The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy defines the Department of Lights as the organization set up by the Imperial Galactic Government whose primary task is to bring light to the deepest, darkest parts of the galaxy. The department, whose refractive office can be located in the Megabrantis cluster, is headed by a Hooloovoo (a superintelligent shade of the colour blue) by the name of Prayaag Katta.

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy, orbiting a small unregarded yellow sun at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet. By a meaningless coincidence, on this planet, in an institute whose unofficial motto is “Take Lite”, there also exists a Department of Lights, whose main purpose is to manipulate the levels of illumination on the auditorium stage. In another meaningless coincidence, the coordinator for this department is also called Prayaag Katta. But he is a bipedal humanoid carbon-based life form.

In another not so meaningless (and possibly deliberate) coincidence, a recording of an interview of the Earth Katta, fell through a time warp into the future, causing widespread unrest and resulting in a mass uprising, until they realised that the interview was being played backwards and was not in distorted Mandarin. Here are some extracts from that interview, which may or may not be fictitious:

Q. What does the Department of Lights do for Oasis?

A. We light up the stage for various events happening in the Auditorium.

Q. How many people do you have?

A. We have around 10 members on campus now. Usually around 4-5 of us can be seen working in the booth during events.

Q. Why such a small number?

A. To prevent dilution of the knowledge we pass on, grasshopper.

Q. Are there any changes in the way you are going to operate this semester?

A. No.

Q. Any parting words?

A. Don’t Panic.