It has happened before and it’s happening again. It’s the time of the year when a new semester shall dawn again and everyone shall be talking only about one thing in IIT Madras. SAARANG. Whether asking questions about it, or boasting about it, or coming to terms with coordinating it. It engulfs our lives like a tide. It’s the time of the year where excited murmurs are shouted and the twisted trail of thoughts settle at the obvious.

Yet again, talent is busy pampering its hues, while wardrobes are draped in new colours. The stage is set for young Shakespeares to break a leg. What is a good word that isn’t written down with creativity and chained into other words ebbing poetry. Colours splash across at Saarang and the town is painted red, or blue or pink or any other colour one might like. Music and lyric will find there way across performances as love finds its way in song and dance. Food, frolic and fun ring in the air. And many a fun game is played over and over again.

After watching the talents soar through the day, one usually expects the hectic activity to slowly come to rest as dusk creeps in. But, it is not so with Saarang; its spirit remains palpable in the air and peaks again at the power packed Open Air Theatre.  The night comes alive with the audience moving to the groovy beats of the voices that enthralled India; rocking performances by world famous artists and much more. When you think it’s over, it begins. Every next day begins with a fresh memory of the night before and with more to offer along.

It’s not the words, not the events, not the pro-shows but Saarang in itself that makes it an experience. To love life is to live a Saarang.

Saarang comes but once a year. And much to our delight, that time’s not far off. Ahoy!Cyber explorer. Welcome… to a celebration of culture, a glorification of talent, and a boisterous carousal that promises to delightfully enervate you for five straight days. It’s an event that Bon Jovi secretly claims was the inspiration for his song “One wild night”. And it was again Saarang’s pro show nite that Jennifer Lopez had in mind when she sang the pulsating track: “Waiting for tonight”. The references are endless - some call it a party worth dying for, while some call it a pilgrimage. Still others swear they wouldn’t give Saarang a miss even if all hell (tsunami, locusts, meteors…whatever!) were to break loose in Madras.

Damn right… they all are.

For those of you confused readers who’ve just landed in from outer space (I can find no alternate explanation for your ignorance), Saarang is the annual cultural festival of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Arguably the largest student organized fest of its kind in India, it is a phantasmagoria of festivity and merry making spread over five days, that in hindsight, always seem to pass in a blur. With events like dramatics, debates, rock contests, fine arts and quizzes – Saarang has something for everyone. For an exhaustive list of events, please visit the official website of Saarang , which will be up and running soon.

Every January, the serene and peaceful campus of IIT Madras is witness to a metamorphosis of epic proportions. From being the capital of geek-land, the landscape transforms into one gigantic living museum of the performing arts and the effect that it has on its residents is striking. Bewildered professors find even their favorite students engaging in “disturbing activities”. In the past, the days and months leading up to Saarang has seen geeky first benchers attempting Mohawk haircuts, bespectacled “know it alls” paying their annual visit to beauty parlors and with assignments and lab reports blissfully ignored, it is safe to say that the institute is brought to a grinding halt by Saarang.

Saarang sees massive participation, not just from college students, but from far flung regions of the planet. We’ve had troupes like MerzHin and Led Zepplica performing to melting pot audiences in the past. Some even claim that NRIs from the US – taxi drivers, gas station owners et al flock to Madras for Saarang. This in fact, was the subject of an interesting article published in Forbes Magazine last winter- “Transportation crunch in the offing: Its Saarang time again”!!

Boasting of unparalleled levels of hospitality, Saarang is the ideal way to spend your Republic Day weekend. So all those of you interested in being part of Saarang; Finalise your travel plans, book your tickets in advance and start counting down to a week, that we swear will change your lives. If that isn’t inspiring enough here’s what a certain die hard Saarang fan had to say after last year’s edition:

“If it was Armageddon tomorrow, and humankind desired one last night of celebration, one final night of existence – They’d do a Saarang”

Need we say more?