Alma Fiesta

Alma Fiesta is the Annual Socio-Cultural Fest of Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar. It is a three-day-long event usually held during the second week of January every year. The first edition of Alma Fiesta took place in 2010. It was inaugurated by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa.^[1][2][3]

Introduction

Alma Fiesta, the socio-cultural festival of IIT Bhubaneswar is one of the largest fests of India. It is conducted solely by the efforts of the students of IIT Bhubaneswar and caters primarily to the youth. All the activities of the fest such as Marketing, Publicity, Events management, Design and Decoration, is managed by the students. Alma Fiesta sees participation from a large number of students from over 300 colleges all India with a footfall of around 21,000. In the past, bands like Agnee, Indian Ocean, Bandish, kryptos, Ganesh Talkies and Wajud, and celebrities like Dr. Kumar Vishvas,Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt,Pt. Bhajan Saporee, Krishna Beura, Ira Trivedi and many more have experienced the essence of this fest. Alma Fiesta has attracted sponsorships and associations from various companies due to a huge crowd pullout from various parts of the country. It also has had extensive coverage by the print media.

Events

Star Nites

Alma Fiesta organizes three mega starnites, one on each of the three evenings of the fest. The three shows include :

• Leela

Leela is the Indian Classical Music/Dance show. It celebrates the rich cultural heritage of our nation. It is an event known for its aesthetic event.The inaugural edition of Alma Fiesta witnessed a performance by Pandit Viswa Mohan Bhatt,a renowned Grammy awardee and Dr. Kumar Viswas. Pandit Bhajan Saporee, the famous santoor player graced Alma Fiesta 2013. Alma Fiesta 2014 saw a "Gotipua Dance" performance by the Gotipua dance group in association with SPIC MACAY.

• Head Bang

Headbang is the heavy-metal starnite. The inaugural edition was graced by a performance by the band Kryptos. The subsequent editions witnessed amazing performances by Cynical Recess, Ganesh Talkies and Wajud.

Lamhe, Alma Fiesta 16 : Nikhil D'souza performing in IIT Bhubaneswar.

• Lamhe

Lamhe is the Bollywood musical night of Alma. It is the show-stopper of Alma Fiesta. Usually enjoying the highest footfall among all the events in Alma Fiesta, it has played host to a lot of bands popular with the youth of India .Alma Fiesta 2011 played host to Krishna Beura and the next edition witnessed a performance by Bandish. In 2013, it was Indian Ocean who amazed the crowd. Last year saw a performance by Nikhil D'souza, a bollywood playback singer synonymous with Indian Rock.^[4] renowned Hindi poet Kumar Vishwas.^[5]

Alma Fiesta Star Nites
Inauguration of Alma Fiesta 2011 by Prof. P. Rama Rao  PT. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt performing at AF 2010  Krishna Beura at Alma Fiesta 2011

Competitive Events

Competitions are the backbone of any college fest. At Alma Fiesta, competitions cover all the genres of art - Music, Dance, Literary Arts, Dramatics, Fine Arts and Visual Arts. Euphony, the band competition witnesses bands from all over the country and is one of the biggest event during the fest

Musical Events

• Euphony - A band competition
• Track The Track - A solo singing competition
• Antakshari - A classic antakshari event
• Unplugged - Instrumental Music competition

Dance Events

• Topsy Turvy - A group dance competition
• Rip Out - A solo dance competition

Dramatics Events

• Face Off - The stage play competition
• N Circled - The classic street play competition
• Mute On - The dumb charades

Literary Events

• Perspective - The social case study competition. Presented in association with the SNSMT. The winner is awarded the prestigious SNSMT-IIT BBSR Social Change Maker Award.^[6] The award was won by Ipsit Bibhudarshi and Barsha Behera of IGIT Sarang for the year 2012.^[7][8][9]
• Litspree - Anagrams, charades, extempore, spelling bee and crosswords
• Gone in Sixty Seconds - The Alma Fiesta version of the single minute extempore

Fine Arts events

• Leaf It Up - The leaf collage competition
• Shadez - An event for pencil sketching
• Blind Strokes - A blind folded drawing competition
• Trash Can Novelties - An event to create art by recycling junk.^[10]

Other events

• Alma Fiesta Youth Quiz - A general quizzing event
• Run against the AIDS - A youth marathon to spread awareness against AIDS

Model United Nations(MUN)

Model United Nations involves researching, public speaking, debating, and writing skills, in addition to critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership abilities.Participants in Model UN conferences, known as delegates, are placed in committees and assigned countries, or occasionally other organizations or political figures, where they represent members of that body.

Social Impact

Being a socio-cultural fest, Alma Fiesta fulfils its commitment towards the society with its various innovative events creating awareness. The fest has taken up social causes in the public domain so as to create more awareness in the society about these subjects. Perspective, the social-case study competition of Alma Fiesta has also raised issues like "Youth,Truth and Politics", "Earth vs. Industrialization", "Innovations for Protecting the Environment". Another way in which Alma Fiesta has been able to raise large-scale social awareness is through the medium of youth marathons. The Youth Marathon in Alma Fiesta 2012 was to raise awareness on the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. The Youth Marathon in Alma Fiesta 2013 had the theme "Women Safety".

• Prayatna

The fifth edition of Alma Fiesta, saw the inception of a social movement known as 'Prayatna'. It aims to raise awareness about the various social issues prevalent in the community. Under the banner of Prayatna, Alma Fiesta 2014 aimed to encourage and support the use of greener ideas and technologies in everyday life. It was basically a social campaign to inculcate a sense of social responsibility among the bright minds of the 21st century. It focused on the school students and provided them a platform for their development, as these students would be the pillars of our community in the coming years.

Spardha-the all India aptitude-cum-talent search exam conducted under Prayatna, a social drive of Alma Fiesta-The annual socio-cultural fest of IIT Bhubaneswar is yet another step for creating a nationwide awareness towards the importance of Renewable energy sources among the students. In addition to that, it also aims at reviving the lost curiosity and interest by providing them a shift from the regular academic based examination to the simple-yet-innovative examination pattern based primarily on their thinking and analytic abilities.

With an estimated 20+ cities across the country, the exam sought to inculcate among students a sense of general awareness towards their social responsibility. Aimed towards a rigorous testing of students in the areas of aptitude, technicality and energy awareness, the test will be conducted in three groups:

1) Group A(Class VI to VIII) 2) Group B(Class IX and X) 3) Group C(Class XI and XII)

With a collaboration of over 100+ schools the test aims to target approximately 6000+ students from across the nation.

The exam is tentatively planned to be held in the month of December. It will provide the students a golden opportunity to earn hands on experience over the widely acknowledged domain of aptitude and practical problem solving. It will provide them an insight to look beyond the usual theoretical book-based knowledge and nurture their curiosity-the foundation for learning by doing.

References

External links

• Alma Fiesta - Official website
• Alma Fiesta - Official Facebook page
• Alma Fiesta 2013 - Official teaser