Upon entering 2235, the Department of Informalz is seen indulging in what could only be called semi-organized randomness. A first-year clicks furiously onto a laptop constructing what appears to be a 3D-maze in Autocad while another draws concentric circles on the board. Apart from the former being the blueprint for a treasure hunt clue, no further details are revealed. The diminutive, bespectacled Tam Brahm, Siddharth Iyer spoke to us about his experiences this APOGEE as coordinator of Informalz.

When asked about said chaos, Iyer pointed out that creative work can hardly be expected to have structure. As a rule, he said, Informalz stays away from rules and conventions set in stone in order to give as much breathing room as possible for innovation. As usual, Department of Informalz will be conducting four events this Apogee. The Apogee Treasure Hunt made only by first years, Wordstock (a set of word-games), Jeopardy (a quiz/game-show) and a currently unnamed new event. When speaking of the new event, Iyer hinted at thought experiments on Goldberg machine construction, involving abstract objects and tasks.

Siddharth confessed that being a coordinator was certainly very trying and stressful. “However, considering the opportunity to shape Informalz events for the coming fest, I must say it was worth it. The freshers really put in their heart and soul into the treasure hunt and we can expect novel concepts to be executed within the clues.” He also said that the department had certainly morphed a lot over the years. “Earlier, work was more event-oriented. People were summoned at a particular time and asked to finish some amount of work. The current person-oriented stuff works better for creative work, as we can sit with each other and discuss ideas.”