Festivals
IIT Kharagpur has festivals like Spring Fest, Kshitij. Spring Fest, the annual socio-cultural fest of IIT Kharagpur is the largest student managed socio-cultural fest of Asia. It is held in January. Spring Fest includes cultural competitions in addition to stage shows (known as Star-nights) by singers and performers such as Sunidhi Chauhan, Vishal-Shekhar, K.K., Pritam, Kailash Kher, Shaan, Breathe, Led Zepplica, Parikrama, Indian Ocean etc. The magnitude of Spring Fest is huge and attracts participation from more than 150 colleges across India. IIT Kharagpur organises a techno-management festival known as Kshitij. It is the biggest techno-management festival of Asia with a total budget of more than 1.5 crore and a total prize money of Rs 50 lakh. An annual techno-management festival organised in January or February, it receives participation from foreign universities as well. Events include technical workshops, seminars, and competitions.
Robotix, the annual robotics competition held by IIT Kharagpur, is organised during Kshitij. IIT Kharagpur organises an annual inter-collegiate sports and games meet known as Shaurya. It is held in the autumn semester in October. Events include cricket, hockey, volleyball, basketball, badminton, table tennis, lawn tennis and aquatics. Workshops for archery, boxing and handball are held.
Illumination, known as Illu, is a festival unique to IIT Kharagpur. It is inspired from the day of Diwali (the festival of lights) and is usually held on the day of Diwali itself. It is held as a competition among student halls. As part of the Illumination festival, all halls build vertical panels of bamboo (called Chatais) on which thousands of lamps (diyas) are mounted forming outlines of people or things; illustrating an event, or a place of importance. The chatais may reach a height of 6 metres (20 ft), with nearly 20,000 lighted lamps. The lamps on the chatais are lighted with all other light sources switched off, to showcase the art-panels made by the flickering lamps. On the same day as Illumination, the Rangoli Competition is organised as an inter-hall event. Rangolis of exquisite detail and shading—measuring around 3.5 by 3.5 metres (11 by 11 ft) —are constructed using coloured powders, crushed bangles, and pebbles. Interplay of light and shadow and ambient music are part of the display.
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering organises Bitwise IIT Kharagpur, an online programing contest annually in February. Programing and algorithmic challenges are given in a span of 12 hours. In Bitwise 2011, 5000 teams participated from 80 countries. Bitwise 2012 was held on 12 February 2012.Bitwise 2013 is scheduled on 10 February 2013.
In January the Entrepreneurship Cell organises a Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which consists of guest lectures, workshops, a start-up camp and other events relating to entrepreneurship and starting-up.
In August 2011, Space Technology Students' Society at IIT Kharagpur organized the National Students' Space Challenge, the first space-science and engineering series of national-level competitions for students in India.
The Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture conducts its annual techincal meet Samudramanthan in the month of March every year providing a platform for all the Naval Architects across the country to compete and share their knowledge in the field
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Famous quotes containing the word festivals:
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)