Maitreyi Singh, the coordinator of the Department of Lights took some time out of her rather busy schedule to enlighten the APOGEE English Press about the department’s preparations for the upcoming fest.
Maitreyi began by expressing her desire to ‘shitpost’ this article. ‘The previous coord had a shitpost article, we need to out-funny him’ she laughed, not wasting a second on her bid to be the funniest. When asked about what the department did for the fest, she pointed out that as the name suggests, they did the lights for auditorium performances—the ones during Inaug, and N2O. During the latter, the lights are done according to the requests of the artist’s manager, the details of which are usually discussed ten minutes prior to the show.
Maitreyi shared that due to the auditorium renovation in the summer of 2024, the department no longer has a fixed Lights ‘booth’ and can freely move around within the auditorium. Despite the newfound mobility, they have chosen to set up a table exactly where the old Lights booth used to be—much to the dismay of certain juniors, who suggested sitting at the back of the auditorium, similar to the previous semester. ‘The juniors are dumb, they have opinions we do not wish to incorporate’ she said as she looked her AEP interviewer in the eyes. She recalls that in the previous semester, when they did sit at the back, they were accompanied by a singular spider, which they named—though no one remembers the name, however he would be missed. Another notable change is the unintentional flickering of the lights, a consequence of the old, worn-out equipment—which, Maitreyi insisted, ‘adds a touch of much needed spontaneity to the performances’.
When it comes to pre-fest rehearsals, Maitreyi explained that APOGEE Inaug has a fairly predictable routine (boring, she meant). All the performance clubs have pre-decided requests, and practice run-throughs take place a week before Inaug. N2O, however—assuming it’s happening, she added—involves the artist’s manager requesting for a lot of elaborate lights, eventually settling on a single spotlight throughout the show.
The department also needs to maintain communication with the Audio-Visual Lab technicians. When asked about the challenges regarding this, Maitreyi noted that the only challenge is the number of Hindi speaking people in the department. ‘Most people in the department can’t speak in Hindi, instead they communicate using interpretive sign language. It is very funny to spectate’.
When asked about the workload for the fest, especially given the limited number of people in the department, Maitreyi stated that they did not need any more people. She added that the second years, however, still needed to take interactions in order to improve their social skills. A bulk of the workload, she claimed, was reprimanding juniors for their ‘unreasonable bedtimes’, a responsibility whose relevance remains unclear to the press. On a slightly more serious note, she shared that beyond performances, Lights is also required to be present at Brain of BITS, the annual quiz hosted by the previous winner, in collaboration with the English Language Activities Society. She described it as a fun event, and expressed her excitement for this year’s edition, because the previous winner was a fellow member of the department.
Maitreyi then discussed the theme of the fest, ‘As usual, I have no idea what the theme means’. She remarked that if she had to pick the theme herself, she would pick something that was actually meaningful, because ‘ChatGPT has its limitations’.
Reflecting on her tenure as coordinator, Maitreyi quipped, rather enthusiastically, that she could finally order people around. She summed up her experience as mostly consisting of scolding juniors, operating the lights and giving everybody the contact of the previous coordinator, so that people stop bothering her. ‘The worst part is the work itself, actually.’ One of her most significant contributions, she claimed, was ‘giving people epilepsy’, something that she argued the audience should appreciate—even if their retinas didn’t.
Maitreyi was last seen requesting the AEP to post her QR on the website instead of her picture. ‘Please, sponsor my food during the fest.’ She also urged everyone to go on a wing trip during the fest. ‘I guarantee that you will have more fun on a trip.’ (Note: The AEP would like to point out that statistically most wing trips do not make it out of the group chat, so we request you all to be as optimistic as a certain Department of Lights coordinator.)
To end on a more sincere note, she expressed gratitude to the technicians for their support, and to all the people she met during her time as coordinator, and more broadly, her time in the department. Maitreyi stated that the highlights of her time in the department had been the wonderful conversations she has had, and invited anyone looking for a good chat to drop by the Lights booth.