In the Informalz half-room at Old SAC, a group of sleep-deprived yet highly motivated youngsters were hard at work for Oasis. With some effort, one could single out Simran Sehgal and Pranav Dinesh Kumar from the mass. The two Oasis coordinators of the department sat down with the Oasis English Press, primarily to discuss the department’s role in the upcoming fest, but also to comment on a clandestine coup staged by the English Language Activities Society (ELAS). Department obligations came first. 

Over the course of the fest, the department is responsible for hosting fun and casual, but competitive events to draw participation from the Oasis crowd. Pranav believes that Beg Borrow Steal and Treasure Hunt are two of the biggest events organized by the department, with an astounding collective footfall of over 1200 participants. Simran introduced other events hosted by the department such as Mister and Miss Oasis (MaMO), the Entertainment Quiz (EQ), and Neo-Casuals — a series of original games created by its members. Due to special circumstances this Oasis, Pranav detailed an important update on this year’s EQ. The event is to be altered into an entertaining game show in an effort to counter the blatant Machiavellian advances of ELAS into Informalz territory. He emphasized that the attempted encroachment was no coincidence, but a sinister plot brewing for over 3 years in the depths of ELAS management. The department wished this OEP article to be the first piece to document this precarious situation. 

Since Oasis is the biggest fest for Informalz, they have been working for weeks to improve their Oasis events. They have been formulating wild clues for the Treasure Hunt, framing innovative questions for EQ, and creating the Oasis theme-based structure at FD2. The coordinators commented that the responsibility was a new experience for them; the work of managing an entire department, ideating for new events, and lording over juniors (according to Simran) were sizeable tasks. However, they believe that their experience has helped them gain new insight into managing large-scale creative events. When asked to comment on the Oasis theme, Pranav and Simran agreed that Neon-Noir was a visually appealing and an interesting concept. The theme has been incorporated into their events and into the creation of their structure. However, they added that it would be far easier to do so if the StuCCA provided a brief description of such niche themes and avoided leaving it to open interpretation. Overall, they were quite satisfied with their preparation for Oasis ’19.

On a concluding note, Simran decided to dish out some friendly advice to Treasure Hunt participants — ‘If you are stuck, maybe the structure will provide a clue.’