By Parboni Bose:
When you are a college student, you always have one event of the year to look forward to. An event that makes your birthday look secondary, and you save all your money to spend on this particular event. Yes, you might have guessed it right, I am talking of college fests. College festivals are a big part of college life, they are some days of carnival where you can just party and think nothing of the otherwise severe academic pressure. Here are the top 10 college fests that you must visit:
1. Mood Indigo, IIT Mumbai: This started out in 1971 by a group of college students and currently claims to be the biggest fest in all of Asia. It is interesting how the mood became indigo. According to IIT Bombay, the indigo color was chosen as it is a mixture of Red and blue, thus not only giving space to artistic passions but also to the calm, rational minds. IIT Bombay organizes a number of competitions and events, such as the competition for drama, literature, film and photography, music, dance and other such events that not only make the core of the fest, but are also able to draw a crowd of approx. 1 lakh students from all over India. What is also special other than their star night are ‘pro shows’ that feature well known national and international artists from all genres of music. World fest works similarly, just featuring dance troupes from all over the world. Mood Indigo also works in collaboration with various institutions working for social cause. The grandeur of the event, along with its participation is what makes it so different, so mighty.
2. Incident: The fest of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) in Surathkal was started in 80’s and with every passing year touches a level of grandeur never touched before. What is attractive here is the private beach with a light house, where you can always relax after a busy day participating in the plethora of events organized. This is the second biggest fest in south India, and has promising competitions and magnanimous performances. A number of beach sports, video game events, adventure sports and other such exciting events are organized. This 5 day event is worth the hype, totally!
3. OASIS, BITS Pilani:Â This one is going to keep you awake for nights, literally. Oasis is a 96 hour festival organized in the month of October, and this one promises fun and no sleep, for it runs all night and all day for 96 hours. The variety of competitions here are huge, and it takes pride in being the only fest that has rap wars, giving a platform to all talented rappers in the country. Along with this, exposure and rocktaves also makes the headline. Exposure being the photography fest which is a competition cum exhibition. Rocktaves is one of the most prestigious rock competitions in India. With a variety of celebrities being in the campus during this time, Oasis promises 96 hours of pure fun and frolic.
4. Alcheringa: Popularly known as Alcher, it is the annual cultural festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. Alcheringa, the name, is a word in the Indigenous Australian Aranda language used to refer to the Dreamtime. And inspite of the fact that this fest is relatively new in comparison to others, this has still made its mark. What Alcharinga is famed for, other than the start studded nights and the amazing performances is its campaign on major movements such as North East unveiled. The Pro nights are a major attraction, with every night in the four night festival dedicated and catering to a different genre. This is a festival to be witnessed, and not told about. So, you must book your tickets and witness this one.
5. Riviera, Vellore Institute of technology:Â Riviera, or reliving the era, completely makes one relive the era in the four days of the event. Riviera holds more than 100 events, and in 2014 this celebrated the era of cinema. Riviera is famous for its grand star night. The planning and development summit, the literary fest along with the book fair, and the variety of sports competitions organized is what makes Riviera what it is. Riviera is proud of a participation of above 4000 students coming from all over the country, and around 45000 VIT students themselves. The debating tournament witnesses a participation that is from across the nation and from other countries. Riviera also organizes a marathon, thus one of the few fests of the country that organizes a sports and cultural fest together. Riviera is a delight to attend to, and if you love fests, this one should sure be on your check list.
6. Spring fest is the life of IIT Kharagpur. It is a 3 days 4 nights event, a time when IIT Kharagpur comes alive with life, music, dance and most importantly with a hundred memories that are created here. Spring fest started in 1960, which makes it one of the oldest college fests of India. And since the last 55 years, this has been the carnival with a perfect blend of fun and competition. There are a plethora of competitions that rock the college during this time, ranging from literary, dramatics to film and photography. What makes students starry eyed for this event is the Perpz – an all day dance floor. The Hard Talk also draw a large intellectual crowd, who gather to hear the various talks by eminent personalities. SF therefore has all that you want, to offer to a huge variety of interests. Spring Fest has been here since half a century.
7. Antaragni, IIT Kanpur:Â Antaragni – The word means the ‘fire within’ and that is what the fest is all about. Every year they come out with a creative theme, and their promise to make the four days of the fest memorable for a life time holds gravity. There are a number of events, the film festival, the dramatics competition and a number of highly creative literary competitions. It is difficult to do justice to the grandeur of the fest that is organized, but the informal steal the show. With a number of creative games such as scavenger hunt, theme based game (last year for the theme outlaw, the game was family mafia), and blind date, the informal taking place till late in the night demands a must presence. The star nights are just amazing, and IIT Kanpur acts as a wonderful host for the huge numbers of colleges participating in the fest. Antaragni definitely lights the fire within, and turns you into a changed person for all the four days of the event.
8. Raagam, NIT Calicut:Â This one has a story behind it. This fest started out as a memorial to Rajan, the student of then CREC who was taken into police custody during Emergency and allegedly died in the custody in 1976. In 1977, All Kerala Rajan memorial music competition was started. However, this reemerged with all its grandeur in 1987, an inter college fest to commemorate Rajan. The fest blends a variety of events and presents to the hundred plus colleges that participate a plethora of over 80 events. What is interesting with Ragam are the workshops that are organized, from Kite Flying to Catering, this has it all. The star night is grand, and Ragam was the first ever college in kerela to bring an International band, this itself tells us a lot about its grandeur and legacy.
9. Waves, the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani — Goa Campus:Â Waves started in 2006 and is a relatively new college fest, and inspite of its baby position in comparison with the others, it has come a long way. The fest, very much in the spirits of Goa, holds an event with a marvelous blend of fun and frolic, devotion, dedication and lots of happiness. It holds its fest in late October-early November time, working the season which makes Goa the tourist hub, in their favor. The special events that Waves, Goa offers include Natyanjali, Fashion Parade and Mr. and Ms. Waves. Sea Rock has gone on to become a national event with several elimination rounds. The workshops organized are very interesting and include classes on mock tail making, siporex art and other such creative arts. The star nights are grand and starry. In short, Waves has everything to make it a fest that is ambitious and grand.
10. Rendezvous, the cultural festival of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi: This one is a meeting, meeting of all the talent in the country that come together to not just compete but also to lose themselves in the atmosphere of the fest. This fest holds four main attractions – Bigwig, which brings together all the dancers across colleges and pits them against each other, Kaleidoscope – this one is for the fashion fiesta in you, this is a fashion show which sees a huge turnover every year, Blitzkreig – the rock band competition and Dhoom – the Indian musical performance by renowned artists. Along with this, a colorful combination of various literary, music, dance and dramatics competitions are organized which makes the fest one of the most looked forward to event of the year. Rendezvous celebrates intellectualism, creativity and the spirit to party. This is an event that you should surely look forward to.