With the highly anticipated Oasis ’26 a few short days away, the Oasis English Press sat down with Umit Adlakha, Oasis Coordinator, and Tejas Sajith, Semester-1 Coordinator of the Photography club (Photog), to ask about their plans and visions for this year’s fest.
Umit dove into great detail about the club’s signature event, the gallery (titled Bokeh), for which they selected themes and clicked pictures that were displayed during the fest. He added that this year, they conducted a workshop on Cyanotype, which would be ‘completely beginner-friendly’. He went on to excitedly promise that, for the first time, they would also be selling ‘retrocams’, which are 35 mm disposable film, taken on a disposable camera. Umit stated that the club hosted a free-for-all editing workshop for beginners and the fan-favourite Photobooth.
Umit shared that the planning for Oasis ‘26 had been in the works since the summer break, but execution commenced only 3 weeks ago. The preparatory work before the fest primarily involved taking panel shots, where all the club members came together to build set-ups, adjust lighting, and try their best to take the best shots possible.
When asked about the role of freshers in the preparations for the fest, Tejas stated that the ‘24 and ‘25 batches held Knowledge Transfer (KT) meets to familiarise recruits with the workings of the cameras available. Further, they went on photowalks around Pilani together, where they taught them about camera handling, angles, what defined good pictures, and how to capture them. They held meetings called ‘panel pitches’, in which freshers presented their ideas to the coordinators, and the best ones were selected as the themes, which were assigned to the freshers.
Tejas gave a brief introduction of an app that is currently in testing, which was used by the members to keep track of equipment and gear around the campus. He promised that the app would be released to the general public very soon, and it would display the best work of every member on their profiles.
When asked about their experience as coordinators, while every member was free to practice their creative freedom, there were some responsibilities bestowed upon them, depending on their experience. The 3rd-year students were responsible for coordinating talks with other clubs and departments while managing the internal workings of the club. The primary role of 2nd-year students was to cover the various events happening on campus and to act as ‘the bridge between 3rd-year and 1st-year students’.
The most difficult challenge that they have faced this year was the lack of a studio, something which they had last semester. Umit elaborated that this made it difficult for them to store inventory and take panel shots. He felt that the lack of a studio took away some of their creative freedom, leaving them scrambling for viable ideas.
Both Tejas and Umit hoped that the club’s studio would be given back to them.
Umit described his experience as the Oasis ‘26 coordinator as ‘painful enough that he loves it’. What he meant by that, he clarified, is that they found themselves confused and at dead ends frequently. He acknowledged the support he received from Arya Wadhwani, the BOSM ‘25 coordinator, and Aditya Nitin Patil, stating that the club provided an extraordinary avenue for growth.