Review of IIT Bombay’s Performance at Inter IIT Cult Meet 7.0

IIT Bombay participated in the 7th edition of the Inter IIT Cultural meet that took place between the 26th to 29th December in IIT Patna. One of the contingent leaders, Sarthak Saxena, informed us that the contingent is set to clinch the overall cup for the third time ever, the last being in 2018. The overall standings have now been announced, and IIT Bombay has secured the first position, leading by 276.5 points. Through the article, we walk through the journey of the contingent and the preparation of the genres that led to this stellar performance.

The position of contingent leader (CL) is required for all external competitions that IIT Bombay students participate in. The CLs for Inter IIT Cult Meets are nominated by the current Institute Cultural Council (ICC) after due groundworks and interviews, and this year, the responsibility fell upon Aryan Shah and Sarthak Saxena who were selected in September. In our interview with Sarthak, he told us that having been Cultural Councillors in their respective hostel councils for the previous year, they had sufficient experience in the domain to carry out their duties. “We hadn’t gotten gold (in overall standings) in the past 6 years, so that was the goal this time,” he added. CLs ensured that each genre’s selections and practices happened in a timely manner, all the while making arrangements for food, travel, lodging, and registration for the competition for the entire contingent.

Genre-specific decisions were made by Genre Captains who are experienced and active seniors in that cultural event. After taking auditions and forming a team, the genre captains ensure that their team is well prepared for the event and that the budget is efficiently utilised for this purpose. According to the CL and Comedic Arts Genre Captain, auditions were held more fairly than last year, and even students from last year’s Inter IIT contingent had to audition again. Furthermore, some students who were not taking practice seriously were removed from the team just a few days before the event.

“We ensured that only the people who would win gold for us went [to Patna]. I have noticed that sometimes people go to Inter IIT for travelling and sightseeing, and don’t practice. Thus, we were stricter with the screening process.”

– Sarthak, Contingent Leader

The months of November and December were bustling with the #thegrindneverstops mentality. Practices were often scheduled at night so as not to clash with the students’ classes, and they were paused during mid-semester/end-semester exams. Alums and seniors of the club were also helpful in giving feedback about each genre’s teams, further refining the contingent’s preparation. “We got sewing machines, as fashion design was also introduced (for this year’s Inter IIT). Our team sewed their own dresses for the competition,” said one of the CLs. There were fortnightly review meets as well to track the contingent’s preparation.

The contingent leaders and genre captains ensured all contingent members traveled safely and comfortably to Patna and had access to food and lodging at the host IIT. Train berths were ensured for all students, and adequate space was provided to carry their paraphernalia during the journey. The contingent reached the host IIT 2 days in advance to give contingent members enough time to adapt to the weather conditions in Patna. This was done keeping in mind the experience at the inter IIT cult meet 6.0 last year, where many students had reached Kharagpur on the day of the competitions and fallen sick. 

When asked about the stay at IIT Patna, the CL told us that it had been his best Inter-IIT experience yet:

‘The hospitality and food were of top quality, and the management ensured that the judgments were unbiased. There were fewer delays in the competitions, and for the first time, an inter-IIT cult meet had concerts with performances by The Yellow Diary and Nakash Aziz on the final day of the meet. All contingent members also received t-shirts, cups, hoodies, and welcome kits. I believe that newer IITs should be given an opportunity to host. Even though many students were apprehensive about inter IIT being held at Patna and having to travel to Bihar, their management was the best I have seen yet. The competitions continued even after the demise of Dr. Manmohan Singh on 26 December 2024; the Director of IIT Patna decided that there would be mourning before events and no cheering was allowed during competitions.’

Contentions raised during the competition

Usually, during Inter-IIT cult meets, contentions are raised and resolved during Contingent Leaders’ (CL) meets before results are announced. The CLs and GCs of all IITs look out for foul play by other IITs to raise contentions against them in order to get penalties awarded to them and defend contentions against their own contingents during these meets. Our interview with the Comedic Arts Genre Captain shed more light on this: “CLs get genre captains to defend genre-specific points. These meets started at 10 pm and continued till 5-6 am in the morning – so I only managed to get a total of 7 hours of sleep in those 4 days of Inter IIT.” This year, tentative results were announced before contentions were resolved completely. The CL told us that all contentions couldn’t be resolved completely during the meet due to the large number of competitions this year, which led to delays in finalizing the inter IIT cult meet results. It was announced that IIT Bombay was the winner of the overall cup, but contentions have to be defended before the results can be frozen. The CL also mentioned that the culture of General Championships (GCs) within the institute is much more competitive and intense and that defending contentions at Inter-IIT was comparatively easier. 

The contingent also ensured that the performances of competing IITs were videographed as proof for raising contentions. The CL also mentioned that some other IITs, such as IIT Kharagpur had brought a team of people specifically for this task, but we couldn’t record as extensively because of our smaller team size.  

When asked about learnings from other participating IITs, the genre captain for photography, told us that teams from other IITs see more shared responsibility as compared to our teams, where GCs shoulder more workload. He also suggested that people performing well in institute-level competitions should be given a direct pass into the inter-IIT team. 

Moving Forward

To do even better next year, a few things can be improved according to our interviewees. Selecting the team earlier and starting practices sooner will give more time to prepare. Building good relationships with newer IITs, like this year, can also help during important votings regarding any changes to be made in the rulebook before Inter IIT. Keeping proper records, focusing on genres where we have had weaker performances, and making sure all arrangements for the contingent are smooth are important. Having approachable and friendly Contingent Leaders, and regular feedback sessions help keep everyone motivated and finetune the team’s performances. We hope this victory inspires more people to participate in culturals and take the momentum forward.