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One day in the life of... Saarang
Sleepless in the woods
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CITYSCAPE SUDHISH KAMATHhangs around for a little over 30 hours at IIT Saarang to get a feel of one of the biggest campus celebrations
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PHOTOS: N. SRIDHARAN AND K.V. SRINIVASAN
TIME TO ROCK Snaps shots from Saarang 2008
One of the biggest concerts at IIT had just ended. Karthik had left the crowd on a high and the crowd, drained off its energy, slowly began to make its way home. At Saarang, however, the day isn’t over yet.
Earlier, the Co-ords had messaged all finalists of the Main Quiz and Scrabble to get to Open Air Theatre by 11 p.m. So there I was with a friend who got through to the finals of Scrabble, IITians and mosquitoes for company at the amphitheatre. Little did I realise that the characters from Big Bang Theory (a sitcom about geeks) were going to come alive into the night.
At an hour considered unearthly, when the whole world chooses to sleep or romance depending on which side of the marriage you are in (go figure), here were a bunch of guys excitedly staying up to have a go at word play and quizzing. Not just the finalists, the Main Quiz is such a hit that it has an audience of geeks too, including some who had come with blankets and pillows.
Strangely, not one girl made it to the finals of the Main Quiz or stayed on as audience either. Not because it was late or they didn’t get permission (Come on, Scrabble had women finalists even if at a one is to eight ratio) but purely because none of them made it. How do you guys know so much about everything, my friend was tempted to ask Nai, her Scrabble partner for the finals. “We get on to Wikipedia anytime we’re free and just keep clicking on the links from there randomly,” said the Mech student. Like “Five Point Someone” huh?
Nai seemed a little offended. Life at IIT isn’t anything like that, he said. “‘Five Point Someone’ was an effort to make people who didn’t get into IIT feel good about themselves then?” Yeah.
One game of Scrabble later, the guys they were playing against totalled up the score with such mind-boggling speed that made me understand why Intel would want these human super-processors. I’ve never seen such public display of passion on winning a board game ever before… Here were guys celebrating screaming “Yes” clenching their fists every time they got an answer or ‘fundaes’ right or formed a word that got them more points.
Nai and my friend went on to win a couple of games and ended up sixth. By the time the five rounds ended, it was six a.m.
Six to nine a.m. is probably the only three hours when there’s very little action on at Saarang. By nine, the Hospi desk starts buzzing with registrations and results, updated schedules and photographs from the previous day’s events are pinned up on the display board.
A few feet away, the sponsor stalls start blasting the music competing with each other for ear-drums. By ten, the crowds are in and the food stalls are doing brisk business. Until two days ago, this was where shy IIT boys would ask pretty girls if they would sign up as their partner for the dance workshop.
Since I had gone home for breakfast after the entire night out, I missed registering for Queen of Sheeba, which I learn is a tradition at IIT hostels.
I catch up with the action reading the in-house newsletter that pretty much damns every event at Saarang and behind-the-scenes gossip. Sample: “Firang female to a frustrated Spons Coord: Where is the Rest Room? Spons Coord manages to hear ‘restroom’ as ‘the Rush’ (the informals event): Go to the Hospi Desk and fill a form. You have to be in teams of ten. If there are more than 15 teams, you can participate only if you get selected in the lucky draw.”
The informals and the workshops are always a big draw. And there I was, all set to judge a short-film making contest along with filmmaker R.V. Ramani and actor/radio producer John Vijay. Apparently, they had got 35 entries from all over the country and ten of these teams were selected and invited to shoot films on the campus under the supervision of IIT volunteers.
The one that cracked us all up was the one from EMRC, Indore, called “Let’s Have Coffee?” about an introvert who sits up nights to chat up with a mystery girl.
Next door, Just A Minute was in progress as moderator Somu kept the house in splits with his tongue-in-cheek remarks and topics. IITian Anand Natarajan, who ultimately went on to win JAM, kept us entertained with his quips. “My mother likes eighteen-year-old…” he started before someone buzzed and Anand continued: “daughter-in-law.”
By the time it ended, Singapore-based Firebrands was already on stage with “We Don’t Need No Education” and “Smoke on the Water”. Catching channa batura from the food stalls for dinner, I headed to OAT (open-air theatre) for the second half of the concert featuring Prestorika who got straight into the act with “Enter Sandman”.
The guys swore more than they spoke before being told not to. Head-bangers lost their heads as people were tossed into the air all through the concert before the guys wound up with “Fear of the Dark” having the crowd sing and sway. What a finish!
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