BOSM 2017 is bigger than it’s ever been – and with BOSM Controls’ work just having got a lot more hectic, extricating Pavan Pillai from his responsibilities proved difficult. The BOSM Controls CoSSAc’n was disarmingly candid over the course of our interview, as the conversation freewheeled from discussing the department’s work to institute funding and BOSM’s relative autonomy from the SU.

BOSM Controls is involved with work both before and after the fest, involving cooperation with almost everybody associated with the fest. The department also handles the participants’ transport, refreshments, and prize money and is kept abreast of all the fest’s happenings – acting as its nerve centre. A large component of the department’s work involves scheduling – coordinating with captains of the 24 sports teams on campus to prepare time slots for every event. The procurement of required inventory is also a part of BoCo’s job.

Pavan feels the decision to request prior payment of registration fees will have significantly lightened the load on their scheduling work. ‘Every captain provides a minimum and maximum cap on number of teams participating, with Controls having to prepare a schedule for every case. With pre-payment this BOSM, we can expect less fluctuation in number of participants arriving’. While teams would once pay Rs.1000 once they’ve arrived, the teams now pay Rs.300 before and Rs.700 after arriving on campus.

We also asked Pavan whether the gender imbalance in the fest was a legitimate concern. ‘While most other sports require applicants to already be proficient, women’s football for instance has no such bar.  This also reflects among our applicants, it’s harder to find women’s teams willing to travel all the way here’, Pavan mused.

The Sports Council’s decision to halve the BOSM budget was also quite baffling to him. ‘Every year participation has only gone up, so we restrict teams and set caps on every event. The fest doesn’t really cost much and the fest account has always been in surplus, so the decision to halve it came as a total shock’ he exclaimed.

Notwithstanding budget cuts, BOSM this year is shaping up to a great fest, with teams from afar as Sri Lanka competing and a free Prof Show. Here’s wishing BOSM Controls the very best!