The biggest techfest in the country just got over...Yes shaastra 2005, a student organised fest, having the ISO 9001 stamp, just got over. As usual the hype that is created evry year around the events at shaastra is tremendous thanks to the PR courtesy the HINDU and aother media partners. But after the event is over i am wondering what all the hype was about..
Ok fine, agreed that this year the bascule bridge project that was taken up by the students of IITM was completed succesfully but apart from that there was little to look forward to over the 4 days at Shaaastra, and this me an IITian speaking ....
the thing that bugged me the most was the ignobel prizes, an event aimed to be rip off on the actual paper presentation(which by the wway was scrapped this year..!!!!). For god's sake this is techfest , not a Saarang were entertainment is the ultimate aim!! shaastra is one of the few techfests in the country which is catered to the needs of the undergraduates exclusively. It gives them a platform to come out with their ideas and present them for further analysis.
But scrapping the paper presentation and encouraging the ignobel prizes , i am not sure whether
what the organisers are thinking..
whatever it is a drastic rethink in strategy is needed so that Shaastra truly is what it claims to be!