Mitul Garg, the APOGEE Coordinator of Nirmaan, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to the APOGEE English Press about Nirmaan’s work in the upcoming fest.

Nirmaan is a social service club which aims to uplift the underprivileged. The members work in areas such as education, community development, and women empowerment. They use fests to raise awareness about Nirmaan’s work and increase their reach.

During APOGEE, Nirmaan will be setting up three stalls at Krishna Marg—a vada pav stall, Swayam Shakti stall, and a peace stall. The vada pav stall will conduct eating contests with participants in groups of eight, where the fastest eater will get their money back. The Swayam Shakti stall will feature trinkets and ornaments made by women beneficiaries, and the money from sale will be handed to them. The peace stall will showcase previous work done by Nirmaan and take suggestions from the students and other visitors about social issues. Any revenue generated will be used to further the noble cause of the club.

When asked about the work and challenges they faced, Mitul talked about choosing the item for the eating competition as it had to be both capable of being eaten in a competitive way and unique, and other difficulties in figuring out the logistics of setting up the stalls. They particularly struggled with finding vendors to provide food at affordable prices as the wedding season will be in full swing during APOGEE, he added.

Speaking about his time as coordinator, Mitul shared that he couldn’t have asked for a better team. The team, despite a few members being back home or away on trips, was fantastic and did their delegated tasks the best they could. He also said that the CoStAA and the SU were very accommodating.

As a parting note, Mitul urged the students to visit their stalls, see their work, and also consider trying out social services.