Alcheringa (festival)

Started back in 1996, Alcheringa is a product of the enthusiasm of a bunch of enthusiastic IIT Guwahati students. A non-profit student-run festival, Alcheringa started escalating soon after making humble beginnings. In 2002, Alcheringa still in its primitive stages roped in Parikrama^[2][3] for a preformance in Juggernaut, the Rock night and the Grammy award winner Pt.Vishwa Mohan Bhatt^[4][5] for the classical night Saaz. In 2003, Alcheringa saw a performance by the rock band Euphoria^[6][7] and the renowned santoor player Pt.Tarun Bhattacharya as the main attractions. Alcheringa 2004, based on the theme - "Anything's Possible" saw many new additions to the basic structure of the festival, the most prominent being a fashion show hosted by fashion designer Prasant Ghosh. The key attractions of the festival were the live concerts by the premier bands Indian Ocean and Vaayu.^[8] 2006 saw Alcheringa peeking beyond the nation’s borders for the first time, with the Pakistani pop rock band Strings^[9][10] coming in for a concert. Music mogul Shaan,^[11][12][13] the metal band Pin Drop Violence, and The Raghu Dixit Project^[14][15] featured as the star performers of Alcheringa 2008. Come 2009, Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam^[16] performed at Crescendo, Swarathma- the fusion folk performed at Blitzkrieg, and Scribe^[17] at Juggernaut. Alcheringa, in a literal way went extreme in 2010 with "Alcheringa Xtreme"^[18] . Scaling new heights, the live concert of the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie^{[19] [20]} took the Indian metal scene by storm, and marked the first ever foreign band performance in Alcheringa. The other milestones of Alcher Xtreme included the performance by the Indian musical trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy^[21] , a performance by the Giuliano Modarelli^[22] , a concert by Vir Das^[23] ’ project, Alien Chutney, a stunt show by MTV Stuntmaina and an association with MTV Wassup. The year 2011 saw Bollywood singer K.K^[24] as the star attraction. Motherjane, a prominent Indian rock band, Advaita, a fusion band and table maestro Aditya Kalyanpur and the Punjabi hip hop band RDB^[25] were the other highlights of the festival. In 2012, Israeli progressive folk metal band Orphaned Land^{[26] [27] [28]} performed at Alcheringa. Along with that, Saaz featured the first ever Indian performance of Anoushka Shankar^{[29] [30] [31] [32] [33]} , the world renowned sitar player. Bollywood singer Javed Ali^{[34] [35]} was the highlight of Crescendo, the Bollywood night. 2013 saw one of the most prominent Bollywood singer Mohit Chauhan^{[36] [37]} performing in Crescendo. Blitzkrieg witnessed a gigantic EDM night, by the Sunburn Campus, featuring the Electroverts. The Irish rock band Frantic Jack^[38][39] were also pincipal attractions of the festival. In 2014, Alcheringa went a notch higher, with a landmark performance by the legend Michael Angelo Batio^{[40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]} - the fastest guitar shredder in the world, the Bollywood singer Shilpa Rao^{[48] [49] [50]} , and the Mexican trio- The Villalobos Brothers^{[51] [52] [53]} . The surprise night i.e. Blitzkrieg featured Undying Inc, aboard the Red Bull Tour Bus^{[54] [55] [56]} , on the last stop of its national tour.

The Pronites and Proshows are the main attractions of the festival. Alcheringa has a history of having many great artist from different corners of the world and India itself. Pronites of Alcheringa are categorised under four categories - The classical night Saaz, The rock night Juggernaut, The Bollywood night Crescendo and The surprise night Biltzkrieg. Some of the famous Bollywood artists who have eariler performed in Alcheringa are Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, K.K, Mohit Chauhan, Shilpa Rao, Javed Ali, Anoushka Shankar, Vir Das, Kalki Koechlin. International performances are marked by a Pakistani band Strings, Michael Angelo Batio, Eluveitie, Orphaned Land, Frantic Jack and the Villalobos Brothers.

