IIT Gandhinagar students are a very active and vibrant group. There is an active participation by them in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. The students have formed various academic clubs like ETA (Entrepreneurial Technocrats Association) and FIOP (Forum for Interaction on Physics).The Students' Gymkhana of IITGn organised their first inter-college cultural festival Blithchron during 14th-15th March, 2009 - perhaps the only event of this kind organised by any of the new IITs in the very first year of existence.
IITGn's association with SPIC MACAY, a popular movement to promote Indian Classical Music amongst youth also started off in this eventful year with a Sitar recital by Padma Bhushan Pt. Debu Chaudhary. Some other cultural activities include forming a music club Planet Sangeet (which arranges for instruction in both vocals and intrumentals along with organising periodical cultural competitions), the official cinematic club Cineflux (which screens movies from across the world) apart from celebrating regular fesitivies like Republic & Independence Days, Gandhi Jayanti, Holi, Dassera, etc. with aplomb.
The students of IITGn have also been active in sports. They have organised inter-departmental/singles tournaments for football, cricket, volleyball, badminton and table-tennis and actively participated in inter-IIT sports as well as in a number of local inter-college events. Football enthusiasists have come together under the ambit of LFP (League of Football Players) and have organised an IPL/EPL style IITian Footbal League with provisions for team formation through bidding, player transfer and all. Club Galantos emerged as the winner of the first season. In the second season, Rebels United emerged as winner proving just an inch better than defending champions Club Gallantos.
Despite all the pressures of a regular IITian's life, the students of IITGn also contributed time to fulfil their social responsibilites. In collaboration with V. S. Clinic they organised a blood donation camp Jeevan Tarang. They have also come up with an initiative Pragya to teach the slum children in association with nearby schools catering to underprivileged classes.A full academic year has passed since IITGn opened its door to its pioneering batch of 90 students. Life has been far from smooth, but filled to the brim with a sense of adventure, an opportunity to “define the new”. For a glimpse of the students activities over the year, check out the video clip below. You may also view it at Facebook or, download (~20 mb) it.
