– by Sivani, Veena, Uthara, Alphin, and Arun
Staying true to the proposal laid out in her application, Department Secretary Aswitha took the initiative to organise a three-day standalone cultural fest for our department. For this, she brought together the different department clubs, teams, and council members and garnered the support of the Head of the Department. The plans for the events officially began in November when a common meeting of all department student bodies was convened to discuss the ideas. Different subteams were formed to handle specific tasks, and a list of possible events was curated. Prof. Joe Thomas was assigned as the faculty advisor for the fest. The team chose the name “Humanifest” from the suggested names through internal voting, and the design team developed a logo and design guide. The team also decided to organise an alumni reunion alongside the fest, inviting all former students and faculty with special events designed for them. Thus, what unfolded from March 13 to 15 in and around the Central Lecture Theatre (CLT) was the result of efforts long in the making. A variety of events, lectures, workshops and competitions organised by the Department Secretary Council, Alumni Relations Team, Article 19, Pareto Economic Club, and Dead Poets Society kept the fest alive while an interesting lineup of stalls made the ambience festive. What follows is a concise report of all the events that took place as part of the fest.
Harmony: Fest Inauguration and Student-Faculty Gathering
The fest opened on the evening of the 13th of March at CLT with a small gathering. The HoD, Prof. Rajesh Kumar, inaugurated the fest. He highlighted the department’s long history and the vitality of a humanities and social science department at an IIT, while also reminding the organisers that everything great starts small and that they should never be disheartened if the events fail to attract a huge crowd. The faculty advisor, Prof. Joe Thomas, and the Department Secretary addressed the gathering. After the brief inauguration, the evening quickly turned into a Student-Faculty Night with excellent performances, poetry recitals, and fun game sessions. Students got to ask their professors the questions they’d never have asked otherwise. The faculty, to everyone’s delight, played along with honesty and humour. This was followed by an informal karaoke session on the lawns. It was a lovely sight: everyone gathered on the grass under the open sky, singing their favourite songs, swaying to the music, glancing at the lyrics on their phones.
Bhargavi Memorial Word Games and Quiz Tournament
Bhargavi Suryanarayanan from the HS12 batch was an avid quizzer, reader, and a kindred spirit who lost her life in a fire accident. Her kindness, calm demeanor, and infectious cheerfulness never let her family and batchmates forget her; instead, they come together every year to cherish her memory through the Bhargavi Memorial Wordgames and Quiz Tournament. It is organised by the HS Department with the support of Bhargavi Memorial Trust, while the Institute Quiz Club and Word Games Club assist in setting the literature quiz and What’s the Good Word competition, respectively. With a captivating prize pool of 19K, the tournament welcomed teams of two in the word games and of three in the quiz. This year’s tournament was special as it was organised as part of the Department Fest and the Alumni Reunion. The hybrid inauguration of the Tournament on March 14th was attended by professors, Bhargavi’s family, and friends. Prof. Milind and Prof. Swarnalatha recalled the radical, fierce spirit she carried effortlessly alongside her calm persona. Her friends and family also shared their inspiring memories about her.
Soon after the inauguration, What’s the Good Word kick-started with 11 teams, receiving an overwhelming response from students. The prelims co-mingled quirkiness with intelligence, testing the participants’ wit and vocabulary. 8 teams marched into the finals, with Ashish and Magizhan emerging as the winners. While Abhineet and Krishangh rightfully claimed the runner-up position, Nikilesh-Akhilan and Gunin-Mia duos sealed the second runner-up position with a tie. In the evening, the Literature Quiz tested the participants’ mettle, exploring both the conventional and niche realms of literature. In the finals, surpassing all the 7 other teams, the team of Sneha, Shivaji, and Sumedh emerged as the ultimate winners, whereas Haricharan, Nawfal, and Keshav edged past Nikhilesh, Akhilan, and Magizhan to clinch the runner-up title. Thus, once again, the memory and lasting impression that Bhargavi left behind brought together faculty, alumni, students, and young talent from all over the institute.
SEPIA- An ode to Nostalgia: Alumni Reunion Night
On the evening of the 14th of March, CLT reflected a different energy as the department hosted its alumni reunion after a long hiatus. Sepia – An Ode to Nostalgia reunited former students and faculty for an evening of reflection, laughter, and reconnection. Although the turnout was modest, everyone, including professors and former students alike, seemed to enjoy the special evening. The air in CLT was thick with nostalgia as alumni from across the years traded stories of their professional milestones and the “good old days” on campus. The josh stayed high with a series of fun games that broke the ice and brought out the attendees’ competitive spirit. Many professors attended and shared their greetings in person, while others sent videos to be displayed during the event. The cultural performances that accompanied it were indeed the cherry on top. Prof. Kipgen played the guitar as his students sang, making for a cheerful performance. The event was followed by a group dinner where the conversations continued over a spread of delicious food.
