Yash Devnani, the StuCCAn of The Department Of Controls, was a tough man to find in the days leading up to Oasis. Even when the Oasis English Press finally caught up with him, he was finalizing plans with the cab vendors and simultaneously ironing out Oasis preparation with the President of the Students Union. When the fourth year-ite finally sat down for the interview, he gave a sincere description of his department’s work, while also expressing his excitement for the events to come in Oasis.

Yash first described how Controls divides the various tasks that it handles. There are a number of divisions, known as “job-streams”, each with its own devoted team. For example, two second year department members form the “travels” job-stream, which looks after mobility inside and outside campus for all the guests, judges, and artists that come down. Most streams have two members, but some require three. As an example, Yash cited the Audi stream. “Basically the Audi job stream is kind of acting as a bridge between all the departments and clubs who are handling one particular kernel event, as well as the Institute.” One member of this job stream is Controls’ designated Audi manager, who is in charge of the coordination and makes sure everything goes smoothly for Audi events.

Yash went on to explain that most of Controls’ pre-fest work is requisitions – getting the permissions and resources required for events. It is the department’s responsibility to vet the requests that they receive from clubs, because they have a limited inventory, and need to ensure that they distribute it wisely.

Speaking about the major changes for this year’s fest, Yash mentioned the English Prof Show. ‘This is the first time we’re getting an acclaimed international artist… One of my main agendas was to push for the English Prof show, and making it bigger than what it was before. I think we’re doing great on the signings as well.’ As a rock fan himself, Yash’s excitement was palpable. The department has also planned internal changes. ‘We’re actually planning to hand out the prize money on the spot for a few events. We’re still working on that, it’s not confirmed yet, but we’re hoping that can happen.’

The conversation then moved on to scheduling, another primary duty of Controls. Yash explained that one of the biggest challenges with scheduling is always production – the set up time required for a particular event, such as soundcheck for music artists. ‘Guthrie Govan’s production alone will take 5-6 hours. Getting those few Audi slots and managing a gap out of those was very difficult.’ But Yash was confident that the final schedule has ample gaps for potential delays. “So I had to sit with a lot of coordinators, and we had to shift a few events here and there. Both sides need to compromise a bit, but the schedule looks really nice this time.”

Yash emphasized the dynamic nature of the task of scheduling. Unforeseen issues can delay events, and cause a domino effect. Controls needs to be ready and willing to deal with such occurrences by moving around events at the last minute, and try to accomodate as many events as possible.

The main issue in terms of participation is providing accomodation, says Yash. Due to the ongoing renovations at the staff quarters, the fest is short of accommodation for females. Controls is still negotiating with the Institute regarding this. Further, Yash explained that BITSians can only invite people of their own gender because of accomodation reasons. ‘Basically, that clause exists because we consider that the guy or girl you’re inviting will stay in the same room as you. The Institute doesn’t allow us to invite anybody who doesn’t get accomodation.’

Yash was very satisfied with the way that the StuCCA meets have proceeded. He said that he’s made good friends within the StuCCA. He also said that great ideas have come out of their meets. He was also very happy with the sponsorship numbers.

As a message to BITSians, Yash emphasised that there are different things for everybody at Oasis. ‘I want to keep it open ended – I think everyone has their own perspective of Oasis. Take the fest as you want it to be.’