Source: Gaurav Sharma
The most common part of any B-school Curriculum is the loads of reports, cases and projects along with endless (mindless) meetings. The case is not very different here in IIT Kanpur. With All our time being invested in Study and related activities, a fire (frustration) rapidly gets accumulated in us.
There is no fire without any Desire. And all this desire, along with lots of frustration comes out and is doused by the Cultural Festival of IIT Kanpur-Antaragni. It has been very aptly named so.
The spirit of IIT is brought forth with this festival. There is a lot of camaraderie and fun. Teams from various colleges come to IIT, and with new faces around, the campus has a lot of vigor and energy. IIT looks like new, well lit and bustling with activities outside the class. The real driving force behind this is the extraordinary dedication of the students who work very hard to make this fest a success.
This festival is a four day panorama of talents of people from IIT Kanpur and from other parts of the country. There is a great deal of dancing, quizzing, eating and what not! In this festival, I had the privilege to see a few of my real maggu friends after a lot of time , waking up from thier deep hibernation into IIT Style studies. Another interesting aspect of the festival is the problem of having to make choices-The Tradeoff's.
So every evening I have to make a decision- what program should I go to and enjoy. Is this program a better choice as compared to the disco, where I have a chance to see all the beautiful faces from outside IIT Kanpur. Should I go to the Kavi Sammelan or being an avid quizzer, go to the quiz. Or should I Spend the evening banging my head listening to fiery Rock or should I jive to the beats and the rhythm of Dandiya. The various societies of IIT Kanpur come alive during this festival. The quizzes are par excellence and the competition for the literary programs is nearly perfect (just like the perfect competition in economics - what man! A study based analogy)
Antaragni is a real showcase of the talent of the students. There were near professional performances in dance competitions, fashion show and the singing competitions. This festival brings out the real and interesting mix of the Indian and the western cultures. There were many enthralling performances. I was really amazed by the grace and the expressions of the dancers performing the classical Indian dances and the energy and the rhythm of the western dancers.
A very important part of this year's Antaragni was the talk on "India Inspired" by a group of high profile Speakers. This list included eminent people like Arun Shourie, besides the high flying Alumni of IIT Kanpur. The discussion was very interesting and a real eye opener.
So after many, many days, I slept at 4.00 AM, but this time not studying rather, after having danced all night and the customary "Glass of Joy". I slept soundly as I had no bad dreams about the forthcoming term papers, report submissions and the surprisingly surprising in-class quizzes. For these 4 days IIT Kanpur really gets hot. I guess it is everybody's antaragni.
But a very important feature of this festival is the amazing security and the long curvaceous lines, stretching endlessly. I felt real pity for all those hopeful boys who were waiting in the lines, hoping that a girl comes from somewhere and helps them get inside.
I myself faced a serpentine queue for entry to the rock show, and finally when I somehow managed to scrape in I had to wait for two hours before the show could begin. But all these hassles are nothing compared to the amount of manipulation required to get inside the venue for the Fashion Show. The line this time stretched for around a Kilometer and a half. All the boys haggling and jostling among themselves just to get a glimpse of the Soni Kudi's from NIFD and other Institutes. And the scene at the end of the fashion show was like that of a mass exodus, what with a junta of three thousand moving towards the convocation grounds for the show of Singer KK.
Any program is never complete without its fair share of hassles. So, we have a lack of passes, obnoxious security and the long delays. (I almost went to sleep before the rock show began). But really what is life without any strife, and thus all the students take this in their gallant strides. Even though they wait in the lines the 'enthu' is never lessened neither are the smiles. The smiles radiate the Antaragni which drive each and every IITian all the year to perform well and make the atmosphere really warm and cordial.
In the final show, the convocation ground was teeming with masses. Singer KK enthralled everybody with his masterful renditions. It was a lovely ending to the festival.
But after this festival another Antaragni is lit inside the students, the inner fire to perform and keep on enjoying life while performing( in this ultra competitive and busy world of IIT Kanpur).
As they all say here, "IIT ka Tempo High Hai", and Antaragni is just a reflection of the tempo of IIT K.
