The Oasis Review Committee meeting began at 6:30pm, after the customary hour’s delay, on the evening of November 23rd. This year’s meet lacked the usual drama and blame-throwing that it has come to be associated with, but one can’t complain as this may be an indication that the fest went well, with only minor issues.
The Good
Nirmaan had created a Peace Wall, on which over a thousand people wrote messages and signed. It was later presented to the Border Security Force. NSS’s eye donation camp saw 530 people pledge their eyes after their deaths. The Department of Photography (DoPy) made ₹1.7L by taking snaps throughout the fest, and ₹2.5L through the sale of merchandise. The Department of Firewallz made ₹12k by collecting penalties throughout the fest, and thanked DVM for providing timely assistance and support with the portal. The Film Making Club had received ₹17L worth of equipment from sponsors, and said this helped them get much better footage than before for the Oasis aftermovie.
Around ₹21L worth of transactions went through on the Department of Visual Media’s app – spot signings for professional shows accounted for around ₹11L, and the rest was through the food stalls. Several clubs brought up the issue of the app showing wrong schedules for their events, and the Student Union President, Satyansh, noted that it is to be the responsibility of the next StuCCA to ensure that the app is ready ten days before the fest, giving time to weed out errors. The Department of Publication and Correspondence acknowledged that the quality of some events were below par, and that improvements were necessary. They also thanked the Department of Theatre for accommodating last minute changes that had to be made.
Releasing figures of this year’s sponsorship, the Department of Sponsorship and Marketing said that 37 events were backed by sponsors. Including the food stalls, they had raked in ₹32L in monetary deals. Satyansh, the StuCCAn of finance, later informed the English Press Club that the figure was actually ₹30.5L. The vendors’ revenue from the food stalls increased from ₹28L last year to ₹39L this Oasis, and they contributed ₹7L towards the fest in downpayment. Four certified courses from the Indian Institute of Photography were given out to winners of Exposure and Oasis From a Lens. Sponz also distributed 1800 cans of Monster Energy Drinks and 120 cartons of Doritos.
The Bad
Gurukul faced major issues with the judges for their events. All music events were to be judged by the same set of judges, who happened have their own professional show as well. The judges found it hard to work continuously for so many hours, and were unable to judge one event. That event ended up being judged by members of Gurukul, which raised several questions from the participants. They were promised that the procedure to select judges would be formalized and that the issue would not recur.
The Department of Lights explained that they would henceforth be unable to shine lights on the Department of Art, Design, and Publicity’s art installations in the auditorium during the Inauguration Ceremony, as the moving heads used for that purpose have broken. The Department of Sounds accused the Dance Club of misusing the ₹18k podium mic that they were provided, to the effect that the mic has not worked since. The Dance Club said that they believed the mic to be non-functional from the outset, and apologised if their actions were to blame. DoPy noted that there was a problem with the wrong year being printed on the SU sweatshirts, but Akash quickly clarified that it was the fault of the vendor, and that they were being fined for it.
Both the Film Making Club (FMaC) and Ragamalika had issues with registered participants not showing up for their events. During Metamorphosis, FMaC’s short-film making competition, only nine out of 33 registered teams submitted entries – they said that this was because the other teams were not notified about the event details. In Ragamalika’s case, there were some participants who were registered for both their events, but did not participate in either. Some of them had no idea what these events were about. It was also questionable that 12 participants had been registered for both Taandav, the Indian classical dance competition, and Swaranjali, the Indian classical music competition – it is unlikely that so many people were proficient in both the art forms. PCr responded saying that they would have participants send in videos of their performances from next time, to ensure that they are serious about participating.
The Department of Reception and Accommodation (RecNAcc) provided accommodation for more than 1600 people during the fest. Several clubs and departments brought up cases of outstation participants/teams having to wait for inexcusably long periods of time before being allotted accommodation. RecNAcc seemed to have a response for each case and the matter ended with a general consensus that it would not recur in subsequent editions of the fest. RecNAcc also said that some clubs and departments had a casual attitude towards their inventory, and they faced several losses thus.