Mindscapes Lectures
Article 19 organised two lectures as part of Humanifest’26. The first, held on 14th March in the afternoon, featured Dr Benny Kuriakose, and the next, on 15th March in the morning, was delivered by Dr Kalpana Karunakaran. Dr Benny Kuriakose, a renowned architect, is also intimately connected to our department, from where he earned his PhD. He arrived at the venue accompanied by his longtime friend, Prof. Sreekumar. His afternoon talk, titled Architecture at the Crossroads was simple in its message: the way we build today is broken, and the tools to fix it are already with us. Modern buildings, he pointed out, are built to last decades but demolished even sooner. That cycle of waste, he argued, is a choice, not a necessity. Timber, when harvested and seasoned properly, can last centuries and offer a viable solution. He demonstrated that old doors, old structures, and even old habits of regular maintenance aren’t dated ideas but practical solutions for today’s problems. Dr Kuriakose had made sustainability feel less like a buzzword and more like common sense. Attendance at the event was relatively low, but the audience, especially those in the fields of architecture and sustainability, raised pertinent questions that he answered patiently.
Dr Kalpana Karunakaran, an author and an associate professor at our department, in her lecture titled Grandmother, Mother, Daughter: Writing Women’s Lives, talked about her recent book, A Woman of No Consequence: Memory, Letters and Resistance in Madras. Her book took off from her yearning to document her mother Maithily’s life, a bold activist whose story deserved to be written down. But while researching, she found an old wooden box filled with her grandmother Pankajam’s manuscripts. This unexpected find opened a window not only into the extraordinary life and perspective of an apparently ordinary woman, but also into a deeper meditation on education, politics, and domestic life in an evolving Madras. She highlighted how such seemingly “ordinary” women can, in fact, be women of great consequence. Dr Kalpana, who arrived at the venue with an injured leg, captivated the audience with the evocative narration of her journey in writing the book.
Fisconomics Case Competition
On March 15th, the Pareto Economics Club, in partnership with the IITM Case Club, hosted Fisconomics, a premier case competition designed to challenge students’ policy-making and analytical prowess. The competition centred on the Tonk district of Rajasthan, tasking participants with solving long-standing resource allocation inefficiencies. The challenge required a multidimensional approach: identifying critical sectors requiring immediate intervention, auditing current budgetary constraints, and proposing innovative policies to bolster the Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP). The event saw an overwhelming response, with 52 teams (up to 4 members each) registering from across the institute. Following a rigorous first-round screening of 25 submissions, 6 finalist teams were selected to present their decks at the CLT. The finalists proposed creative budgetary reallocations and new policy frameworks aimed at sustainable regional growth, making the event a significant contribution to the department fest’s academic discourse.
Data Analysis Workshop
Following the morning competition, the focus shifted to technical skill-building with a workshop on the use of Generative AI (GenAI) for advanced analytics of unstructured data. The session was led by Mr Ritwik Shukla, Co-founder of Pankti Analytics. The workshop addressed a critical gap in traditional data processing: the fact that most global data exist in “unstructured” forms—such as social media sentiments, PDF reports, and news archives. Participants explored how GenAI can automate the extraction of meaning from massive datasets, offering higher accuracy and significantly lower time-intensity compared to traditional primary surveys. The 35 participants from across the institute engaged in practical exercises, learning to transform raw text into actionable economic insights. The workshop empowered students with the skills necessary for the evolving landscape of data-driven policy research.
Verses in the Vine
The closing ceremony and prize distribution of Dead Poets Society’s flagship event, Verses in the Vine, the poetry competition, was a rare moment that witnessed the gathering of creative spirits in the institute. The event commenced with a note of appreciation from the Department Legislator, who acknowledged the DPS heads for reviving the DPS and giving it a breath of fresh air. The address of Kanishkavarshini, one of the DPS heads, reflected upon being snowed under the responses they received for the competition and the herculean task of choosing the winners from 45 phenomenal poetic pieces. The prize distribution, however, missed the poetic charm of Aadived Balaji Ramakrishnan (BS), who bagged the first prize, and the powerful verses of Sohagni Roy (ME), the second runner-up, as both were unable to attend the session. Rudransh Kantharia from our department (HS24) collected accolades as the runner-up in Verses in the Vine and the winner of the Halloween Poetry Competition. The moment of the day everyone looked forward to was the recital session, where the top five poems, along with the pieces of the winners, were recited. Interestingly, the poetic atmosphere invigorated the spectators, who also took part in the recital, sharing their creative pieces. The Department Secretary then made the closing remarks.
Department Night
The grand finale of the fest was our vibrant and much-anticipated Department Night, a joyous celebration held on the evening of 15th March. Everyone showed up in their “Sunday best,” and the room was filled with elegant outfits and bright smiles. The night was carried by live music and the rhythmic energy of dance. One of the most memorable parts of the night was the games that were loud, chaotic, yet engaging. As the performances wrapped up, the event paused briefly as everyone stepped out for the refreshments. A small, spirited DJ set ended the night and the fest on a high, harmonic note.
Report by Sivani Sankar, Veena M , Uthara Raji, Alphin Tom, and Arun Kumar
Edited by Alphin Tom, Y Laxmi Samhita
Photographs by Department Photography Club
Article 19 