How festivals in NIT have changed over last four years.....

Being a part of this Institute for last four years, I have observed the transition in the way we celebrate our various festivals. All thanks to Ram who has suggested me to write on this topic.

Confluence 2k6: Under the able leadership of Mr Rajvalvah the event was a great success. We had participants from all over Orissa and in house too. It was covered by national TV and was later broadcasted.

Spring fest 2k6: The show was average. The management tried its best to organize events and it was only the Jal band from whom we had so many expectations, betrayed us. However the event was crowded and everything was planned.

Confluence 2k7: The anamoly in the system had started this year. I feel that the managemnet that was elected didnot realized their responsibility. They didnot realized that the confluence2k6 had set the standards very high and they have to carry it ahead, instead due to lack of co ordination with other institutes in Orissa the public turn over dried.

Spring fest 2k7: The spring fest of 2006 introduced very new concepts of Gudguddi and many more events. we had Khailash Kher as our celebrity. With new ideas and energy it was a low budget hit.

Confluence 2k8: Come confluence 2k8, in the mid of economic boom and Microsoft streching its helping hands. The management was good too. But there were some basic mistakes commited by both students and management that set up the fire. Also with so much of money involved the system had grown much complicated to be handled by team of students who were facing both internal and external pressure. In midst of all there was a job fair by Microsoft and rest was all chaos. To add on to the chaos was the comming up of E cell and time and again trying to change the system.

Spring fest 2k8: Spring 2k8 with Satya leading from front tried almost single handledly to manage the events, he got little support from his team to fulfill the high dreams. However they worked well to bring on Kunal Ganjewala with a heafty sum and the show was a super duper Hit. The event were interresting but standards were ok. It was a high budget and main event driven season.

Confluence 2k9: A failure in short. The major contributer to this failure is the failed policy of director to lift the student elections for different posts and to add on to it the recession. A low budget and poor show. With mini techfest earlier this year, the public had hoped for better performance. The team was not to be blamed. There were indivisuals who were capable of delivering but was not given the power and they infact did that to best of their ability.

Spring fest 2k9: The show is on, but the energy is low and also the dates fall in summer. We do hope something is there in package, lets hope for the best.

Lets try to look into the causes of this down trending:

1) The first to be blamed is Supreme court of India, which made ragging illegal. I do agree ragging is not good, but the way the law was implemented bared the senior junior intraction. We do agree that first two to three months were tough as a fresher, but then the seniors are your best friends and good guides after that. The present senario is just confused and full of carelessness. One cannot expect a fresher to understand the culture of the Institute without seniors guidance.

2) The system has moved and has developed into such a fragmantic one that everyone has forgoten the entire goal of an Institute. By the system, I mean both students and faculties. With Institute trying to interfere into personal life of students with hostel suffling policy,  strict attendance norms, lifting up the elections and many more has led to this situation. And also with students over days growing selfish, motivated by lot of other factors, fragmanted among themselves has also let us down. We need to understand that we cannot change a system drastically, we have to be a part of system and try to evolve it through stages.

The Institute should feel the urgency to address these problems and come up with sustainable solutions. These festivals are integral part of a student's life. If the problem is not addressed now, then I fear the extinction of smile and happiness from NIT Rourkela.