Spring Fest is the annual cultural fest of Indian Institute of Technology or IIT Kharagpur. It is a large college festival of India which was started in 1960 and the tradition follows up till today. This was the 59thedition of the fest and was held for a span of three days from 26thJanuary to 28thJanuary 2018, with footfall of over 25,000 and 350 major participating colleges across the country. The theme of the festival this year was ‘Tribal Treble- A Primeval Folklore’. The festival was loaded with Professional Shows, Fun Competitions and Events, Workshops, Pronites, Concerts, Guest Lectures and much more.
The team of Spring Fest 2018 consists of student volunteers who work for a social cause and to promote resourcefulness and imagination. The team was divided into several departments like Events, Publicity and Marketing, Media and Public Relations, Competitions, Creatives, Finance, Pronites, Sponsorship & Marketing, Web Team and the Design Team headed by the Executive Head. Spring Fest 2018 works for a social cause every year as well. The Social Cause of Spring Fest 2018 was‘Umang- Standup to Stigma’.
However, any event is impossible without the sponsors, so the few of the event associates and sponsors of Spring Fest 2018 were: MRF (Title Sponsor), In Association with- One Plus, Driven By- Hero, Powered by- Colors, VH1, Presented By- The Telegraph, Strategic Sponsor- Nomura, HRX(Fitness Partner); Speaking Facades, Tata Motors, SBI, KKR (Major Sponsors); CESC, Oil India Ltd. (Corporate Social Responsibility Partner); Bengal Energy, Tata Projects, CERP Store, WBSE DCL, Affine, Sparx, Wipro, Krishna Kali, Tata Salt, TCG Digital, Sam Disk, Cubix, Only Vimal, PFC Consulting LTD., Tata Green Batteries, Soil (School Of Bussiness Design), Winkies, PNB and Khanna Publishers(Event sponsors);Other Partners: Snickers (Chocolate Partner), Fastrack(Time Partner), United Colors of Benetton (Youth Partner), Znet Live (Web Hosting Partner), Sasta Sundar (Healthcare Partner), Jet Airways (Airline Partner), In Shorts (Media Partner), British Council of India (Knowledge Partner), the Incredible Photographers (Official Photography Partner) and Paytm(Payment Partner); the Gift Partner: WROGN(Lifestyle Partner), Bluedart (Logistics Partner), Amust (Natural Water Partner), Wiley (Knowledge Partner), SoundBot (Quality Audio Partner), the Man Company
(Grooming Partner), Duke (Fashion wears Partner), Turtle (Fashion Partner), Plivo (Exclusive SMS Partner), Nilons (Pasta Partner), Zebronics(Electronics Partner), Rare Planet(Rare Collection Partner), OROSILBER, Bisleri(Hydration Partner), Safe Express(Official Supply Chain Partner), Jellytos (Delight Partner), Yoga Bar(Nutrition bar Partner), Stacle(Sunglasses Partner), Aquatica(Adventure Partner), One for Blue (Style Partner), Kaweco (Exuberant Partner), Kulture Shop (Design Partner), Comfy Bean Bags(Bean Bag Partner), Koyo Lock(Gift Partner), Portonics(Exclusive Gadgets Partner), Win pens(Exclusive Stationery Partner), Gatsby (the Gift Partner) andPilot(Writing Partner).However, there were few Event Associations as well and they were: LVDS, VRDC, TSM, Balcony TV, Write India Publishers, Kolkata Bloggers, Inkstation, Resonance, the Story Graphers, Jam Steady, Akshar Theatre, Ungoor and many more.
SOCIAL CAUSE
SOCIAL CAUSEThere are a very few colleges fests which work for a social cause and Spring Fest IIT Kharagpur is one of those. Spring Fest works for a social cause every year, for the betterment of the people and the society. The social cause for Spring Fest 2018 IIT Kharagpur this year was ‘Umang – Standup to Stigma’. It was a step taken to spread awareness about Mental illness and to break the barriers and the stigma that engulfs mental health issues. ‘Umang’was an initiative to make the maximum number of people aware of the fact that there is nothing to be ashamed of if you are suffering from mental health issues as there are chances that you know someone who has been personally affected by a mental health disorder as only half of these affected receive treatment, often because of the stigma attached to mental health.
‘Umang- Standup to Stigma’was dedicated to the Mental Health Problems, and in order to expand the program many people participated in this throughout Kharagpur and some other cities as well. The slogan of Umang was ‘Never give-up on someone with Mental illness. When I, becomes we illness becomes wellness’. There are many types of Mental Health problems that need to be faced and this initiative was a step taken so that people help the patients to fight the deadly diseases in a humble way and without being ashamed of anything.
‘Umang- Standup to Stigma’was a very thoughtful and noble cause of Spring Fest 2018 to save lives of people and to promote Mental well-being for all, so that everyone can help people in the long-run as small things make a big difference.
EVENTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Spring Fest 2018 was declared open with the commencement of various activities including competitions and events, workshops, guest lectures, the pronites and more. The events were loaded with performances from every dimension and around 11 genres and over 130 events; be it art, dance, photography, street plays, fashion shows and what not!? Great numbers of events in various cultural genres were held and many international artists have also performed in Spring Fest IIT Kharagpur. Before the commencement of the fest the Prefest was also held on 25thJanuary, 2018 which was like a warm-up session for the festival. The three day carnival was a complete package with hell lot of surprises and celebrity aplenty. However the highlights of the festival were the Zumba Workshop with Zin Ahana, the Game Fest, various Fun Events, Silent Dj, Global Music Fest and many others.
