Cognizance

Although it is the largest technical festival of Asia, calling it the 2nd largest technical festival of Asia is simply IITR being humble. Cognizance takes place in the Spring semester: just after the curse of mid-terms gets lifted from the lives of people. It invites eminent personalities from all over the world for guest lectures, workshops and stage-shows pertaining to the world of technology. The organizing team comprises of the students of IITR themselves. For both Thomso and Cogni, a modest structure of hierarchy exists in the team. A typical freshman involved/pretending-to-be involved in the work can be identified by the following:

  1. Begging his facebook friends to like the Cogni page.
  2. Putting up posters in Bhawans.
  3. Undying devotion for any kind of Chapo from a senior.

Thomso

The annual cultural festival of IITR, Thomso is the time of year when the uneven sex-ratio in the campus becomes hardly noticeable. It will be important to mention how bravely this festival survived before the unfortunate disaster of 2010 which led to its banning in 2011. However, it was relaunched with vigour in 2012 and people actually hoped that it was better to forget about the heavenly days again on campus.

Surprise struck the junta of IITR in the autumn of 2013 when Thomso’13 unexpectedly kicked-ass in each and every goddamn domain. Undoubtedly, the days of Thomso are probably the best time at the campus of IITR.

Sankalp

Sankalp kicks off the trinity of fests in the spring semester. Sankalp is the socio technical fest, organized by NSS. Though in its nascent stages, it is replete with multiple events like panel discussions, case studies and guest lectures, underlining the message of social conscience.

If you are a faccha in NSS, you will be hounded by your seniors to attend the aforementioned guest lectures and panel discussions, with dire threats of attendance hanging over your shoulders.

It is mostly ignored by the rest of the campus.

Sangram

The official sports fest of IITR, Sangram offers the sports fraternity of IITR a reason to keep their spirits up after the InterIIT season ends. High spirited matches are marked with intense jeering and inventive name calling from the boisterous IITR crowd, granting you the illusory sense of fulfillment that you have done your part for the institute. It sees a healthy turnout from many colleges of North India, IITs included, and is utilized to give freshmen some much needed game time. It sees a healthy turnout from many north Indian colleges, IITs included and is utilized to give freshmen some much needed game time. Needless to say, regularity a month or two before the fest can land you a spot in one of the B teams and maybe give you your 15 minutes of fame.