The APOGEE English Press sat down in conversation with Shreya Karnwal, the CoStAAn of the Department of Reception and Accommodation (RecNAcc).
The power dynamic in the department was instantly established as her own juniors kicked her out of the department room. Gracefully maintaining her composure as the head of a major department — and being left with no choice — she was kind enough to sit outside, and immediately broke the fourth wall by explaining her desire for this to be a ‘shitpost’ article. Being a member of the English Press Club herself, she had been on the other side of these formal interviews and stated that she was done taking them, having witnessed ‘too many depressed Coords.’
‘It is simply a formality that’s too boring for my style,’ the depressed Coord said.
When asked about the department’s contribution towards the fest, Shreya explained that they are the only major department that works across all three fests. Although she was unsure of the reason for this high regard, she mentioned that it was the unique selling point of the department and the reason she had joined. Before she could finish answering the first question, she was interrupted by her juniors asking for reimbursements of their refreshments (treats), which she reluctantly accommodated, trying to build a positive image in front of the press. She stated that she was just a ‘money machine’ to them and offered the interviewer a choco lava cake, which was happily accepted, while maintaining the highest standards of ethics and conflict of interest. (Disclaimer: The AEP would like to point out that the word of the press cannot be bought with a choco lava cake from 301; it should at least be from Domino’s.) She doubled down on her poor spending habits by recalling that she was the third highest spender in the pre-APOGEE Food Fest, putting RecNAcc’s efforts on notice somewhere, at least.
Shreya mentioned that every edition of the fest sees more participants than the previous one, which poses a challenge for the department. When asked how they manage to ensure it, she replied by saying that they ‘simply don’t’ and ‘say sorry’ to whoever they must turn down. She expressed how a major challenge each year is the accommodation of female attendees. This is primarily because there exists only one girls’ hostel on campus, with limited capacity, in comparison to the thirteen boys’ hostels. To overcome this, she explained, the department also uses the A block of SR Bhawan, but began to question how comfortable female participants would be in using a washroom with urinals. The ghost of Budh Bhawan Girls’ Hostel era still lingers on. Shreya then proceeded to go down the rabbit hole of questioning the motives behind coming to BITS Pilani for a fest in the middle of nowhere. She verbalised her existential crisis by proclaiming, ‘There’s no vibes. There’s no desert either. It’s just barren land. I don’t see a point in coming here.’ She added that there was no scenario in which she would come to Pilani if she weren’t a student here.
In the weeks leading up to the fest, she shared that ‘they’ obtained the necessary permissions, held inventory requisition meetings, tagged some locks and counted some mattresses. She clarified that her only contribution to this ordeal was making people do these tasks for her and bring her food because that was ‘the most important’ part of the preparatory work. She also added that whenever she did have to step in, a little crying and begging would get the job done. According to her, APOGEE was the litest fest, because she did not have to work for it.
On the topic of the Oasis Review Meet (ORM), which had already been postponed, cancelled, and re-attempted multiple times at that point, the upcoming StuCCAn for Oasis ’26 joined the discussion.
Talking about the repercussions that followed the walkout by the StuCCA and the CoStAA bodies in the third attempt of ORM, Shreya expressed that they would have backlash regardless of the walkout. On the contrary, the RecNAcc StuCCAn said that the repercussions had already hit the department, citing this as the reason for not handing out stalls treats (much to the dismay of his juniors). Completely unprompted, and taking a subtle dig at the interviewer, the StuCCAn joked about changing the name of the department to ‘something dumber’ like ‘Bistar Baddies’. He further joked that since he had seen students require multiple attempts to qualify exams, with some BITS students being droppers, they would be treading familiar waters by taking another crack at ORM. His rather dismal attempts at making his audience laugh were met with crickets from his juniors, with only his fellow POR roaring with laughter. The discussion was interrupted by a certain member of Sponz, who made his way there just to herald RecNAcc as his favourite department. The tradition of ‘minor’ departments buttering up major departments continues.
Bringing the discussion back to APOGEE, Shreya mentioned that they had done quite a lot of the work already and were somehow early according to their timeline. She still felt the need to reprimand her juniors for focusing on their academics and not working. She clarified that her workforce had begun working days before she had shown up and were simply ‘too scared’ to work when she was present. In stark contrast, she also declared that RecNAcc was the happiest department.
To conclude on a more sincere note, Shreya thanked her parents and her fellow batchmates for providing her with the opportunity and entrusting her with the responsibility that came with her position. She urged the GBM to accept RecNAcc with open arms, to drop by and ‘give them a hug’, imploring them that just their kind words and patience would be greatly appreciated. Her juniors nodded their heads at this speech, staring suspiciously at the CoStAAn.