PREFEST- 25thJanuary, 2018
PREFEST- 25thJanuary, 2018The Prefest of Spring Fest 2018 was celebrated in order to give a warm welcome to the official festival to be held from the next day onwards. It included various fragments which certainly raised the curtains of Spring Fest 2018 beautifully. The activities held on this day included the KKR Auction which was a Mock Auction, in which a team had to be formed out of four, Rangmanch Lights Practice, the electrifying concert of The Local Trainand the last activity of the day was the Silent Djto give Spring Fest 2018 the perfect start.
DAY ONE- 26th January, 2018
The Republic Day morning brought us to the Day one of Spring Fest 2018 included competitions and events like the Game Fest, the Rangmanch Prelims, Shuffle (the Dance Event), A Mighty Pen (Journalism based event), ETMS Sound Check, ETMS Production, BRAN-D (a Brand Designing Event), SpEnt Quiz (Quiz of the Glamorous world), Inauguration, Hip-Hop Workshop, Perpz Dj and Silent Dj. However, the other highlights of the day were the performances by Murray Molloy -the Sword Swallower (in the Street Artist section),the live performance of the band- Bodhi Route, Santhal Classical Performance, the motivating Guest Lecture by Laxmi Agarwalwho is an Indian campaigner with Stop Acid Attacks and yes last but not the least, the Pronite with the music composer duo, Sachin Jigar headlining Anubhav; their performances made the audience dive into the depths of music and the night ended on a soulful note.
DAY TWO- 27thJanuary, 2018
DAY TWO- 27thJanuary, 2018Day two of Spring Fest was full of surprises as it included various activities like the Wildfire Prefinals(the Rock Band Competition), Centrifuge (the Dance Event), Rangmanch(Event of the Dramatics section), Sketch-IT, Dumb-c, Panch Parmeshwar (an impromptu debate competition), Great adventure, Chef’s Corner (Cooking Competition), MBT Quiz, Nukkad Prelims, The Game Fest, LSD Groups, Face Canvas, Soapaholic, Open Mic, India Calling (The Social Case Study Competition), JTGW Wordgame, Rangoli, Printmaking Workshop, Earthian Sustainability Quiz, Kavi Samelan, Food Carving, Perpz Dj, the Classical Evening and Silent Dj. The other sparkling highlights of the day were the Guest Lecture with Sanjay Kumar Aratla; the Hindi Poetry Slam (Open Mic Poetry) with the members of inkstationa group of exceptionally talented poets including- Sudeep Pagedar, Rakesh Tiwari, Ramneek Singh andAbhishek Choudhry; the performance of Kunal Kamra in the Standup Comedy evening, his performance filled the evening with humor and laughter; the performance of Christian Brock– a fingerstyle guitarist from Denmark and Limor Ballas– a singer from Israel in the Global Music Festival; the Street Artist event with David Krzyzowski (Freestyle Footballer). The last event of the day was theVh1 Supersonic Nite- starring Diego Miranda, DJ Mag #56and the supporting act by Siana Catherine; their thrilling performance certainly set the stage on blast and the day ended on a musical note.
DAY THREE- 28thJanuary, 2018
DAY THREE- 28thJanuary, 2018Day 3 started with a sunny morning with a blend of Competitions and Events, Workshops, Guest Lectures and more. Among these were the Knight Run(a 6 km marathon event throughout the 2,100 acre campus of IIT Kharagpur), Two for a Tango (a Dance Event), Paint It, SF Idol (Solo Singing Competition), the English Poetry Slam, Mixology(mocktail making workshop and competition),Biz Tech Quiz, National Level Debate, LSD Solo, The Blood Donation Camp, Panache (the Paper Dress Designing Competition), JAM (an event for the grammar Nazis),Shake a Leg (the Dance Event), Top it to win it (Cupcake Dressing Workshop and Competition), Sargam, the Pen Hatching Workshop, Picture Tale (a professional photo story event), I, ME, MYSELF(Event of the Dramatics section), Desert Making Worksgop, Hilarity Ensuses (a Stand Up comedy event), Breakfree (a talent hunt event), Finger Painting, Impromptu (the extempore speaking competition), the Coffee Brewing Workshop, Perpz and the Salsa Workshop. The finals of the competitive events were held on this day including the Wildfire, Nukkad, the Great Adventure, the Game Fest, Shuffle and theNational Level Debate. However, the flashing highlights of the day were the Guest Lecture with Rajat Sharmawho is popular for his famous talk show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ and is Chairman and Editor-in Chief of India TV; The performancesin the Street Artist Section including David Krzyzowski (Freestyle Footballer), Industribe Multi-Arts Collective– a fire duo from Canada and the BeatUR (Beat-Boxer).The Global Music Fest by the Mischief Rock Band and Oskar Stenmark from Sweden, he specializes in trumpet and flugelhorn and is also a composer and educator in brass instruments; both of their performances made the crowd of Spring Fest 2018 go boom. This was the most energetic nights of Spring Fest 2018 till now.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONHow could the last day of Spring Fest 2018 IIT Kharagpur end without the Pronite– PAL, the fourth and the biggest of all the Pronites. It was headlined by none other than, the very versatile singer and composer; Shantanu Mukherjee popularly known as SHAAN. His performance gave Spring Fest 2018 the perfect ending with the audience falling in love with the most romantic songs of our era as he performed on the final night of the fest.
The Tribal Treble of the 59thedition of the Spring Fest- The annual cultural festival of IIT Kharagpur, 2018came to an end; leaving behind memories for everyone to cherish all their lives and to grow, gain and learn. The delightful ride of this festival came to an abeyance until Spring Fest 2019.
Disclaimer : The images used in the article has been picked from the official site of Spring Fest 18
