Revels Behind the Scenes | HRD

The Human Resources Development team, commonly known as the HRD team of Revels ’17 comprises of a rather fun bunch of people. They are single-handedly responsible for all the manpower behind the fest, including volunteers and they’re also the ones to make sure that everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, and all disputes and problems are resolved. 

MTTN: What are your expectations with respect to your juniors? What qualities do you appreciate?

Alisha: Being tactful is such an important criteria when it comes to handling people. Also a certain amount of diplomacy and subtlety is needed, especially since human beings are complex and every individual’s emotions are to be considered.

Pranav:  Many people assume that to be a part of this category one needs to be an extrovert and a people’s person, but that is not true. For us it’s amazing to see how our organizers change from being shy and reserved people to being able to handle difficult situations without any guidance. HRD helps them overcome their personal barriers and come out of their comfort zone, and towards the end of Revels, most of them can easily handle a group of 15-20 first year volunteers.

Meghnath: They should be responsible, honest and should more importantly get work done, especially from reluctant volunteers. They should be able to maintain a fine balance between being strict and being approachable and more friendly. They should also be able to think quickly and be capable of making fast decisions since we have around 900 volunteers and slacking off is not an option.

MTTN: Can you tell me your experience in organizing Revels’17?

Alisha: It has been a really hectic and long process. But we enjoy every moment of it. Since HRD involves managing people, we face issues every day and solving them efficiently is our responsibility. We conduct meetings in the night where we discuss all these disputes and try our best to come up with solutions.

MTTN: Would you consider this category the backbone of Revels? Without your category would the fest become dysfunctional?

Meghnath: Yes! (Laughs) We are an important category as we are responsible for the smooth functioning of all the other categories. We assist them and solve any disputes that arise but the fest does not depend just on us. It is the amalgamation of the hard work and effort put in by each and every category during the fest.

MTTN: How has the decline in Proshow sales affected this category?

Pranav: Decline in Proshow has affected the entire fest. Since our department is in direct contact with first years, the student council asked us to conduct an enquiry. Although the answers we received from first years and second years were varied, the common conclusion that we could draw was the absence of KC (Kamath Circle). There was no such place to set up an infodesk and therefore the publicity was very little. Also last year, crowd pleasing numbers of Nucleya and Papon were constantly played at KC from Day Zero, and that resulted in ample publicity and enthusiasm for the Ground Zero event. This year, however, KC was absolutely silent on Day Zero.

MTTN: What is different this year? How is Revels different from Techtatva?

Meghnath: As far as work is concerned the two fests are not that different. The first years are always very enthusiastic when the college has an event. However we did experience a decrease in volunteers during Revels as many of them happened to be participating in the fest.

MTTN: How do you feel about your team?

Alisha: We just love them! They are such an enthusiastic bunch and it’s just a lot of fun working alongside them.

Pranav: Since we deal with so many issues, the atmosphere sometimes gets tense but that never lasts long. Even when we yell at them or reprimand them, they know it’s only for work and no one really ends up getting upset. Sometimes even when we try shouting at them, it fails and we all just burst into laughter. We just can’t help it, we really are a family and a big one at that.

– Nabilah Husain for MTTN

Pictures by Aryaman Desai

Leave a Reply

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