Fests in KGP: 101

College fests are probably one of the most awaited events for a typical engineering college fresher who just spent two years (or more) preparing for JEE (and acing it, congrats!). Sadly now these fests are restricted to online media, and honestly, the experience does not even come close to the offline fun. Hence this article is an attempt to give you guys a taste of what the fests would have been like, had someone not eaten a bat. IIT Kharagpur hosts two fests, both of them during January. Kshitij (abbreviated KTJ) is the techno-management fest and Spring Fest (SF) is the social & cultural festival. Kshitij is usually held a week before SF, but we will talk about Spring Fest first because as a fresher, you’ll probably care more about SF than you care about your tutorials.

Your experience of Spring Fest would generally depend on the kind of person you are. For some, it’s just a much-needed break from mess food because of the food stalls, some people would go home to enjoy the ‘free holiday’, and some would use the time to make progress in that game which they couldn’t play for weeks. But most people would spend three consecutive days enjoying countless events, hanging out with friends and making a ton of memories. The usual, largely uneventful atmosphere of KGP suddenly becomes electrifying because of all the lights, decoration and most importantly, the people buzzing the campus. Students from all over the country visit the campus and hence improve the diversity of the campus which is otherwise filled mostly with ‘geeks’. Over three days, there are so many events and competitions running simultaneously that it becomes humanly impossible to attend all of them. The events are based on themes like Dance, Music, Dramatics, Photography, Literature, Quizzing, Fine Arts etc. and are held at multiple locations like SF Arena, Gymkhana and Vikramshila. Some of the highly popular competitions and events include the Wildfire (Band competition), Nukkad, DJ War, Shuffle (Street Dance competition), Zumba workshop etc. The Salsa workshop is also a very popular event, but it is also one of the most hated events by the single (read: most) people on the campus for obvious reasons. Silent DJ is another popular and unique event where you would find a lot of people dancing awkwardly amongst their friend groups. SF also hosts an international carnival wherein dozens of international artists from various fields come to the campus to display their talents. A lot of celebrities also visit the campus during SF for panel discussions, lecture series and promotions.

The most awaited and notable events are the Pro-Nites, the biggest events in Spring Fest, which usually involve live concerts on all 3/4 nights of SF by some of the most famous musicians and bands. The likes of Amit Trivedi, Kailash Kher, KK, Papon, Sunidhi Chauhan, The Local Train, Indian Ocean etc. have performed here in the past. After the Pro-Nite (which usually ends at 10 PM), you would find huge crowds at all the night canteens, CCD and other eateries since everyone missed the mess dinner (and no one likes it anyway). Post dinner you would find the campus buzzing with people throughout the night. Most people engage in what is typically called an ‘SF night-out’, without which the SF experience is considered incomplete. You may find people who are absolute strangers to each other, bonding over games of Antakshari, huddled around bonfires and enjoying the whole night together. People make bonfires or walk around the campus, singing at the top of their voice or just discussing random life philosophies and doing all sorts of ‘unusual’ things. On the last night, this is usually accompanied by the feeling that the fairytale is over, the gloom of pending assignments and tests sets in. Still, the heart-warming satisfaction of having made memories which one would cherish for a lifetime, makes everything feel better.

Next up, we have Kshitij. Awaited by a lot of tech, management and business enthusiasts all over India, Kshitij spans over three-four days consisting of a plethora of events encompassing vast genres of technology and management. Some of the flagship competitions are Robowars, Laws of Motion (Aircraft design event), B-Plan competition, Sand Rover competition, Tech Quiz, Biz Quiz, Overnite (coding competition), Source Code and a lot more. Indian Case Challenge is another flagship event which draws a lot of attention and is held in association with B-Club. Code-O-Soccer is a Robo-soccer event conducted by KRSSG. There are also some other robotics-related events which are organised by the Technology Robotix Society.

Kshitij also invites renowned guest speakers from varied fields to deliver special lectures. Some of the previous guests include Simon Taufel, Alan Emtage, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Dr Jacob Cohen, Satyajit Bhatkal, Dov Frohman, Gaurav Taneja and many more. A vast number of exhibitions and workshops are also organised to help the participants in keeping up with the recent developments in the technological and corporate world. The workshops are conducted free of cost in association with reputed organisations and attract enthusiastic participation from students. The aesthetic Kshitij Arena is also a notable part of the fest where several DJ events are conducted, and people are found chilling in the arena after the hectic day filled with dozens of competitions and events. To further uplift the spirit of the event, a stand-up or musical performance is also held every night. All in all, the campus becomes a live exhibition of both toil and fun.

Apart from SF and KTJ, there are multiple fests which are organised by various departments and cells within IIT KGP. In January the Entrepreneurship Cell organises a Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which consists of guest lectures, workshops, a start-up camp, meets and other events and competitions in the genre of entrepreneurship and starting up. There are several departmental fests which include dozens of technical events, workshops and guest lectures from renowned experts in the field. The Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture conducts its annual technical meet Samudramanthan in the month of March every year. There are also other department festivals like Impulse (organized by Department of Electrical Engineering), Esperanza (Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering), Composit (Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering), Great Step (Department of Mining Engineering), Prakriti (Department of Agriculture and Food Engineering), Prithvi (Department of Geology and Geophysics) and Megalith (Department of Civil Engineering). The National Students’ Space Challenge is an annual space-themed fest which is organized by Space Technology Student Society (spAts) and organises various competitions in the field of robotics, rocketry science, machinery, data applications etc. Moreover, various workshops, case study events, quiz events and other Astronomy related events along with Guest Lectures and Webinars by prominent personalities from various Space organisations and institutions are conducted. Hence throughout the year, students have no dearth of opportunities to learn or compete in any field in which they are interested and enjoy alongside.

Although this black and white piece of text can’t do complete justice to describing the colourful experience of the ‘fest days’, we still hope you got a taste of what to expect for the first time you get to experience them. You shall still have an online version of these fests presented by the respective hardworking teams, but the joy of dancing your hearts out to your favourite song over at pronites and returning back to your hall with your wingmates expressing how amazing of a day it was, is an experience that cannot be replaced and is worth waiting for.