BOSM ended on a high note this year, with four days of events for sportspersons and non-sportspersons alike. BOSM 2017 had a free professional show, a talk by Tanvie Hans, Devendra Jhajharia as the chief guest, and coverage by DD Sports and Zee. 

Despite the success of the fest, there were quite a few things amiss – the most important of which was the turnout, which witnessed a sharp drop from about 1,250 last year to around 1,000. Football (girls), Table Tennis (girls), and Basketball (girls) were particularly affected. PCr initially sent out confirmation mails with payment links to 1,500 participants, hoping that at least 1,300 of them would turn up for the fest. However, several last-minute cancellations forced them to work till Day 0 of the fest in order to increase participation.

Not all participants were made to pay before BOSM. The last-minute entrants, and many of the regular contingents promised to pay once they arrived for the fest. Miscommunication between PCr and Controls about the details of which contingents had not paid led to confusion during registration. The fact that the PCr CoSSAcn had gone to visit Delhi for a day during BOSM did not make coordination between departments easier.

The food stalls were surprisingly empty. The promised KFC and Taco Bell food stalls were conspicuously absent, and Egg Maggi, a rather generic food stall, was brought in at the eleventh hour. Only Goosebumps garnered some attention. The stall set up by the owner of RP Redi seemed to be the most useful for participants as well as BITSians, where people who skipped breakfast had the chance to eat.

Lesser non-sporting events and low participation kept the activity in Gym-G at a minimum. VR, Ignition, Street Football, Zorbing, and other DLE events that usually gather an excited crowd had lower attendance, with very few signings throughout the fest and a total of zero outstation signings on the last day.

In addition, entry to the “Punch Hour” was botched. People without stubs were allowed into the auditorium, leading to stub-holders being locked out of the Audi. They also promised performers cash payments without confirming with the CoSSAc, leading to confusion between the SFC and the performers.

In the weeks leading up to BOSM, both DVM and Coding Club developed a mobile app for the fest. The CoSSAc endorsed DVM’s app as the official one. Posters were put up everywhere to inform students about the app. Participants were forced to download it to keep up with the ever-changing schedules. However, the app crashed in the middle of the fest, and Coding Club’s app was used by participants throughout.

BOSM 2017 lacked the enthusiasm usually associated with the fest. However, it also saw more efficient scheduling and planning compared to last year. While this BOSM might not have been the best in recent times, one hopes that future editions of the fest live up to expectations.