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The largest cultural, management and literary fest of central India—Atharv 2017 was held at IIM Indore on September 8-10, 2017. The three-day fest, Atharv – An Animate Affair witnessed a footfall of more than 30,000 participants including dignitaries and students from various colleges across the nation. The fest, like every year, had different cultural, management and literary events, thereby providing a platform to the participants to rock the stage and explore their talents.
The inauguration of the event took place in the presence of a huge gathering, with Col. (Retd.) Gururaj Gopinath Pamidi, CAO, IIM Indore as the Chief Guest. The Atharv Coordinators, Shoumik Bose and Siddhant Singh, were also present. Col. Pamidi noted that there is a lot to learn from fictional superheroes and quoted his personal favorites.
The inauguration was followed by many cultural events, the highlight of the day being the fashion walk in collaboration with i-Help, an IPM student community that aims to educate, encourage, inspire and lead the underprivileged children of Madhya Pradesh to pursue higher education. The students from government schools associated with i-Help, dressed as superheroes, walked the ramp along with the students of IIM Indore who made up the ‘Home Team’ to huge applause from the crowd.
Other events included iSO, the photography competition; Vanity, the fashion show; Halla Bol, the Street Play competition; and Verve, the group dance competition. All events witnessed enthusiastic participation with a number of teams competing to get through to further rounds.
On the management side, events like IIM Indore Inter Varsity Debate and Imperium, Avant Garde, the B-plan event; HeadhunteR, the HR event; Devil’s Advocate, the law event and E-Conjecture, the economics-based event were held. The fest also had a Business Workshop by Mr. Baldev Singh Rawat, an entrepreneurship incubator and an entrepreneur about ‘Putting your business on Autopilot.’ He discussed various aspects of running a nascent organization and how shock mitigation and continuity can be ensured in a volatile work culture.
Another workshop was The Anonymous Writer Workshop. Mr. Abhijit Chakvarty, the brain behind the brand, was joined by his team for this event. The workshop gave useful insights into creative writing and writing impactful micro-fiction.
Next in line was the StartUp India Workshop which focused the benefits of StartUp India scheme by the Government. Further, the Bitcoin Workshop was conducted which was regarding the crypto currencies and the future trends in the fin-tech market. Lastly, a wall painting workshop was held as well. Students were guided and taught about this skill and a wall in the campus was painted by the participants.
As a part of the Pro Shows that are conducted every year, this time Atharv played host to Mr. Rahul Subramanian. Mr. Rahul Subramanian has been a name that is constantly on the rise in Indian stand-up scenario. The comedy night had a full house with people taking up every space they could. He was received by the audience in high spirits and by the end, the audience was glad they did not miss it. The show ended up being a laugh riot with the audience having had a time of their life.
Informal events such as Human Foosball, Paint Ball, Haunted House, Whack the Sack, and Dominoes were also conducted over the course of three days. These events kept up the participants throughout the day and made sure there was never a lack of entertainment.
The fest was also a host to Vignette, the film making event. Additionally, there was also a stunt show by TVS which focused on this year’s theme of animation. The stunt show was a huge hit as the death-defying stunts mesmerized the crowd.
The EDM night saw opening acts by Paranox and Bass Pundits followed by the main acts of Zaeden and Teri Meko, both of which became highly popular among the attendees. This event ended in high spirits with all the students and participants dancing to the music.
Just as expected, Atharv made these three days memorable to everyone who attended. Not only were the participants involved in a battle of wits and knowledge but they were also a part of all the informal activities. Atharv hopes to grow in the next year and get better in the years to come.
