Event Overflow – September ’22

September – a month loaded with a plethora of events as IIIT made its way back to pre-pandemic state. There was certainly neither a dearth of activities nor free time as the average IIIT-ian juggled assignments, sleepless nights, midsems, FHC open-mic, octave and for the very few, prom.

FHC Open-Mic

The Frivolous Humour Club’s Open-Mic was held on the 6th of September. Volunteers were observed sweeping the water off the amphitheatre stage on the day to make space for the comics who signed up to show how unfunny they really were.

Some performers made jokes that brought about waves of laughter in the audience while some were jokes themselves. All manners of expected topics were covered ranging from, but not limited to, OBH, Bakul, IIIT workload and casual discrimination.

ISAQC

The last couple of months saw the formalisation of the IIIT Society for Applied Quantum Computing (ISAQC), a club dedicated to quantum computing. The club has organised sessions on quantum computing for beginners as well as the familiar. Further, Anurudh Peduri, a IIIT alumnus  and a PhD candidate at the Ruhr University Bochum, gave a notable talk on Insights into Quantum Algorithms & Complexity.

Music on campus

The much-anticipated Octave, the first event of the cultural council for the current academic year, was unfortunately moved to the evening of September 14th from its original date of September 7th.

The four houses put on outstanding performances for Octave, which drew tremendous applause from so many enthusiastic IIITians that the amphitheatre was packed to capacity. The performers had less than half an hour to fit in a range of performances, from Western to Indian Classical – a task they managed to accomplish with great success. The diverse selection of music offered something for everyone. The competition was won by Aakash.

Another very exciting event that was conjured up by the club were the impromptu Underground performances. The idea was fairly simple – the club selects a place and time, usually midnight, and everyone gets the news about it only through word of mouth. There have been two iterations of these informal jamming sessions – one in Himalaya and another near NBH.

The Music Club is also set to conduct its flagship event, Unplugged, in October after a gap of three long years.

ICPC and programming club

The programming club hosted ICPC sessions in the offline mode after a long time much to the delight of those interested in the competition. Four teams from IIIT made it through the strict qualification standards to the regionals in Amritapuri, Pune-Gwalior, and Kanpur.

The theory group and the programming club also worked together to offer a talk on High Performance Computing – an exciting field that deals with solving computational problems efficiently.

Night Cricket

Over half a century teams competed in the Night Cricket tournament held on the 23rd and 24th of September. The campus was buzzing with activity at night with IIITians making their way to the football ground to cheer on their friends and boo against those who didn’t have their favour – in a friendly competition spirit of course. The multilingual commentary was particularly interesting with students giving their thoughts on the players in various languages.

The competition concluded with the team Anarva NC22 taking home the laurels.

Durga pooja and Garba Night

Durga Puja and Garba Night were successfully conducted by the SLC and greatly appreciated by IIITians. All students on campus were invited to the Garba night, where they were encouraged to try out Dandiya and Garba.

Silver Jubilee Celebration

WIth IIIT turning 25, Silver Jubilee celebrations commenced in Himalaya on September 2nd with an inaugural session by Dr Gullapalli Nageswara Rao, Founder of the L V Prasad Eye Institute. There were multiple cultural performances by IIITians such as a dance choreographed by the Dance Crew and a talk organised by LitClub. Additionally, on September 4th at the amphitheatre, the cultural wing of SLC and Sanskriti Foundation collaborated to organise a classical music concert series called Evening Raga.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in IIIT started off with the Sthapna Pratha on August 31st with a lively procession celebrating the arrival of Ganesha from the Main Gate to the Guest House. Pujas were held everyday upto the Visarjana on eleventh day of Ganeshotsav.

Prom

Clair de Lune was a dancing event when couples and groups of friends would get up and move to the music. The event featured a live band and a few interactive games. Additionally, a photo booth had also been set up. The night of elegance ended with the best dancers, the best dressed and prom king and queen being crowned.

Onam

Onam festivities were held with great enthusiasm at IIIT from September 10th and were organised by the Malayali Students Association. The events commenced with the creation of lovely floral arrangements called Pookalam at KCIS with the accompaniment of Malayalam music. The next day, IIITians gathered around the amphitheatre to celebrate the festival and dance to the beats of the Chenda, followed by music and dance performances and a traditional sadhya for lunch.

World Mental Health Day

The campus mental health support team commenced their community well-being series with the first session on October 10th with the celebration of world mental health day. The event was vibrant with the inclusion of conversations with mental health professionals and active participation from volunteers.

Dahi Handi

The CLC committee organised a Dahi Handi event on the occasion of Janmashtami. It was a very joyous affair with IIITians celebrating to the beats played by a band of Dappu performers. Students huddling together, toppling and getting back provided for an exhilarating experience, so much so that a second round of Dahi Handis were also hung up.

Other Events

ArtSoc conducted Art@10 and Inktober recently where a wide range of submissions, from sketches to digital art, were featured on their Instagram page.

In August, the Language Club started a new initiative in the form of the Sanskrit Conversation Group which meets on a weekly basis to understand and learn how to communicate in Sanskrit.

The Gaming Club conducted a Fifa tourney and ventured into mobile gaming with their first ever Clash Royale tournament in August. Additionally, a Geoguessr challenge was held in October by The Gaming Club.