Wrapped in an Indigo Mood

             Mood Indigo, the famous IIT festival has come to an end today. It was a festival of music, it was a contest among competitions, a collection of exhibitions, a flurry of workshops. Undoubtedly Mood Indigo was a hub of activity for four days from Boxing Day to 29 Dec. Most unfortunately not being able to attend the first day of Mood I, I missed all the major competitions I would have loved to take part in, especially Dialectics the national level debate. It was only mid way through the second day that I was able to attend the festival. The sand structure and Rangoli on water exhibits were to be marvelled at, but they were after all made by pros from across the country. The footlose competition was worth watching. It came as a revealation that the jungles of Powai held such a variety of wildlife (implied meaning) which is conspicious only by its absence in VJTI. The 3-D photography workshop however turned out to be a bit of a disappointment and after that we decided to call it a day.
               Day 3 was the big day, especially with the Shankar Ehsaan Loy performance scheduled for the evening. Fortunately or unfortunately my presence was doubtful. I learnt later that after waiting for 5 hours for the performance one of my pals was turned away from the performance only because he happened to have a bag with him. Seeing that I am always in the habit of carrying a bag with me whereever I go, I am glad I missed the performance since my fortunes would probably have been the same as my fated friend. Whilst IIT certainly has to be congratulated for attracting such great star performers as Shankar Ehsaan Loy and popular Jazz and Rock bands, the crowd management of IIT can be described as nothing but absolutely PATHETIC. Lines for the performances stretched for more than a mile and the students had to wait for hours on end just to get inside the OAT. The trouble to which they had to go to get passes for the concerts is another issue altogether. Even after waiting in the lines for hours on end the students are lathi charged by the 'security' before they are allowed to enter. The performance starts at 7:30 but most students gain entry only after 8:15. Looks like the huge OAT has only one entrance, similar to the Jalianwalla Bagh.
              On a brighter note I really enjoyed the fourth and last day of mood I. Earlier this year thanks to Pratibimb I realised how much I hate Rock music. I am certain that I will never attend a Rock concert again. On the other hand thanks to Mood I, I realised that I love Jazz, a type of music which I had never heard before till today. It was quite surprising to see that there was a ridiculously long line for the Rock show and very few people sitting for the Jazz performance, but the Jazz was really nice music. Even Loy of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio had come to listen to that performance. The Jazz performance more than made up for the regret of having missed the Shankar Ehsaan Loy performance the day before. All in all it was a good show put up by IIT at MI '07 except that they really seem to have missed an important lesson or two in handling large crowds of people.