Trampling, groping, fighting, waiting, depleting, pushing and shoving… no, I’m not talking about a sleazy movie from the 90’s or the story line of an erotic thriller, I’m talking about the other side of Delhi University’s fests.
Every year, students’ unions of various colleges, across the university, work tirelessly over a period of months to garner the funds. The funds are then, at once, invested to bring in the next big thing from Bollywood (or even Hollywood) to win the DU crowd over. This endless parade of muscle show by one college to another is what we’ve christened college fests. The year of 2015 brought to us various stories ranging from the bashing up of student union presidents under the pretext of delayed celebrity performances to stampedes at fests.
We’ve actually seen it all, what never fails to perplex me is why would the union of a said college work so efficiently to make something that is three days long such a success, whilst basic requirements like bathroom sanitation or the cafeteria in a college that are much more long lasting than any celebrity are overlooked once the student body has been decided. Spending union funding on things like a renewed waste segregation disposable system or a rain water harvesting plant for environmental awareness can prove to be more meaningful. Maybe incorporating sanitary napkin vending machines would also make a sustainable difference. Also, some of the largest fests are seen to have multiple food stalls but the very same colleges are left powerless with options in the college canteen. Using the funding to renew everyday requirements like security or faculty would be much more commendable than a one lakh production set.
Fests are evidently important but we cannot deny that on the completion of this extravaganza you will always find the college dustbins teemed with non-degradable junk and plastics, the lawns become non-existent with barely any grass beds, a few instances of groping and ogling of your friends will be making the rounds, the students’ union will be working with a vengeance to cover the upcoming deficit and you’ll be recovering from the blisters on your heels.
It’s true, I like getting dolled up for the next ‘big’ thing as much as the other girls, but it would be downright stupid for me not to acknowledge the effort it takes up to put up 3 days of pure muscle show. You need the right contacts in all the right places, and the right influence in all the wrong places to keep everything from funds to bouncers within your authority, this comes from the experience of overlooking one of these ‘fests’ myself. And I quite openly look up to the individuals who’ve been working continuously to make sure this tradition doesn’t become a legend. But there’s always been a moment where I thought to myself, why couldn’t DU be like other universities that spend their major time and funds on things like seminars and old people talking about success but obviously, who am I kidding? That wouldn’t be DU, would it?
Madhurya Sundar
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