After a subdued round last semester, batch snaps were back to being conducted at full capacity on March 26 and 27, 2022 at Sky Lawns. Pre-final and final year students in the First Degree (FD) and Higher Degree (HD) divisions were called for batch snaps.

Students usually spend one day dressed in formals for “formal” snaps with their academic departments and the other in costume for “informal” snaps. The latter involves students cosplaying as various characters from movies, TV shows, video games, or even as abstract concepts and ideas. 

Any concerns that cosplay culture would not be as strong as it used to be, were settled conclusively. There were hundreds of students dressed up to get their pictures clicked. The costumes ranged from Ace Ventura to SpongeBob SquarePants and from playing cards to BITS Pilani’s Clock Tower. Wing themes were also extremely common; from the Naruto inspired Akatsuki wing to the exceedingly controversial Führer wing. The Joker was the most cosplayed character over the weekend, with students choosing from different versions of the legendary villain. General Admiral Aladeen from The Dictator, John Wick from the eponymous film series, and Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine were some of the other notable cosplays. The effort put into the costumes varied greatly, with some students applying make-up and body paint, while some came in wearing Hawaiian shirts cosplaying “surfer dudes”. Many juniors were also present at the lawns to get their pictures clicked with seniors.

The EPC also caught up with Yash Thakker, the coordinator of Student Alumni Relation Cell (SARC), to understand the process of conducting batch snaps. He mentioned that the two-year gap meant that he had to work with a relatively inexperienced team and hold more snaps than usual—47 compared to the regular 33. The preparatory work included accommodating requests from professors and students of the thirteen academic departments at BITS, and taking relevant permissions from the Birla Education Trust and the Institute.

SARC usually organises snaps in the first or second week of February but this year, they were delayed by about a month as a result of constraints due to the third wave of COVID-19. They were concerned that the high temperature—hitting over 40°C on both days—would adversely affect turnout, but they were delighted to see so many students show up on both days.

After the first session of snaps on Saturday, the lawns were left littered with bottles and Tetra Paks. Yash said that the Director of the Birla Science Museum was furious and threatened to cancel the snaps scheduled for the next day. The SARC team had to eventually tidy the grounds that evening. Yash ended the interview by requesting all BITSians to be aware of what they leave behind in public places.