The coordinator of the Hindi Activities Society (HAS), Luvish Agarwal spared some time from his busy schedule to sit with the APOGEE English Press, and detail the workings of the club.

HAS is organising two major events for APOGEE 2023: N2O and Mindkraft. N2O, as described by Luvish, is the ‘killer comedy night’ for APOGEE 2023, where three talented standup comedians share the stage and perform for the audience. The second event Mindkraft is a Bollywood quiz, intended to provide a break from the technological events. It comprises two rounds— the prelims and the finals.

The club tries to add a new flavour to N2O every fest by seeking to get different artists every time. Luvish highlighted that they aimed to get female performers since N2O has majorly featured male comedians. The coordinator works with the CoStAA in making calls to agencies from a month prior to the fest. He also said that they stay in constant touch with the artists to make the event a success. He expects the show to see high footfall.

Luvish said that the preparations for Mindkraft started about two weeks prior to the fest, with daily meetings involving the workforce being held. Luvish appreciated the amount of creative effort put in by the juniors of the club to try to align the quiz to the theme for APOGEE 2023, ‘The Hivemind Genesis’. One of the major problems the club faced recently was a deficit in the workforce, which was resolved by recruiting juniors in the past month. Luvish added that the club members kept several interactions with juniors and are satisfied with the new recruits.

Speaking about his time as coordinator, Luvish expressed gratitude for the experience he had gained. On the other hand, he admitted the process could get tiring, given that he had to coordinate with both external agencies and the CoStAA. One of the major difficulties that he faced regarding N2O is giving the best quotations to the agencies within the limited scope of their budget, with the added constraint of getting new artists to perform for every fest.

Being in constant communication with the Students’ Union and the CoStAA is crucial for the club, as the daily updates regarding finances “have to be conveyed at all costs”. Luvish says the communication is quite effective and transparent.

On a parting note, Luvish mentioned that a technological fest need not be solely for technology enthusiasts: ‘A tech fest can be fun for everyone, and it’s because of events like these.’