IIT Kharagpur gears up to celebrate Diwali with iconic illumination festival Illu

The lights will be back at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur this Diwali, after a year’s gap.

The students of IIT Kharagpur are gearing up for the iconic Illumination and Rangoli Festival. The campus will be all lit up with diya installations at 7pm on November 4.

The more than four-decade-old tradition was forced to take a break last year because of the pandemic. Unlike other IITs, which close for Diwali vacation, students of IIT Kharagpur enjoy a Durga Puja vacation and spend the festival of lights on campus with Illu, as the illumination festival is fondly called.

To keep the 13,000-odd students from bursting firecrackers had been a challenge. In the early 1980s, senior students decided to turn this challenge into an opportunity and pledged to shun air pollution with creativity, teamwork and innovation. The illumination festival and a giant rangoli competition has kept IIT Kharagpur students busy every Diwali since then.

Keeping COVID-safety in mind, Illu will not be a competition between halls and the 3D rangoli making competition, too, will remain suspended. Instead, the students have come together to put up a single installation.

“This year our theme is ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, an initiative of the government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history. Through this single installation this year, the students will be depicting the five elements that make us proud to be Indians,” said Yashraj Bagaria, social and cultural secretary of technology, Students’ Gymkhana and a third-year architecture and regional planning department of the institute.

Planning for the festival began two months. “This is a highly competitive event, from design to the installation process, everything is kept secret by each hall of residents till the hour of illumination on Diwali. But this year in a rare display of camaraderie, all the rivalry between residents of different hostels has been set aside and students have come together to keep the tradition of Illu alive during the pandemic,” Bagaria said.

Traditionally, each of the 21 hall would put up over two lakh diyas sourced from local artisans. This year’s installation uses about 8,000 diyas. Giant bamboo structures, over 20 feet tall, are usually erected in front of each hall of residence. This year the, installation is only 14 feet in height and 40 feet in width consisting of three bamboo structures. As is the practice, the students tie chatais on the structure and wash the chatais with mud for fireproofing. Diyas are placed on the structures to create designs and patterns. International students, too, enjoy taking part in the festivities.

The prize for the month-long toil is a bucket full of rosogolla and, of course, the pride of being the winning hall of residence. This year, all participants will enjoying the rosogolla as there is no competition.

“We are maintaining strict COVID-safety protocol. To ensure social distancing, the entire installation has been divided into 12 zones where people are working in five shifts every day. This means at a time 60 students are working on the installation, taking care of safety,” said Devaki Nandana Vardhineedi, vice-president of technology Gymkhana and a fourth-year student of integrated MSc in Applied Geology.

IIT Kharagpur is yet to allow all its 12,000 students on campus. Around 3,000, including 1,500 research scholars, 1,200 undergraduate and 300 post-graduate students have returned to the campus at present.

Illu will also go virtual this year that students away from the campus can soak in the festivities. The Facebook page of the IIT Kharagpur students’ gymkhana is running an online rangoli and diya competition where students can upload images and videos.