26th edition of IIT Guwahati’s annual fest Alcheringa begins

The 26th edition of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati’s three-day cultural fest, Alcheringa, commenced with cultural and musical events on March 11.

Themed ‘Voyage to Neoterra’, this year’s Alcheringa will be attended exclusively by campus residents to ensure COVID-19 precautions are maintained.

The festival was inaugurated with a lamp lighting ceremony by the director of IIT Guwahati, TG Sitharam; dean of student's affairs of IIT Guwahati, V Venkata Dasu and the Chairman of Cultural Board of IIT Guwahati, Ashwini Sharma. The director of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), USN Murty was also in attendance as the chief guest.

The first day of the festival saw ‘Saaz’, a classical music night that brings famed and talented classical musicians to the campus.

The audience was wowed by the performance of Takahiro on the santoor accompanied by Zuheb on the table. Students and staff were also left mesmerised by the performance of acclaimed percussionist Vikku Vinayakram along with his son and grandson. The three generations of classical musicians left the audience thrilled and enthused for the coming days of the fest.

Sitharam expressed his joy at seeing the Dr Bhupen Hazarika Auditorium filled on the first day of the festival. He offered his support to the administration for taking the bold step of recalling students back to the campus so that offline classes can resume from March 21.

During the inauguration, the chief guest, Murty, conveyed the point that "Inner beauty is more precious and important than outer beauty." He highlighted that India is the origin of various fine arts which are always evolving.

Along with the words of encouragement from Dasu and Sharma; Sai Sumanth, vice-president of Student's Gymkhana Council of IIT Guwahati and Aryan Singh Yadav, convener of Alcheringa 2022 spoke at the inauguration ceremony.