Techfest draws increasing crowds

Techfest, the technological extravaganza of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has grown by leaps and bounds and the nearly 75,000 visitors on day two is a prime example of the festival’s growing popularity not only among engineering students but also school-going students who fancy a career in one of the top institutes in the country. While acknowledging the increased crowds, the organisers said that it was probably due to the vacation season as well as it being a Sunday.

Despite the crowds, some IITians observed that this year’s edition lacked the charisma of former editions in the absence of top draw exhibits of the DRDO and the Indian armed forces that was a regular feature. The students also felt that the increase in segments providing pure entertainment was taking the festival away from its original aim of allowing IITians to compare their technical acumen with students from other institutes. “Techfest has gained a lot of popularity among the masses, but apart from a few segments like the lectures, exhibits and robot-related events, the other events are purely for entertainment. During Techfest IITians are more into organising than actually participating in the events,” said a first year student who took admission in IIT-B hoping to fulfill his ambition of building a revolutionary car that could fly a few metres above the ground, thus decongesting the roads and reducing traffic woes of India.

However, for 16-year-old Sarthak Angide, a student from Nashik who aspires to join an IIT, the visit was special. “I have been speaking with some of the coordinators and getting tips on how to crack the entrance exams to be eligible to get admission here,” said Mr Angide. First year IITians were more than happy to share crucial information with the aspirants as one of the coordinators Saurav Anand said, “Getting into an IIT is something which I aspired since I was in the tenth class. I told them to concentrate on studies and give sufficient time everyday for the same.”

Students from Kandivali’s Swami Vivekanand School were not hard to miss as they were in their school uniforms. Their teacher Abhishek Patel said, “These are handpicked students who are interested in technology. As we anticipated a huge crowd we asked them to come in their uniforms so that they do not get lost,” said Mr Patel.

Competitions like full throttle and robowars were some of the main draws as people of all ages thronged to see the machines in action. The Ozone segment which had games and stimulators were also a major draw. Students from Fr Agnel Institute at Vashi said they were there to understand what they could do for being part of Techfest. “We want to understand the level and types of machines so that we can also make them and enter as competitors. The festival is a great way of encouraging students like us to innovate,” said one of the girl students.

Speaking about the overall footfall, Anuraj Gupta, overall media coordinator of Techfest, said, “The numbers have been rising throughout the day. In fact we hope to bypass the previous years record of 1.4 lakh visitors in three days. We have already seen around 1.2 lakh visitors in day two.” He added that the Facebook likes on the Techfest page had also crossed 3 lakhs and was counting.

When asked about the absence of the high draw exhibits, Mr Gupta said that this year apart from the Indian Navy none of the others had shown interest to put up exhibits due to various reasons best known to only the authorities.