Victory Processions
Known to all as a VP, the victory procession is one of the most enjoyable events that students can participate in. When a hall wins a major social and cultural or sports event, the residents assemble to take out a procession. At its head are the hall flag and a flame (much like the olympic torch) and about 100 residents follow in a group. Everyone is equipped with firecrackers for bomb fights that will inevitably ensue in every hall. The procession goes from hall to hall shouting victory slogans and they are greeted by a barrage of bombs and cold water. Everyone has a whale of a time and this seems to be the best way to celebrate a victory!


Water Fights
On really hot weekends, when everyone is in a lethargic state and there doesnt seem much to do, a few mischievous residents will throw a bucketful of water on a group of people and then everyone joins in the fight and before you know it, people are throwing water from all over the place and everyone is drenched.


Holi - The festival of colors
On Holi, the festival of colors, people get up early in the morning, don their old and ragged clothes and get out to throw/apply dry colors, dyes, permanganate etc on other people. People are thrown into the water reservoirs (known lovingly as shit tanks) and after all the fun is over, a procession sets out for the faculty quarters where the staff and faculty members give sweets to all the students who happen to pass by. The mess sometimes prepares lassi (buttermilk) and laddus (round sweets) impregnated with bhang (a mildly intoxicating herb) which the residents gorge on and then dance and sing their way around campus.


TFS...Movies
Watching a movie in Netaji is an experience unlike anything else. Even the lousiest of movies are made interesting by the hangama students make during these shows. One very interesting thing to note is that each hall has marked their territories inside the auditorium. Walk in even when its pitch dark, and a beacon will guide you to the sub-clan you belong to. They may not be the best of seats but after a while, you will refuse to sit anywhere else.Tarapado phocus......Tarapado sound ..... the Netaji experience is incomplete without these calls. We all have heard of Tarapado, the man supposed to be behind the projector, who gets the rap for any technical problems. Some say he is a myth, others claim his ghost still lurks in Netaji. Whatever the rumours are, many of you will be surprised to know that Tarapado-da (last name withheld) is doing just fine. He now works (at least he did when I was there) in the towing tank section of the Dept. of Naval Arch. When he joined the Institute long time back, he did infact work as the projection man, and eventually moved up the ladder. (all this from our Prof). During the show they experience some "technical problems" and someone in the auditorium yelled...Tarapado phocus. Others were annoyed, whoever does such a thing here, but were surprised to here another nutcase responding to this. Sure enough there was an instant mini-reunion of a clan we all belong to. Ok......maybe things didnt happen this way, but other than the obscure auditorium and the lousy movie, this is not entirely improbable. Someone ought to try it sometime and see what happens....who knows, if it works, you will feel real good about yourself, if not, the worst thing that might happen is being thrown out of the auditorium. Whatever be the case... there is no denying that Tarapado is a legend in his own lifetime.


ILU-Diwali
The inter-hall illumination contest is held every year on Diwali, the festival of lights. Generally, all the hostels participate in the event. A lot of preparation goes into this event. The idea is to decorate the hall with oil lamps by placing them on wire grids and hanging them from supports so as to create intricate patterns of lights dancing in mid-air. The designs are usually finalised about ten days before Diwali. The work then starts and a large percentage of the hall's population turns up to put in their bit. The work involves tying wire around diyas (earthen oil lamps) so that they may be hung from grids, placing these diyas on grids and finally filling them with oil. The whole episode of lighting the diyas lasts about ten minutes but the sight is so spectacular and rewarding that it condones all the hard work and considerable amount of money that goes into the effort. The winning hall gets a huge pot of rasgullas (milk dumplings in sugar syrup) to celebrate. After the rasgullas are eaten, the remaining syrup is poured over the unsuspecting hall president's head.




My hostel (Patel Hall) on the day of the Illumination contest that is held each Diwali.



Inter Hall Events
TIntra-IIT events are organised under two categories: Open IIT and Inter-Hall. Open IIT events are, as the name suggests, open events where people participate as individuals or groups with no affiliation to any hostel. The group events can have participants with any composition i.e. people from different halls can get together to form a group. The Inter-Hall events involve competition between members of different halls and any wins go towards a points tally which is totalled at the end of the year to determine the hall that wins the general championship. The social and cultural events in Open IIT and Inter-Hall are more or less the same. They include dramatics, literary, choreography, vocal and instrumental music (group/solo and eastern/western). The Open IIT event winners represent IIT Kharagpur in the Spring Fest. These events however, also give those people who aren't good enough to represent their hostels in Inter-Hall events, a chance to participate in a competitive event. Hence, many a time the audience is treated to some carefree and funny performances by people who arent there to win but just to have some fun. The Inter-Hall events on the sports side include athletics, cricket, hockey, soccer(footer), volleyball, badminton, table-tennis and lawn tennis. There are Open-IIT events in sports and usually consist of individual events like badminton, tennis, table-tennis etc.





Just in front of the girls hostel......


Don't know how many flew then ???


VGSOM and our favourite coffee corner



RAINBOW


Kgp Railway station
Patel Hall
Wingies and my life time friends
IIMC
Some more pics
Information on IIT