The Ugly
The Department of Informalz and Sponz had a long back and forth about Informalz not having a host or a judge for their Mr. and Ms. Oasis (MAMO) event. Although BLAB and MAMO usually have the same host, the BLAB presenter was unwilling to host MAMO this year. The Sponz StuCCAn, Punit Batra, had promised Nidheesh Sudheesh, the Informalz coordinator, during the Oasis Preview Meet that they would arrange for one. Nidheesh had repeatedly tried to contact Batra via phone and text to follow up, but was only able to get through to him when he called Batra from a friend’s number. In response, Batra said, ‘Sorry, bro’. Sponz contended that Informalz had informed them too late about this requirement and they were unable to provide for one in that short timespan.
The Audi Force coordinator described, quite interestingly, the ways that the Pilani schoolboys conducted themselves during the fest. ‘Some of them were jumping on the Vidyapeeth girls,’ he said, much to the amusement of the ORC. Apparently, some boys stood on the barricades during the Hindi Prof Show and shouted out obscenities. Audi Force complained to their teachers, but were told that the boys couldn’t be controlled and should be thrown out if they continued behaving in that manner. ‘So we threw them out,’ he clarified. They proposed that the boys ought not to be allowed in Oasis from the next year onwards. ‘But girls are ok,’ he made it a point to note. Talking about the Comedy Prof Show N2O, Audi Force said that allowing a greater number of entrants than the capacity of the auditorium, with the aim of increasing profits, ought not to continue.
ARBITS recommended that music shows should not be hosted at the Rotunda as even professional sound engineers faced issues there. The coordinator went on to praise the Department of Live Events (DLE) for their production which he felt was the best he had seen. ARBITS faced issues with security and management during their events – an alumnus of the Department of Stage Controls had gained access to the stage during Guthrie’s performance and was seen smoking. The Stage Controls coordinator claimed that he had not authorised his entry and contended that unauthorised persons gaining access to the stage could be controlled only if people holding AAA and All-Access passes were more responsible.
ARBITS was also displeased by the turnout and the publicity that Rocktaves received, it being one of the oldest flagship events of the fest. During the Backyard Shrooms professional show, some equipment was stolen off stage and the lack of Audi Force members present in the auditorium at the time was questioned. Audi Force said that their workforce was needed at the EDM night show’s entrance, and was thus unable to handle the Backyard Shrooms show.
Akash Singh, the SU General Secretary, acknowledged that a fake stub racket had gone on during Oasis. Apparently, students printed fake stubs and sold them for a profit. While the investigation was underway, he said that such an activity could take the fest into a loss and the fact that it occured when so many people ‘put their heart and soul into organising the fest,’ was a sad thing indeed.
Credits
Satyansh revealed that the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Prof Show was the costliest one yet, with ₹31L going into it. He also noted that the total expenditure for the fest was ₹1.33Cr, and that the fest had made a profit – the exact amount would be revealed later. Punit Batra, the Sponz StuCCAn was thanked several times by members of the StuCCA for his efforts. Rahul Unnithan, the RecNAcc StuCCAn said ‘I would like to thank Batra for the several little initiatives he took throughout the fest’. ‘On behalf of the whole StuCCA, we would like to specially thank Punit Batra again, because he was the creative head. He headed us in the right direction through the creative area,’ noted the StuCCAn from Controls. Akash Singh too said ‘I would like to thank Batra again as he was the one who told the timeline of when the entire merchandise thing should start, as I was new to the system.’ Batra graciously accepted these praises. Akash also thanked the Corroboration and Review Committee (CRC) for being prompt and responsive – there were instances when large payments were executed overnight.
Motions
As the review part of the meet concluded, the floor was opened up for motions to be raised. A motion to have DLE, Sounds, and Audi Controls back in charge of specific aspects of professional production for auditorium events and some external live events, with the StuCCA and the CRC as signatory bodies, was brought up. The voters passed it without much debate. The Union Council’s vote also saw the Fashion Club being put under probation for budget mismanagement and the lack of activity during the rest of the year. FitBITS is to continue under probation for another semester as they strive to become an SU Club, and a bid to start an “Eastern Outlook” club was turned down by the voters.