With five events this year, the Hindi Activities Society (HAS) will have a very busy Oasis. Most events have been slightly changed to suit the theme and participation. One major change is the revamped Purple Prose, which is a slam poetry competition. Earlier this was a one day event held on campus, but this year, preliminary rounds for Purple Prose were conducted across four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, and Jaipur. HAS also plans on conducting a round solely from BITSians, and the winner of that round gets a direct pass to the finals of the event. Mock Parliament has also been changed – instead of sticking to pen and paper rounds, participants will now be debating Section 377 and marijuana legalisation.

Another event conducted by HAS is Stand-Up Soapbox. The top four finalists of this competition open for artists in ‘N2O’. HAS also managed to bring down Abhishek Upmanyu for N2O. According to Sachin Tripathi, coordinator of HAS, ‘We had been trying to get him here for the past year and it is a relief that he finally agreed.’ The other artist lined up for N2O is Jasprit Singh.

HAS also conducts Antakshari and Filmy Muqabla. Their usual event Bluffmaster is now being conducted by HPC. ‘It is getting tough to do work with midsems and students going home for dussehra’, says Tripathi, when asked about his experience as coordinator. With bigger names and grander events, HAS has their work cut out for them, and they hope this Oasis is a success.