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Revels’17 is all about the Carnaval vibe: the colors, music, games and vibrancy. As much as we appreciate all the work done by supporting categories during fests, we generally don’t give much thought over the insane amount of effort that goes in crafting each detail to perfection.
We, at MTTN, interviewed the category which breathes life into each fest, and found out a great deal about what goes behind making those crowd-favorite photo booth props and enthralling games. Here is an account of what Akash Kourav (Informals Cathead) had to say to us:
MTTN: Things rarely ever go hiccup-free while organizing something on a scale this large. What problems did you face while working for Revels?
Kourav: Prior to this fest, most of our pre-Revels activity took place at KC, considering how it was the casual gathering spot for everybody in campus. We miss KC a lot. Crowd-pulling was a lot easier before it broke down. This time, we had to shift our game stalls and DJ night to the space in front of FC. Though it was a slight setback, we tried our best to make the fest as lively as possible. Apart from that, we faced some issues with the logistics not reaching us on time. The college sets a budget, which in turn depends on sponsorship, and we need to obtain all our supplies within that budget. Even though the sponsorship this time was commendable, its management was slightly chaotic. The logistics required for craftwork is crucial for both PnP and Informals, and the unavailability of materials caused quite a harrow initially.
MTTN: What’s different this year?
Kourav: Last time we had Roadies; this time we introduced a new challenge, Foodathon, which gained quite a lot of popularity. There are two big games that we’ve managed to organize- one is paintball, which was there for TechTatva as well, and the other is Human Foosball. People might have played Foosball, but its human-sized version is not something most people would have ever played before. Paintball has a lot of demand, and is hence being repeated. Why go out of the way to play paintball when we can provide for it right here in our campus?
MTTN: How do you feel about your team?
Kourav: I love my team. Fortunately, I have a great bunch of organizers. Initially, as the usual trend goes, we take about 60 organizers, out of which only 20 finally work on a regular basis. In informals, however, we all enjoy the work we do, and have fun together. Balance is the key.
MTTN: Do you sometimes feel you don’t get as much attention as the main categories?
Kourav: No, not at all. In fact, I think we get more attention, because we’re INFORMALS! We never compare though. All category heads are my friends, and anyhow, it’s not about the category. It’s about the fest as a whole- the supporting, as well as main categories. At the end of the day, our aim is to make Revels a success.
MTTN: What are your bestsellers?
Kourav: Undoubtedly the photo booth! The organizers and volunteers have put in hours of work and sleepless nights for it. Among our games, Get Wet (the water game) sells a lot. We also introduced a Bottle Flip this time, which the crowd seems to have taken up well.
MTTN: You hosted an incredible DJ night last TechTatva. Can we expect one this time in Revels too?
Kourav: Pro-show has a great lineup this time, so no DJ night during Revels as such. We had great fun doing it during pre-revels, though. A lot of people turned up, despite it not being on KC like it usually happens. However, we are trying our best to arrange a DJ night for this Holi (13th March).
We also talked to Raghav Singh, an organizer for this category, to get a better inight of Informals:
Raghav: I really enjoy working for Informals. I was a part of this category during Tech Tatva as well, but we mainly worked more during that. This time, the proportion of fun is much higher. Thankfully, we have great catheads. They know where to draw the line between work and fun, and where to let go of that line. Kourav in particular, I admire the most. He’s a very good leader. He works with an example and gets things done. Another thing that makes our respect for him grow is his good networking ability.
MTTN: What about your coworkers?
Raghav: We’re all great friends, but we end up fighting a lot. We have a lot of creative clashes that lead to frequent disagreements. We eventually devise some solution because on the whole, we want our category to work- and it’s doing quite a wonderful job at the moment. We’re getting a lot of appreciation from everyone. The main thing is, the show must go on.
It takes a ton of patience, creativity, hard work and passion to add the simplest hues of fun to a fest, and the entire team at Informals has done a marvelous job at it. Check out their photo booth and Human Foosball near IC, and the Paintball arena behind the library. They also have an event, Scavenger Hunt, which takes place on Day 3 (10th March).
— Tejal Khullar for MTTN
Photographs by: Alwin Paul John and Agnihotra Bhattacharya