Diwali Dhamaka!

A certain dark night that witnessed a splendid sparkle of flickering flames and fireworks, a certain Diwali that shall remain a fond remembrance!

Diwali ‘09 was the first student managed event organised at IIT Bhubaneswar. Celebrations commenced on the eve of Diwali. That evening began with an invocation to the Lord above, as everyone geared up for a night of surprises. The dramatics society, ‘Fourth Wall’, presented a street play “Nukkad”, that triggered a laughter riot in the audience, as it subtly delivered its noble message of a smokeless, noiseless and a cracker free Diwali. An excellent portrayal of a diya and a cracker bickering, it was the noiseless diya that gives itself away, quite unselfish as it exhausts, which ultimately won a deafening applause. A series of melodies that followed made the audience all the more retrospective, the place buzzed with anonymous hums as people revelled in the songs. Onlookers were dazed by the rhythmic moves of dancers from our Dance society which put up the next show. “Minute to fame” a programme meant to involve the spectators, had an overwhelming participation, toddlers and kids with oodles of confidence climbed up the stage to show off their talents. Just toning the cheer, making fun funnier, the game “Just like that” kept the confusion sustained. It had everyone wondering “just like what”, even as it was an engaging game!

Yet another night ended, the young and old rocked the dance floor, inebriated with an unbridled festivity of life.

The festival day invited its own essence. Our Fine Arts society held a mass Rangoli competition. One concluded life indeed is a symphony of colours, while watching rangolis taking shape. Each one had an inherent theme to ponder about. A magnificent illumination highlighting our institute logo was the charm of the evening.

Every year, Diwali shall remind us of this manoeuvre, rake up our memories to remind us of the scent of oil lamps, flickering flames that we persevered to save from the breeze and the exact festive moods that we bore. Ah! How well we shall remember!

-- Lipsa Bharati

The Semester That Was- Initiation

The First Semester at Bhubaneswar has drawn to a close and it was high time that we kept you readers updated on the semester that was. So here we start on the first of the series of threads.

The journey began on the 15^th of July, 2009 for the first year students with their orientation programme organised by the institute. A first time plan by the administration- actually to enable them buy some time ahead of the second phase of counselling- was no short of admirable for the guys. An opportunity to gain knowledge of industry trends and more importantly, an exquisite chance to get acquainted with their comrades.

The second year students joined them all in Bhubaneswar on the 20^th July 2009 and IIT Bhubaneswar got into full force of its operation in Bhubaneswar on 22^nd of July with its foundation day ceremony-a high placed affair-presided over by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Orissa himself. The event was a perfect starter-with the Director spelling out the plans and other dignitaries gracing the occasion with their august presence. The gravity of the event’s significance in their lives-the commemoration of their institute’s foundation day- sank into the hearts of the students and they walked out with a resolve to tread their path to the pinnacle of success. The night also witnessed the performance of Aruna Mohanty – eminent Odissi dancer –troupe enthralling the audience with their impressive show. What preceded the foundation day ceremony was an event of significance-the students going to the main campus for a tree plantation drive.

With a great start to their life at Bhubaneswar, the students were thoroughly ready looking up to their path ahead-to leave their footprints in the annals of history. What followed was a period of what could be tagged a lull - not in the heavy meaning of it though. There is no denying the fact not all things go the ideal way right from its beginning. The institute activities were off to a silent start with classes, followed by more classes and labs and not much scope for the extras, a college life needs to include - thanks to the slow paced work culture of the people concerned. No doubt exploring the new city kept the guys interested. That phase of stillness thankfully did not prolong with the setting up of facilities necessary for extracurricular and starting of the student societies. (Look here to get a detailed report of the societies)

Time flew. Before the students realised, they were already two months into their stay at their haven and found themselves at the pressing end of mid-semester exams only to be thrown next into the comfort zone of their homes for Durga Pooja vacation. This line is indeed symbolic of how quickly and waywardly things progressed in that tenure.Or probably we failed to realise it was only a blessing in disguise as inferred from what ensued in the later part of the semester- a timeline bubbling with events, a true feast to the hunger of the enthusiastic guys and girls.

All those and much more in the posts to come.

By the way did you check what the future has got in store at IIT BBS ? Check here.