Saarang 2007
Saarang is IIT Madras (they've not changed it to Chennai) annual literary and cultural fest. Its supposedto be one of India'sbiggest and best college fest, with over 10000 people coming last year. Participants come from all over India for 4 days offun.
I heard about Saarang two years ago, and I've wanted to come here ever since. I couldnt make it here last year because of my exams, but I made sure I'd come this year.
And so things have come to pass. I landed in Chennai at 5 45 am today. Thanks to the excellent information available on the Saarang website (saarang.org) I knew which bus to catch to reach the IIT campus. The autorickshaw drivers do not follow the meter and I'll try to avoid them as long as I'm here. The trip took nearly half an hour and dropped me a hundred metres away from the main gate.
The fact that it was before sunrise coupled with the oddity of the windows of the busbeing at chest level didnt allow me to see much of Chennai on the way. I've heard that Chennaiites are notorious for speaking to outsiders in Tamil even if they know English or Hindi,but I haven't faced that problem yet.
The campus is huge, triangular shaped withareasfor the college buildings, hosteland residences separate,and a campus bus comes to the entrance every ten minutes or so to take people to their destinations inside the campus. They charge Re 1 or 2 depending on where you want to go. ( The students at the hospitality desk mentioned this price goes up during Saarang time)
The campus is beautiful, with trees of all varieties covering every inch of the campus. I saw lots of Banyan trees on my way to the hostel. The roads are named after places, with Bonn, Delhi and Adyar providing a global, national and local representation. Coupled with the early morning mist, it's inspired me to go for a walk or cycle ride tomorrom morning.
The hostels are at theopposite end from the entrance and are located in the vicinity of each other, and are named after the rivers of India nwith a mess named Himalya. I saw quite a few dear roaming in the vegetation near the hostels.I reached Ganga hostel where my school friend stays.
Will keep you posted on Saarang for all four days of the fest, starting tomorrow.
© Olorin., all rights reserved.
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