Disclaimer: If the title alone stirred your interest in the following post, desist from reading further. Musical Musings did inspire this post, but then I digressed astronomically.
After nearly 2 years of complaining about insufficient co-curricular activities to complement the coursework at our
college, we can finally see clubs sprouting here and there like mushrooms and grass in this delightful rainy weather.
The best part being that they show signs of a wee-bit of growth and the potential to become associations in themselves- something that will not end with the most enthusiastic founder members passing out. They display the potential of blossoming into active communities.
To name a few clubs in alphabetical order:
The Anime Club: They meet regularly every Tuesday. Well, most Tuesdays. A large population at IIIT-Delhi used to watch Anime as it is. Now they have an official platform for heated discussions with people across all batches. A great future(for the club) can be seen in the twinkling eyes of every avid anime viewer.
Astronuts:The astronomy club has met just once so far, granted. But that one meeting sure was informative, not to mention, magical. We saw the following heavenly bodies before the poor skies forced us inside -
Jupiter along with Ganymede, Lo, Europa and Callisto.
Kartikeya Nakshatra(alternatively known as M45)
Gemini, Taurus, Libra Constellations
Orion along with four stars in the Orion Nebula
The main driving force for this club is the founder, who's been practicing amateur astronomy for the past 5 years and is unlikely to give up such a long-time hobby. Plus she's a first year and can help strengthen the foundations of the club before she passes out. Her interest will benefit the rest of us less knowledgeable folks( strictly w.r.t. astronomy). Moreover, her plans for future meetings are quite interesting.
Audio Bytes: They don't have an official structure which assures training for the truly passionate. But then, if you are into music enough to really want to learn it, you don't need anything except maybe a sound-proof room and the right instruments. Currently, we have a decent set of equipment for the all the drummers, guitarists and pianists out there. Moreover, it will take more than the lack of equipment to kill genuine interest in Music. On this note, I digress for a moment to pave way for the latest discovery - the
ShrutiBox, a collection of songs by the music composer and clarinetist, Shankar Tucker. The Hindustani and Carnatic vocalists provide a distinctive flavor to some previously known songs. I find a few more likable than their original versions. And then there is the main man- Tucker, who as their official webpage claims plays most of the instruments in these compositions. Modern Classical music- a great revival technique.
Here's a sample.
Next in line is the
Dance club - Madtoes, the lack of funds does not deter their enthusiasm for the art. They have taken the bold step of organizing a Dance party without free food. Hitherto, whenever someone was bold enough to so do, organizers and their most faithful friends made up the entire gathering. People never dare to organize an event without the promise of free food in boldface, for food is the adhesive force that brings us all together. Salute to the Mad(toes) organizers. Hope the event goes well.
FooBar: An institute that prides itself in its CS program, must have a strong group of coders who shine at events like CodeChef, ICPC and the rest, bringing eternal glory to the institute.
FooBar, was created to serve this end. They are fairly active, considering that they just came into existence a month ago.
Lit-Soc: This hurts the most, for I helped find this one. Some meetings were held in the past 6 months, sure. But the attendance has been a monotonically decreasing curve with respect to time and unless this club is given a face-lift soon, it may become one of many pre-existing dormant clubs. The one event that had the most active participation was an
Online Haiku Writing Competition. It's a little sad, even though the competition was a great success.
Quiz Club: If ever there was a more secure set of individuals, well, I shall do a jig for the entire class to watch(before the Prof. comes in). They do not care for funds or infrastructure. Mind you, the nature of this club is their main advantage. All they need are inquisitive minds with a competitive spirit. I just wish these quizzes were not just a once-during-every-college-festival affair. Still, these guys are pretty active.
Spic Macay: This is the latest addition to the list of extra-curricular activities. This doesn't really count as a club, but a IIIT-Delhi Spic Macay Chapter is just another step towards becoming a wholesome institute.
Sports: Joga Bonito-the annual intra-college football tournament, an annual Cricket Tournament and several Pool, Table Tennis and basketball enthusiasts make a strong enough case for the level of activity in this area. But the rest of the sports are seasonal. This is not a reference to Ice-Hockey or Skiing. Delhi hasn't witnessed snow in the past half-century and we do not have enough funds for creation of an artificial arena. Badminton and volleyball enthusiasts surface once every spring. The 'active' runners can be seen marking the college perimeter once every autumn. However, establishment of proper infrastructure within the next few months, will hopefully change the scene for most sports here at IIIT-Delhi.
Tasveer: A club for all those lunatics who whip out their fancy camera phones or DSLRs everytime they see anything remotely photogenic seems logical, right? Tasveer is still in its nascent stage, not unlike FooBar and Astronuts, but it has inherent potential. (Pardon the repetition, for when has potential energy ever been not inherent?!) Plus, we have some very good amateur photographers already.
So there you go. Those are the clubs that make the IIIT-D news most often.
Without further ado, I shall go back to my studies and let a English novelist and theoretical physicist conclude this post.
'One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.' ~E.M. Forster
'I have no special talents. I am just passionately curious' ~ Albert Einstein
