Yesterday, the Student Union kindly arranged for a ‘Fresher’s Day’ in the Audi. It apparently was an effort to rouse interest among the new batch of BITSians about the various co-curricular activities and festivals. These are major events on the BITSian calendar. As a result, almost all the Clubs and all the Departments turned up for the event, vying for the attention of the coveted First Yearites, who will be a major part of the workforce throughout the next 2-3 years.
However, the numbers were interesting. When it began in the Audi, the first 4-5 rows had been captured by members of the various Clubs and Departments, attending the event to cheer on their Co-Ords/members on the stage. As the night progressed, the numbers of such seniors grew, almost equalling the low number of Freshers, the target audience of the event. The Audi wasn’t even full…
Looking at the trends of the last couple of years, is this a signal for all the Clubs and Departments? The number of people interested in various hobbies surely cannot decrease in such a short span of time. But, the focus on acads has grown incrementally over the last 3-4 years, ever since BITSAT started. This has not been without it’s cost. Members of Assocs, Clubs and Departments will surely remember last year’s APOGEE and OASIS, when First Yearites went home en masse. A very telling example is the possible discontinuation of Sangamam, the yearly event held by Ragamalika to celebrate Indian and Carnatic Classical Music and Dance.
I hope that this was not a teaser of things to come and that things will improve, along with the weather… It’s been ages since I have seen something through the Astro Club Telescope…
P.S. : Watch out for the upcoming Astro Club Blog, The Red Shift, hosted on this server.