The competitions section of Alcheringa is a platform for the talents across various colleges in the country to showcase their talent. It comprises the following genres of arts-

Dance

The dance module comprises events such as a group dance competition Electric heels, street dance battle Step-Up, a solo non-classical event Moves like Jagger and a solo classical dance competition Navras.

Music

The music module comprises a band-competition Raga High, singing competition Voice of Alcheringa and a solo instrument playing competition Rhapsody.

Performing Arts

Under this module the various events include Theatrix-a stage drama competition, a street play competition Halla Bol, a stand-upcomedy event Why So Serious and a spontaneous play competition Ed Edd Eddy.

Fine Arts

Events under this section of competitions include an on the spot collage making competition called the Big Picture, a sketching competition called Stroke of Genius and a comic strip designing competition Comic Con.

Sports

This module include events like 5 on 5 football and Arm Wrestling.

Class Apart

Rock-o-Phonix, a rock band competition, which sees nationwide participation. It’s one of the established events of Alcheringa, and invites gigs from diverse rock bands in the country. Winners of Rock-o-phonix include Dark Carnage in 2012, The Urban EarlyMen in 2013 & UDX in 2014. Mr. and Mrs. Alcheringa, a contest that tests the participant's spontaneity, presentation, showmanship, charm and public speaking skills. Haute Couture, a fashion-based team event. The team has to put up a complete fashion show within a certain curtain-to-curtain time limit. Crossfade, a DJ-ing competition to spot emerging talents in the world of EDM. Roadiez, based on the hit reality TV show MTV Roadies, the event, the event tests the guts and patience of participants, by providing them with a series of challenging tasks. The finalists are then tested for their personality and appeal in front of a huge audience cheering and insulting in equal measure. Roadiez has a history of having judges like Anamika Dutta and Kiri who have been participants in the earlier editions of MTV Roadies.

Digital Arts

A module including events to test the artistic talents using digital media. The events under this module are- Custom Brush, a competition that urges participants to create works of art using the cursor. Ad-dict, a video ad making competition, requiring participants to design a one-minute ad which is simple yet appealing. Minimal Poster, a minimal poster designing competition. Snapthrillz, an online photography competition and a short-film making competition Director's Cut.

Alfaaz

The literary module of Alcheringa attracts enthusiasts, and contains the following events- Just A Minute, an extempore event wherein the participants’ fluency in spoken English is put to test. Zephyr, an online creative writing competition which includes poetry and short-fiction writing cometitions. What's The Good Word, is a team based vocabulary quiz. It combines literary trivia, anagrams and vocabulary. Quiz Fest, is a quizzing competition consisting of a General and a Business Quiz. Prominent quizmasters, such as Aryapriya Ganguly, Vijay Menon and VV Ramanan have presided over this event.

Informals are basically a set of informal and spontaneous events. The Informal events in Alcheringa include Crush, Blind Date, Eatopia, Bollywood Bug and Hai Dum on the informal stage. Online informal events consits of Entertainment Quiz, Alcher Feelings and Photo Con. A separate LAN Gaming event was also hosted in Alcheringa 2014.

World Carnival is a section of Alcheringa designed to promote cultures across the world in India. Alcheringa has a history of having artists from various nations as in Michael Angelo Batio and The Fastest Feet in Rhythm from the USA, Rizumik from Portugal, the Villalobos Brothers from Mexico, Ciorras from Ireland, Ish Theatre from Ireland, Giuliano Modarelli from Italy and Eluveitie from Switzerland.

In 2014, IIT Guwahati organised its first Model United Nations, the first such conference in the state. The first version of the conference simulated The Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) with the agenda “Responsibility to Protect.”^[57]

Alcheringa has always strived to give to the society in every way possible with its social initiatives.

Udaan is a social initiative by Alcheringa wherein the students of IIT Guwahati visit underprivileged children in various corners of India and light up a spark of hope within their innocent hearts. For the past three years since its inception in 2011, students of IIT Guwahati have reached out to various under-privileged children in villages, orphanages, slums, special care homes etc^[58] .