IIT Bombay organised its annual science and technology festival from 1st to
3rd of February 2002. Into its fifth year, Techfest has come a long way
since its inception in 1998. The fest has always aimed at creating a
platform for the students, academia and the industry to get together. It is
not only the biggest fest of its kind in India but also one of the biggest
in Asia.
In spite of working with such low budgets this year, both Techfest and Mood Indigo have put up a remarkable show, the best we've seen in the past several years. Working in crises surely boosts performance. - Dean of Student Affairs (DOSA).
Techfest, this year, was different in the sense that all other smaller fests like LastStraw, Yantriki, Chemsplash organised by the departments were merged into one and consolidated under the same label. The number of outside-Bombay contingents soared past 100, decidedly the highest that we've seen in all these years. One look at the LT lawns in the evening or the SAC at night while the event was on would make one realise the amount of participation that it witnessed this year. Contingents from as far as Simla, Patiala and Tamilnadu landed up on campus over that weekend. People from Pune and Aurangabad came in unprecedented numbers, the largest contingent coming from Cummins college, Pune (a whopping 140!). As many as 1150 people were accommodated this year, compared to 950 at MI 2001.
TF 2002 accomodated over 1100 visitors from all across the country on campus - the highest number of people ever accommodated during any fest organised by us.
Techfest, this year round, seemed much more content-oriented and rich with events. The star attractions at the fest were A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam and the Mercedes Benz SL 500. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam addressed the gathering as part of the Lecture Series on Day 2 at the Convo. The House was jam-packed and the lecture was also relayed live in LT (details in a separate article). The other star was the shining black Mercedes SL 500 that was displayed at the SAC. The car was showcased for the first time in Bombay after its launch at AutoExpo in New Delhi earlier this year. Numbers flocked to the SAC to have a look at the powerful and mean machine.
Apart from A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam, the Lecture Series included lectures by Dr. Ehud Shapiro on DNA computing by Video-conferencing from Israel, Mr. Rajat Gupta,MD McKinsey by Video Conferencing and Dr. P.G. Poonacha's lecture 'Risk = Freedom' on Entrepreneurship qualities. The Workshops were in the areas of Forensics, Robotics, AI and communication by HAM. Genomics and GPS/GIS workshops were also held by the Chemical and Civil departments respectively. The HUB was decidely the most happening and active place on campus and a hostful of demos, quizzes and documentaries kept the stage alive all through the day.
The competitions in Last Straw and Yantriki attracted huge participation and were a treat to watch. The Sci-tech Olympiad was the flag-ship quiz event at Techfest and had cool prizes up for the grabs. Among the exhibitions at the Techfest were Panorama and Air force Exhibition. Panorama was IIT Bombay's R&D Exhibition and looked back at the research done in IITB in the past decades.
The Technoholix area at SAC had some good games and movies that made the day relaxing and fun. IITians were left asking for more chance of participation in the 'Amaze'. Though the people enjoyed the movies played in the OAT, few hard-core fans were cribbing about the lack of any sci-fi movies, and more importantly, about the overall choice of movies.
This year, Techfest was webcasted live on the internet. The alumni and other corporates were informed by the newsletter so that they could watch Techfest live.
The participation level of IIT Bombay at the fest was slightly disappointing. Although events like Yantriki, Open Hardware and the Sci-tech olympiad showcased a lot of the IITB talent, we were barely represented in most other competitions. There was only a single entry from IITB in the Contraption contest. Only one IITian team (which ultimately came last) made it to the finals of the Open Software contest. We IITians ought to get rid of this complacent attitude of ours and realise that there can be people more talented than us. And that brand value is not a yardstick for quality.
Zishaan M. Hayath is a second year dual degree student in the Civil Engineering
Department. He can be contacted at d0zmh@civil.iitb.ac.in.