It was the 9th of February 2020 - There was an explosive wave of energy in the audience, the lights were blazing, cheers and screams crescendo when the mic went up - it was the night the late legend KK performed in IIT Patna, and the last time ever when such vibrant energy radiated across the campus. A night that shall be etched in IIT Patna’s memories through lore and legend.
Fast forward two more Februarys and a summer break. The campus is still recovering from the pandemic at a snail’s pace when colleges everywhere are thriving back into action. After the pandemic, communities, clubs, activities and yes - FESTS, are raging across the country like ever before. Big names are shooting up everywhere, music bands and dance troupes prepping for the limelight everywhere, campuses are lighting up and flaunting crazy bright colors - and yet, in some dainty corner, our own cultural fest - Anwesha is still in a deep slumber like a hibernating bear.
A lot of questions come to one’s mind when anyone talks about Anwesha - How did a fest disappear for two years? What happened to the existing Anwesha team? Will it happen this year at least?
The answers to all the questions that rise up are much more complicated than what’s visible on the surface. All tangled up in a web of circumstances, poor planning and lack of foresight among the stakeholders. To find out, I delved deeper into the remaining links of the nearly-vanished festival.
THE STORY UNTIL NOW - WHAT WENT WRONG?
My quest for answers led me to several people who were closely involved inside and outside the Anwesha committee, people who were really attached to the fest and those who closely observed this sequence of events. Here is the story lesser-known through the eyes of a few such people:
To give you perspective, Anwesha 2020 was held on the second week of Feb 2020, from 7-9th Feb. After that, all operations and tasks were handled by the core committee (coordinators). But right after then, everyone had our mid-semester exams. Everyone shifted focus onto their mid-semesters. Right after the exams, it was time for Holi break. This was the point when things began going downhill - The break itself was extended further till 31st March as India had its first case of COVID-19 then. This was a short break, which prompted everyone to leave behind all the documents and articles of Anwesha, hoping that they’d come back, wrap up all the ordeals and then officially hand over Anwesha to the incoming fest committee.
But that never happened. Right after the break came lockdown. Everything was at a standstill for 21 days, only getting worse and strenuous with each extension of the lockdown. In fact, people couldn’t return to campus late till the next year at least. During this delay, the final year students had to shift their focus on their placement season. All of this meant that they still didn't wind up their work and the new team was never formed.
Almost 7 months later, around November 2020, the then-third-year B.Tech students took the initiative, to kickstart Anwesha and went to their seniors to form the new team. The batch reached a consensus and elected an FC from their year. Hope was restored, the spirit of Anwesha was slowly creeping in again. Despite this, there were many problems they had to face ever since the start. Since the previous team couldn’t wind up their work, especially since the paperwork itself was pending for a long while, they couldn’t formally proceed with the fest preparations. Moreover, the online mode took a huge toll on students’ motivation. People became very lethargic towards any virtual activities, nobody was in the mood to celebrate an online fest. Forming the entire core team itself took a long gruelling time.
The new fest committee still persevered and started smaller tasks that could be done at home, without seeking approvals or much documentation. Keep in mind, that none of this was official yet - everything was still in wraps within the 2021 batch. Things looked hopeful as the campus called the third and fourth year B.Tech students to campus in January 2021. Everyone was hoping that things would get back to normal and activities would resume like they used to be. However, everything went back to square one when everyone was sent back home in April as the second wave raged across the nation. All the motivation and determination that the fest committee mustered up started dying away.
At this stage, they had a tough decision to make. On one side, Anwesha was the biggest & most important fest in college and it means a lot for us to conduct it. But on the other side, it meant a lot for those who were a part of it before, so nobody wanted to compromise it with a namesake online fest. Somehow the consensus was formed that they won’t organize Anwesha as long it was online and it seemed very bleak to expect otherwise. There were also quite many other reasons which hurt Anwesha’s prospects the following year too. The online mode created a huge disconnect between the final years, the junior years and the sophomores of the time. As the motivation drained out among the seniors, it kept draining out in the batches below them too.
Ultimately, everyone gave in to the status quo and began to accept that Anwesha was not going to happen. This was quite so, the major reason, for how things turned out.
This long pause was definitely quite a lesson for the years to come and this is what an ex-Anwesha member had to tell us themself:
Looking back, what affected us the most was letting the motivation die out. The spirit of Anwesha pretty much faded away , which had a severe impact on the progress made. This passed on to the sophomore year (now junior year) and stalled Anwesha yet again for another year. Once you’re stuck at home and uncertain about the future, somehow, all this - the idea of doing things for something bigger than you, something as a collective - dies out. This pushed everyone to slowly creep back to worrying about their grades and career (which of course is important) but keeping this aside - which was also inevitable, it was two whole years of online classes.
WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR ANWESHA?
After this long hiatus and unfortunate sequence of events, the current Junior year and Final year B.Tech students have come forward with the initiative to revive the fest. Things look hopeful for now, with the situation improving and having witnessed multiple fests and celebrations on campus since December 2021. All eyes are on the new team and whether they will be able to tackle multiple setbacks from the two-year break - within the student community and outside it as well. It shall truly be a Herculean task to revive it from this slumber - drawing back up all the people, sponsors and collaborators who have long-forgotten the fest’s existence, as well as compete aside a more formidable Celesta and Infinito this year.
All being said, Anwesha 2023 is a beacon of hope and an open door to endless possibilities. As the team starts everything from scratch, it gives them a golden opportunity to redefine what Anwesha stands for, just as much as it leaves them more vulnerable to underperform. Having the memories, hopes, emotions and expectations of so many students and alumni, it is truly exciting to see what lies ahead for this fest and our campus alike.
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Eloquently written!
Delightful!!!