Mood Indigo 2017 Day 3: From Bassjackers gig to AIB workshop, highlights from IIT-Bombay's fest

Starting off with a bang, it seems like Mood Indigo’s 2017 edition is already hurtling towards its culmination on Christmas Day.

The four-day extravaganza — IIT-Bombay’s annual inter-collegiate cultural festival, and the biggest event of its sort in Asia — had kicked off on 22 December. In accordance with the theme this year (La Fête Carnaval), the campus grounds have worn a truly celebratory air, as all the elements you associate with a carnival (think fire performers, jugglers, masques, even carousels!) have been recreated here. As for the festive atmosphere — well, that goes without saying.

In 2016, students from over 1,700 colleges across India participated in MoodI (as the fest is popularly known). Over 1 lakh students visited the campus during this time, and it is estimated that a similar (if not higher) number have frequented MoodI 2017 as well.

And why not? Right from Day One, an array of exciting activities and a steady stream of celebrities ensured interest levels in the fest stayed high.

So if a visit by Akshay Kumar (promoting Padman), discussion between Narayan Murthy and P Chidambaram, and a gig by London-based prog rock band Haken were the highlights of Day One, Mood Indigo stepped things up on Day Two with a visit by the Aiyaary team (director Neeraj Pandey and actor Manoj Baypayee), performances by the Anand Bhaskar Collective and the Clinton Cerejo Band, and a ton of fun activities planned through the day.

The onus was thus on Day Three — the penultimate day of Mood Indigo — to deliver the goods as well.

The schedule for Day Three certainly seemed promising, with a mix of competitions/informals and workshops. As MoodI wraps up, the elimination rounds of the first two days gave way for the semi-final and final rounds of the major competitive events. Among these were Double Trouble (the duet dance contest), MI Idol (Hindi solo singing), Arz Kiya Hai (Hindi poetry recitation), Poetry Slam (English), the Socratic Circle (described as the Hunger Games for orators, hmm…) — to name just a few. Beat The Streets —the group hip-hop dance contest — was among the major events in the dance segment.

The ‘informals’ once again promised a host of fun-n-games for Day Three visitors to the IIT-B campus. Laser tag and silent disco made a re-appearance on the schedule, along with newer events sure to be crowd favourites. Our pick: the pillow fight, hogathon and the masquerade party!

For those looking to pick up a few skills and some quick lessons, the workshops on Day Three are un-missable. Apart from quirky sessions on pottery, bartending, parkour there were workshops on comedy (by Sunil Pal), and writing (by Ravinder Singh and AIB) that are particularly of note.

And of course, the high point of Day Three — the EDM Nite, headlined by the Bassjackers. For anyone who loves the Dutch DJ duo’s electro house sounds, their MoodI gig is the place to be!

Here’s a full look at the schedule for Day 3 of Mood Indio. For more information, log on to moodi.org .