With BOSM just a few days away, the BOSM English Press sat down with Kshitij Galande, the Joint Coordinator (JoCo) of the English Languages and Activities Society (ELAS). The location for the interview had been occupied by a junior of his, upon seeing which, Kshitij ‘jokingly’ suggested that she be told to get lost. 

Kshitij shared that the club will be conducting two events this fest—a general sports quiz, and a quiz about cricket, football and F1. Kshitij explained that the reason behind conducting two separate quizzes was their varying levels of difficulty, with the former covering niche topics and the latter having been designed to appeal to a wider audience. He mentioned that they hoped to make the general sports quiz a marquee event for BOSM, much like the club’s beloved Brain of BITS conducted every year during APOGEE. 

Kshitij said that in the previous edition of BOSM, participation in the events had been low. He attributed the cause to their location in LTC, a significant distance from GymG. He added that combined with increased publicity and the new venue in FD-1, they expect better attendance. The club expects a staggering 60-70 participants for the general sports quiz, almost triple that of last year, and 80-90 for the F1 quiz. Kshitij also shared that the prize money for the general sports quiz would be INR 5,000 and that for the F1 quiz would be INR 8,000.

Talking about the challenges faced in organising, Kshitij mentioned that they had faced ‘menial difficulties’ with booking the rooms they wanted. He explained that they had tried to requisition NAB rooms, but were unable to book them due to clashes with the schedule and issues with the administration. He added that they had also tried to conduct the quizzes in the GymG, but could not get their desired time slot because of sporting events.

He revealed that the club had started working on the quizzes in September. He mentioned that since the fest quizzes were meant to garner non-ELAS participation as well, they had to be simpler. When asked about the evolution of ELAS through the years, Kshitij noted that due to the general population (rightfully) complaining about their name being misleading, and the sentiment that they exclusively conducted quizzes, the club has reluctantly started to host more non-quiz related events. This includes the crossword puzzle in collaboration with the Oasis English Press and Wordstock.

Speaking about his experience with CoSSAc, he commented that they had been helpful and reliable, having increased the prize money since last year and helping more with publicity. He said that his experience as the JoCo had been pleasant, as ELAS was not a hectic commitment. He added that the 2023 batch had been helpful by ‘not creating too many problems’.

In conclusion, he invited every fest attendee interested in sports to participate in the quizzes, insisting that they were ‘not nuanced’ and ‘easy to attempt’.