DePP

After that long, exhaustive and possibly boring post about QUARK, we trust you know what QUARK is all about yadda yadda yadda.

After that customary introduction, we bring some good news for those involved in QUARK and those wanting to participate in QUARK. There will be a QUARK Launch party soon. \m/ (okay, I’m trying to make it sound happy and exciting when it really isn’t).

Our Director, Professor K.E. Raman, will invite an eminent personality as a Chief Guest, who will release the QUARK teasers and posters, the official QUARK information brochure, along with the tagline and the cute mascot as well. We thank the Director for the launch party, for this constitutes a grand beginning for our festival.

This will be an exciting moment for everyone involved in QUARK, especially the ‘QUARK Control’s who’ve been working night and day for this. But hey, it’d be even better if there was food involved, especially for all BITSians *puts on best mess-starved look*.

Now getting back on track, the party is expected to be held in a few days, by mid-October at the latest. After the launch, we’ll be mailing out the first packages to all colleges to invite them for QUARK. So all those who are interested, do come…it’ll be great fun (lame publicity gimmick no.2).

Well, then until our next post…ciao!

Shalini

It’s 2:30 in the morning, and the retarded laughter coming from the adjacent room, punctuated at regular intervals by some degenerate sounds which give the effect of a dying bull snorting it’s last few breaths, disturb my train of thought. I’m tearing my hair and wiping sleepy eyes, trying to come up with an accurate and politically correct description of DePP.

Oh God, chuck it.

For the noobs and whatnot who may still wonder what DePP is, let me clear the confusion.

DePP = Department of Publicity and Public Relations

I can clearly remember the sequence of events which led me to be sitting on an uncomfortably unyielding chair, writing out this inspired manuscript.

So DePP had put up this poster, inviting students for initiation into their unholy syndicate. And in all their wily and cunning ways, they had made it black and red. Black and red, as you should know, are a stunningly seductive color combination, and anything that speaks in black and red cannot be denied by anyone except those with the stoniest of hearts.

Kudos to the DePP designers. They work a lot. And well.

And thus I came to find myself in an infrequently visited lecture theatre, answering decidedly suggestive questions in a vulgar way, and coming up with profane taglines in an attempt to show my ‘creative’ publicity senses.

Fast forward a few days, and one written round plus interview later (the DePP people, ironically, are pretty selective of the poor fish that they try to reel in each year), I find myself playing mafia (and badly) with my new accomplices, waiting in turn to receive a formal piece of paper declaring that I was indeed, a member of DePP, and not just lying through my teeth.

Not exactly the holy grail, but beggars can’t be choosers.

And so I came to know more about this shady collective, like the chief of our esteemed consortium, a certain ‘Paddy’, (who had been gifted with this striking basilisk gaze which would make you cover your bosom and wish you had worn an extra layer of clothing), or of the official meetings, where the best of the DePP brains would be racking their gray cells, trying to decide whether summer somehow can be associated with blood and carnage and cakes, and whether ‘Beam me up, Scottie’ was ever spoken….

You don’t say.

In all seriousness, my nerves are still getting accustomed to doing last minute work, and I still have to remember to leave my sanity in my room when I go for our inspired meetings.

But in all fairness, DePP is a lot of fun. And we get our job done

And well.

SO join us…we have candy.

Achintya

Goa. Sun. Sand. Beaches. Waves. Summer. Cultural Fest. BITS Pilani Goa Campus. If you think some of those phrases are odd ones out, don't worry. Waves summer 2009 - the cultural fest of BITS Pilani Goa Campus, slated to take place in March 2009 will provide you an amalgamation of all of them.

Are you a college student? Do you represent your college in any cultural activity? Have you been yearning to add the coveted 'kickass trip to goa' on your been-there-done-that list? All that aside, do you just want to have fun? If you've answered in affirmative to any of those questions, read on. Even if you have not, read on. You have to. You just have to.

The largest culfest in Goa - Waves, hosted by BITS Pilani Goa Campus has seen stellar growth (exponential would be a better way to describe it, but.... (note to self : must not exhibit 'engineering student' characteristics)) over the past 4 years. Waves is sponsored by most of the you-know-whos when it comes to brands and companies, and the numbers seem to be increasing. It invites participation from colleges spanning the length and breadth of the country (Waves went national, ainnit?)

Formally Waves is :
Cultural events - Dance, Drama, Music, Fashion Parade, Mr. and Ms. Waves yadda, etc, yadda, etc....

Special Nights - From the best on-the-brink-of-fame bands from all over the country participating in Sea Rock to professional performances by Musicians and DJs to (watch this space).....

Informals, Games, Food stalls - Pet Pooja, Make a fool out of yourself for a stupid t shirt/goodie, A chance to make money (okay, i'll admit that the chances of you losing are more than winning, buy hey, you do have a chance, right)

And a lot more which does not seem at the top of my head (yes, I don't dig too deep, especially while blogging for DePP).

Holistically, Waves is something inexplicable. It is a unique experience, which is beyond tangible realms (you being a BITSian or non BITSian is inconsequential).
BITSians putting in their heart and soul to make the festival a success, students from all over India battling it out during the day (or watching the battle, if you're intelligent enough to sit back and laugh at them) and chilling out at night, bitching, appreciating, fitting in tourism plans with participation, freeloading (lots of goodies to be 'won', read : doled out by sponsors), making plans to set up base in Goa (cheap alcohol has its side effects) and a lot more (actually, I just can't think of more things to write in here).

