Every great department needs its leader, and this great leader, it appears, needs his banana. Such is the essence of one CoSSAcn’s tenure, the BOSM English Press discovered while having a talk with Siddharth Garg, the CoSSAcn of the Department of Controls, BOSM.
He relayed that the department’s responsibilities are vast for this fest: managing on-ground logistics, overseeing inventory, scheduling refreshments, ensuring professional shows run smoothly, and handling other tasks that require attention. However, what remains the most memorable part for Garg isn’t the satisfaction of a job well done, but rather —“You get free bananas. I like them.”—referring to the bananas meant for the dedicated players of BOSM. Add in the unfiltered joy of handling a walkie-talkie, and there you have the highlights of logistical leadership.
One might imagine that such dedication stemmed from years of ambition. In truth, his ascension to CoSSAcn was less destiny than default: ‘by the time pitches came, I was the only one standing.’ History, as it turns out, is written by the last person in the room.
He explained that his department’s work started around a month before the fest, overlapping with vacation times. He stated that they were ‘surprisingly on schedule.’ The surprise, he admits, stemmed from the fact that he didn’t exactly know what the timeline was supposed to be, as this was his first time leading the department. “So, to me everything seems good”, he remarked, stating that he expected everything to be done by the beginning of BOSM. Garg, perhaps unintentionally, has birthed a new philosophy of project management: if you don’t know the deadline, you can’t miss it.
Delegation has also been key. He credits Coordinator Aditi Agarwal, describing her as ‘an absolute machine in handling everything.’ With her running operations, he can step back to focus on the bigger picture—overseeing. With such support, his own role is elevated to the higher callings of fest-wide diplomacy and, occasionally, the unwarranted consumption of refreshment inventory.
When asked about the challenges he and his team faced, he pointed not to dramatic failures but to the slow grind of coordination: lengthy meetings, differing opinions, and the occasional debate over details that may seem small but still require resolution. In his account, the real complexity of logistics lies less in moving equipment than in aligning people—all described with the air of a man exhausted less by conflict than the sheer act of being present. Still, he endures, and the fest marches on, carried by the weight of his selective enthusiasm.
On a nostalgic note, referring to his time in BITS, Garg added that his very first BOSM featured comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath in N2O. Now, in his final year, Biswa is set to visit the fest once again. “A full-circle moment,” he called it. He further encouraged all the BITSians to enjoy the four years, attend the fests, and make the most of the experience.