-19, college and university fests were held with much fanfare. However, the pandemic stalled them and even as they are recovering to return to former glory, it is taking time as there isn’t much footfall in many venues.

“Last year’s fest was quite off track as there wasn’t much participation. But this year we tried to rectify it and make it an even bigger success than the last time,” says Jobin Thomas, the coordinator of ‘Annukunj’, the fest of the cultural society of Don Bosco Institute of Technology and was held on February 23.

While Chaudhuri is happy that this will be the first time in three years that the fest will be held at a grand scale in a physical mode and wants to expand it, he is wary of challenges like hooliganism.

“This time we want to expand it and host it on an even bigger scale. It is good to see that a proper fest is going to be conducted in physical mode after three years which makes it fun for the students since Covid isn’t there anymore. But we are working on the security of the college campus to ensure that there aren’t any hooligans inside the college premise,” says Chaudhuri.

“We have issued proper passes for the students visiting our fest to minimise any threats of a mishap. We are focussing on making the fest fun and have ensured that the events are pretty much in relation to the same. We have six people in the core team with one co-ordinating professor,” he adds.

Anurag Samajpati, an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) member of the Netaji Subhash University of Technology, says that they are seeking assistance from the Delhi Police for their three-day fest “Moksha’, which will be held on March 23.

“For the security of the fest, we are coordinating with Delhi Police to give us some assistance,” he says.

“This is the biggest fest, which includes all three campuses of NSUIT. We have eight teams in total for management of the fest which takes care of different departments. This year, we are conducting a lot of cultural events as well as games for the visitors that make it more amazing and adventurous for the students. This fest is open to all the students of different institutions too as we are aiming to make it a grand event.”

As it happens in most colleges, there will be nukkad-natak dance, music and other events.

Thomas of Don Bosco Institute of Technology says, “Our festival included games, dance, music, games and many more cultural and academic events. We wanted that our fest should be enjoyable, therefore we tried to have maximum coordination among the working members of the team.”

He goes on to say, “We are not looking to make profit out of the event but are trying to bring the best out of every participant so that they can showcase their hidden talent and win exciting prizes which will further motivate us in the future to reach the highest in their field of interest.”

Aaryan Soorma is the senior organiser of TEDx events in Vivekanand Institute of Professional Studies and looks after event management. He says “I am the license holder of the event. So, the most important task is to get permission from the TEDx office situated in New York. We have to send a proposal via email so that they approve us. Once they approve us then we can conduct a TEDx talk. Then comes the main task of planning the event.”

The planning of the event is very detailed. Each and every detail is looked into closely and sub-committees have to be created by the organising committee to look into individual matters.

One of the most prominent jobs of the organising committee is to market the fest. The news has to spread all over the town. The society uses various platforms on social media like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other messaging apps. Posters and other necessary items are also made by the committee to spread the news of the fest so that people from various colleges can come and attend the fest.