It’s that time of the year again when MIT students get to experience the first college fest of the academic year. Freshers who have high hopes from college fests come to enjoy vast variety of categories on display at TechTatva. For seniors, it’s the time to take advantage of free afternoons and unexpected holidays. TechTatva can be described as the agonizingly short, adrenaline fueled time when tempers flare, sleep is lost, and bonds are forged. Here we’ve compiled a few things one goes through during TechTatva and in the days leading up to it.
1) Getting more attention from the volunteers near the Food Court than you’ve ever gotten from anyone else.
Come TechTatva, a simple trip to the Food Court or Student Plaza requires elephantine patience. Full of volunteers trying to get you to sign up for their events—and intent on explaining every single one—all public places become breeding grounds for over-enthusiastic salesmen. Successfully making it through makes you feel like an Olympian.
2) When TechTatva publicity spam outdoes even family WhatsApp groups.
The lively, decorated messages inviting you to a whole assortment of events and workshops make you miss the days when Inshorts were the only notifications you were getting.
3) Trying to get tickets for the Conclave.
With guest speakers like Ashwin Sanghi and Radhika Apte invited to the Manipal Conclave, everyone expected a long line at ticket sales. No one, however, expected a line longer than the one at Tirupati.
4) Signing up to volunteer for extended perm only to realize you actually have to work.
Being part of events with night perm is every fresher’s dream, until you look in the mirror only to find craters underneath your eyes.
5) When an entire night’s hard work gets washed away with the rain.
More often than not Manipal’s fickle weather plays spoilsport and delays even the best laid plans. However, the first thing a student learns after coming to Manipal is to carry an umbrella, irrespective of the weather till at least November. The rain ruined a lot of the decor and posters put up by supporting categories like PNP and Informals.
6) Trying to balance studying for sessionals and assignments, attending events, and sleep.
TechTatva, being sandwiched between assignment week and sessionals, ensures that all enjoyment takes place with academics at the back of your mind. So every time you pick movie night, drag racing, the food stalls, or socialising at IC over studying, you feel a pang of guilt.
7) The pain of seeing your bank balance drop day by day.
TechTatva is fun, but delegate cards, cute 3D printed models, food and t-shirts are sure to drain your bank account of all its funds. The end of Day 4 leaving a gaping hole in our pockets is a concept we aren’t new to.
8) Mother Nature raining down on your party, literally.
DJ nights are always fun, except for when it suddenly rains and the speakers malfunction. The weather is the biggest party pooper we’ve seen this semester, the wetness and humidity of the rain mixing in with the immense amount of sweat one generates while dancing.
9) Scouring through Facebook for pictures of yourself becomes an obsession.
One of the best parts of the fest is looking out for photographers to take cute pictures of you and your friends. Candids, weird poses, and fake laughs are captured as a documentation of the fest. Thanks to Facebook, sitting at a delayed event is no longer a chore as you refresh the app for pictures every few minutes, and actually find new ones each time.
10) Dealing with rejection as a volunteer.
Being a volunteer is probably the most humbling job in all of TechTatva. Right from being rejected by almost every passerby to being chastised by your HR for slacking in your, admittedly dull, duties, it’s an experience that’s tough to replicate. All social anxiety gets tossed out of the window when you’re forced to speak to everyone you see and every conversation teaches you something, even if it’s just learning who to avoid.
All in all, TechTatva is the period of the academic year when you witness a wide spectrum of human emotion, while simultaneously learning the nuances of dealing with a vast variety of people. TechTatva can be an enlightening and humbling experience for everyone involved. Although it can leave a bit of a hangover when it’s over, it’s an experience you’ll never forget.
Art by Ankita Shenai and Ashmita Priyadarshini
Photography and content by MTTN Crew
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