[gloat]My advice is very precious. Most people who have followed it have been extremely successful in life. I am taking the liberty of doling it out on a public blog. So... ladies and gentlemen.....behold....[/gloat]here comes my advice -
Start convincing your college authorities and parents already! Also, if possible, chalk out a nice tourism plan around your whole 'official purpose' trip. Also, do check out the WAVES website at: http://www.bits-waves.org/

Anmol

Last year, I was among the youngest at BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus, being in the first year. Obviously, a lot of us were put at ease by our very friendly (read: "Come to my room in 30 minutes or you'll be forced to hide for the rest of your college life!") seniors in a new environment. :-P Everything was pretty different, but something that particularly caught my eye was the multitude of BITS T-shirts. Some screamed choice words in Latin; while others showed the saga of BH-8 (BITSians will know what I’m talking about).


However, a particular tee stood out, which said Quark ’07-Be Fundamental (pun\m/) But then what was Quark? Quark is our Technical festival and quintessential for a premier Institute like BITS. Despite our campus being only three years old, Quark ’07 was a hit, with difficult competitions, amazing laser shows and yes, the funda-mental t-shirt.


When we came, preparation for Quark’08 was well under way. We were drawn into the ‘quarkmire’, and there was no looking back. In the first sem itself, DePP (then called the Publicity Club or more affectionately ‘Pub’) got busy with making Quark logos, posters and banners to be put up in colleges across India. This was the first time that Quark was attempting to go truly national.


However, I realized the spirit of Quark truly arrived when I walked down my corridor one day, and saw my friends trying to make a bot. Five hours, a nasty burn, and a million how-the-hell-do-you-make-a-robot calls to seniors later, they were proud of their accomplishment as the robot finally got an earthly body. Quark’08, with the tagline ‘Engineering Perfection’, and the unofficially-named robot mascot Ob became a phenomenon in campus. Even The sleeping BITSians who were taking the advantages of a 3-day holiday woke up. It was the best three days in BITS ever. There was lots of yummilicious food in the stalls (I have a predilection to barf-ka-golas, and subsequently sore throats).


Coming to participation now. We had participation from all over India, from Goa, Maharashtra, AP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, BITS-Pilani and BITS-Dubai as well. The competitors were sporting and our thanks to them for revelling in the Spirit of Quark!


Events from every science and engineering field formed the crux of Quark and they were well-fought-out contests. But the biggest event in Quark was MATKA, the gaming event. It was huge, and every gamer decided to engage in the fight for supreme glory. Okay, maybe not supreme glory, but Rs.30,000 is a nice incentive.
Apart from these, we had great workshops, including an aeromodelling workshop, a telescope making workshop by IUCAA Pune , and a finance workshop by Reuters. Several premier companies like Bosch, Red Hat, and Schlumberger set up their stalls and conducted workshops and games for us. Nope, I’m not doing publicity, just telling ze truth.


But what is a good fest without Special nights? Entitled Aurora- we had three days of beautiful performances. There were great performances by the Drama Club, The Music Club and the Rock Club. But The performance which took our breath away was by Feeding the Fish. They are a professional group of jugglers who combine, dance, music and specially programmed props to create the most spellbinding show ever. I could find very few words to describe it, but here’s what a friend said- “The show was freaking awesome. I will spend my whole life doing nothing but watch this show.”


On the whole, Quark’08 was exhilarating. It was the first time I had witnessed such a fest, and it was great. Though the aspect of Test-2 coming up a week after Quark was not really appealing,(and not good for my already stellar CGPA), I did have fun, and a lot of golas, and food, and work…
Preparations for Quark’09 have already started now. All the Depts have started their work, and we already have a tagline (Technical Renaissance) and a cute li’l mascot (Q-BOT). Registrations are open at the QUARK website: http://www.bits-quark.org/


Now for the hell load of work to come our way….*runs*


Shalini

Come March, and summer dawns on us. Summer in India usually means staying indoors, and drinking iced water by the gallon. However, summer in Goa is a part of the tourist season. Summer is when Goa truly comes alive. Goa is the land of sun and sand, and what would these be without sun-kissed waters, and hot babes on the beach?


So during March, we have two of our fests at BITS-Goa, early March plays host to Waves, while late March sees Spree take place, our sports fest. Spree had pretty humble beginnings in 2007 as a series of games in Waves’ 07. After that, there was no looking back, for Spree grew exponentially. With the tagline ‘You Game?’ given by DePP, Spree had 15 colleges participating. Guys and gals of PCCE, GEC, Chowgule College, RIEIT (Goa), RVCE and Jain College (Bangalore), DJ Sanghvi (Mumbai) and MIT (Manipal), thanks for participating and making our fest fun. And sorry if I’ve missed out any college!


I remember watching my first live football match during Spree, the exhibition match between Vasco De Gama and Sporting Club de Goa. Watching Brazil demolish opposition in World Cup matches is awesome, but nothing rivalled seeing a live match.


As for the actual thing, we had eight events ranging from football to caroms. It was fun to watch basketball especially...well, actually the cute guys more than the game itself. ;-)


Spree saw some hard-fought battles; some easy wins, but a lot of sporting spirit. But it literally rained on our parade, when the last few matches of Spree were cancelled due to unseasonal heavy rains. Ahh, not to worry, we’ll be back in full force this year.


Spree’s supposed to start off with a grand marathon. In last year’s marathon, most people gave it up half-way, but they did enjoy the run, and hopefully burnt off a few annoying fat cells. The Spree teaser is out already. And guess what, we’re having cricket too!


Anywho, the Spree tagline and posters should be out soon (DePP is still working on it) and we’ll mail to your colleges soon. Do come to Goa for Spree’09, if not for the sports, then at least for the beach babes!


Shalini

P.S. The Spree website is up and running at http://www.bits-spree.org/