Illu!

This post will probably not be appreciated by those who never had the chance to go to one of the greatest places to earn your undergrad, IIT Kharagpur. But for their benefit, I suggest them to catch hold of any KGPian around them and get the context.

Today I was reading the arguements and counter-arguments on Illu, the famous (atleast among the KGPians of the world) display of Inter-hall rivalry and tireless dedication, of long sleepless nights and the smell of earthern lamps, of the clutter of pliers and heaps of metallic wires, of expressions of art and the Act of God(in wind).

I recall my own state of mind in those days and the changing attitudes. In my first year,when I was never aware of the concept, it really moved me to see so many fellow 1st yearites slog towards this mega-project.There was mega clearing of the internal octagon( or was it a septagon) at HJB hall and the library was evacuated to make room for Rangoli.

I wanted to contribute. I stepped in. But I soon realised that tying that neat wire round the diya was not my cup of tea as I ended up breaking more diyas than I tied. Hence, my escape route to easier work keeping alive the chance of recognition was Rangoli.

Traditionally dismissed as a girlie hobby, it was only in Illu I discovered that Rangoli's of the size half a badminton court could also be made. Not only could they be made, they could be made this well!

I got myself into it. Soon I was hooked and spent endless hours mixing colours with sand, or colours with colours. I recall my partners in first year, Rotten, Gary, Chatur, Mallu.. may be there was Vikrant too. That's all that comes to my memory.

2nd year onwards, my approach to Illu was one filled with cautious participation rather than fervent enthusiasm. Be it typing of Diyas or the passionate tugging at pliers ( people in PAN, recall) to prepare the "panels", the Illu part of it was more of Unskilled labour work(also called Ghodagiri) which started atleast a month in advance of Diwali day and was enough to drench out the faceless worker physically and mentally wihout any recognition or expression of creativity.

So I reserved my energies for my area of expertise, that was rangoli which did not start until about 15 days prior to Illu and was devoid of the evils of Illu. I was no great expert, niether a great sketcher nor a 1 in 500 face painter. But I was a Jack of all trades and found the company of the softer souls inside the Rangoli room more comforting than the junta outside. It had also to do with the desire to be part of a smaller niche group rather than that of a large mass of people.



It was great to see the results announced in the Gymkhana and return with a position. I remember the customary walks to all the halls that we made after the judges rounds were done. I also remember the steals that I made in the final two years to see the event with the judges as it happened. I remember the tempo shouts that Keith gave. I remember how we always cribbed after Illu that Azad should stop wasting energies in Panels and shift to mats like the RKs and RPs. The taste of the sweet rasgollas that we won almost every year. The operational accuracy of the drill on the final day. The tension in the air as the judges approached, the disappointment as the wind played havoc with weeks of hard labour.

The queasy feeling when we woke up next morning to see the blackened by carbon diyas upturned and distorted. And of course, what I really loved about Illu, and this I haven't told to many people, the sight of the KGP girls in saris. How I really longed to see them dressed in the 6 meter cloth was one of the reasons i so eagerly waited for Diwali.

But somehow,Illu was a perfect example of the 80-20 rule. 20% of the people did 80% of the work. If success deserted them, it was their grief, their loss. If it embraced them, it was everyone's victory. All 4 years, some people kept promising that they would not waste time in Illu next year only to come back more enthusiastically next year. The dilemma in minds of all, "should I focus on Dep change/Dep rank or flow along with Hall Tempo".

There were the able administrators, that lead by example and so were pretenders, who ran way with the credit despite doing precious little, not to forget the silent workers who never raised their eyes of their work to see what was happening around them. And there were the ones who walked past everyone to the Lab as if nothing was happening.

Despite my passion for Rangoli, I was always off the opinion that Illu scrapped would not be a bad idea. The rules such as "Illu budget cannot be decreased ever" looked all too silly to me. Pathetic quality of food and absence of pure drinking water was acceptable, but not any reduction in the extravaganza called Illu. The detractors of Illu say, well , this is not what a so called world class technology institution should be known for. Uncountable man hours wasted in working for a 15 inute display!!!And the biggest arguements of all, "How could you drag people out of their rooms and force them to work"?? nearly 4 years since I came out, I maintain most of these.

Of course, for the sake of completion, I would agree to the fact that it would be difficult to find an event of comparable magnitude in any college in India, if not the world. It really brought the hall together, but those who did not feel for the hall, did not do so even in Illu. They did not turn up for their D-day duties, escaped to homes.

I can still hear the sound of Panda pounding the stump on the door of C-131!!!!!! It fails to die down!

I leave you with some more images...