The APOGEE English Press sat down with Abdullah Haatim — preferred to be known by the mononym ‘Haatim’ — the coordinator of the Department of Stage Controls (Backstage) for APOGEE, and his fellow member Aditya Tiwari in a short interview.
Haatim and Aditya explained how their department — in coordination with the Department of Lights and the Department of Sounds — assists in organizing major events held in the auditorium, most prominently the fest’s inauguration. Additionally, the department is hosting two independent events of their own this year namely, a game called Tech Jeopardy and an exhibition called OS Temple (Here, OS stands for Operating System)
Tech Jeopardy is inspired by the well-known eponymous gameshow. High footfall is anticipated during the event, based off of the great reception to a similar event they held in OASIS 2024, which had nearly 100 participants.
OS Temple, on the other hand, seeks to exhibit samples of what Tiwari terms ‘mostly slept on’ technology, focusing on old Linux and Windows interfaces, and other niche computing systems.
The name of the event, deriving from the niche, biblical-themed operating system TempleOS —accompanied by a programming language called the ‘Holy C’ — which was created by the American Terry Jones after a series of manic episodes, is indicative of this.
According to Tiwari, ‘these are interesting things that most people wouldn’t want to go through the effort of setting up, but we’ll do it with you’. He emphasized the experimental nature of the event and conveyed that due to a relatively lower workload, the Department tends to view APOGEE as a sandbox.
Tiwari stated that the OS Temple event will also be accompanied by an old-timey arcade stall, with classic games from the 80s and 90s. In addition, the Backstage Department will also be creating a structure they described to be an “altar” to the original TempleOS.
When asked about the department’s work so far, he mentioned how they were experiencing a slight difficulty in procuring suitable x64 computers. Haatim and Tiwari both casually suggested that they would welcome any reader of this article to lend these computers if they were to be possessing them for the duration of the fest.
Additionally, Tiwari and Haatim also referenced other ideas they had been considering for this APOGEE – one such idea was a wholly student-run DJ system, where original music is produced. However, they decided that the OS Temple event was more suited to APOGEE.
The two also emphasised the camaraderie and tight-knit nature of their department, asserting it to be central to their ethos. They talked about their great time in the department, both as members and as senior figures. They credited their competent fellow department members and the “Power of Friendship” to their cohesion and efficient functioning.
When asked about the future direction of their department, they hope to eventually possess a role in all auditorium events held during fests.
As a concluding remark, Haatim and Tiwari humorously advised the GBM to eschew prof shows, terming them ‘slop.’ Additionally, they expressed hope that the GBM would attend their events and make them a great success.