With Oasis ‘24 approaching, the Oasis English Press reached out to Aryan Gopakumar, the Coordinator for the Mountaineering and Adventure Club (MAC), for a conversation about the club’s role in the upcoming fest.

Aryan explained that MAC would be responsible for organising the Adventure Zone, which hosted events like Paintball and Body Zorbing. He described the preparation for it as a long and continuous process. He further explained that the first step included looking for the most economical vendor. He said that MAC contacted vendors in Delhi and Jaipur and shortlisted a few of them.

Aryan mentioned that the location of the Adventure Zone is paramount for revenue generation as well as the popularity of the event. He remarked that last year, it was organised in the S Lawns, which was a rather secluded area. He hoped the club would get a good location this year.  He added that communication and collaboration with the departments working for the fest would be essential for the same.  

Aryan elaborated that organising the Adventure Zone required a lot of crowd control; such duties would be assigned to the first-year members. All the first-year members would be assigned certain time slots and tasked with handling the visitors at the zone. Moreover, handling the registration process would be assigned to the second-year members, and overseeing all the preparations would be handled by the third-years.

When asked about his overall coordination with the various departments and clubs, Aryan remarked that there had been a lot of paperwork and formalities involved, even for the ‘minutest of things’. However, he felt that it was his responsibility as the Coordinator to manage everything, regardless of how hectic it might have felt.

Aryan remarked that his overall experience as Coordinator has been pretty smooth, with very few hiccups. On a parting note, he suggested students stay on campus for the fest instead of going home. He mentioned that a BITSian’s most cherished memories are created during Oasis, and wanted all students, especially the freshers, to enjoy this fest to the fullest.