Bitotsav

Bitotsav is the annual cultural festival of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. It is usually held in the month of March every year. Started in 1982, Bitotsav is one of the largest college fests in Eastern India. Colleges that are regular participants of Bitotsav are IIT Roorkee, IIT BHU, NIT Jamshedpur, NIT Trichy, Calcutta Medical College, LSR Delhi, AIIMS, IIT Delhi among others. Bitotsav 2015 saw participation from more than seventy colleges in India. The festival includes events and competitions in various genres like literature, performing arts and adventure sports., Farhan Akhtar, Kailasa and Parikrama.
History
BIT Mesra was opened in 1955 as a technical college. BIT Mesra had an annual cultural event, which was given the name ‘BITOTSAV’ in the year 1982. Bitotsav was an intra-college event back then, held in the month of February. Since the new academic section commenced in the month of June every year, there was a desire to have an intra-college event which would offer the new students a chance to participate. A fest name ‘Ankur’ was started in 1989. Around the same time, an inter-college cultural fest called ‘Pebbles’ was also started. Over the years, both Ankur and Pebbles came to an end and Bitotsav became the only inter-college, annual cultural fest at the institute. Bitotsav 2016 marks the 34th year of celebration. Initially, Bitotsav was held over two days. Over the years, it has grown into a five day event. The number of events in the fest have seen quite a significant growth from around 20 since its inception to over 100. Bitotsav includes performances by celebrity guests/bands like Breath Band(2011), Jal Band(2012), Javed Ali(2011), Kailash Kher(2013), Shannon Donald, Farhan Akhtar and Siddharth Mahadevan(2014), Vipul Mehta, Sweta Pandit, Raj Pandit, Salim-Sulaiman(2015). The nights of the fest have also seen performances by bands like Scribe(2012), Mrigya(2013), Underground Authority(2014) and Lagori(2015). EDM night by Sunburn in Bitotsav 2015 made BIT Mesra an official Sunburn campus, the only one in Eastern India. BITOTSAV has always been associated wth CSR events like campaigns on HIV AIDS(2012), Environment Protection(Green BITOTSAV 2013), Thalassemia (2014) and Women Empowerment(2015). And with this year's theme, INFINITY EARTHS-COMICS COME ALIVE, BITOTSAV aims to raise the social awareness campaign spreading awareness about cancer.
Events
Competitions
These include Mr and Miss Bitotsav which is a simulation of various national talent shows. The Eastern Battle of Bands (SPARSH) and the Western Battle of Bands (JAM STREET) are two band competition. Nukkad is a street play competition delivering social message using a blend of wit, drama and satire. Talkies is a short movie-making competition where the participants write their own script, enact it and record an entire movie. Street dance competition ‘Stomp the Yard’ is the dancing competition. The BIT-Model United Nation (BIT-MUN) is organised which is the replica of UNO.
Informal Events
Fine art events like face painting, master stroke, newspaper collage, t-shirt painting are organised. "Rangmanch" is a drama competition. In the field of music, events like "Acoustic Alchemy" provide the platform for different eastern, western and instrumental music bands to compete. "Make a Jam" is another musical competition where the participating team make compose their own music on a given theme in a given time frame. Footloose is a solo dance competition which explores vast array of dance forms from salsa to bhangra. Speaking and literary competitions like "JAM" (Just a Minute), where the speaker is tested on fluency and presence of mind, "Poetry Slam", where one presents their poetry in front of an audience, are conducted . Events like Dirty Green and e-walk are aimed at creating awareness regarding environmental issues. Fun events like ta replica of the famous MTV show, Roadies, hulkathon, Da Vinci Code are also organised.
Night Events
Bitotsav has five night events, beginning with the Ethnic night. This night celebrates the culture and heritage of our country through classical music, plays and kavi sammelan. The band night showcases the performance of the winners of Eastern and Western category of Battle of Bands. On the Pro-night professional artists like Kailash Kher, Salim- Sullaiman and Farhan Akhtar perform on stage.
Social Cause
BIT Mesra organizes awareness programs each year to address various social problems. In the recent years, staff and students of BIT Mesra have organized campaigns on HIV AIDS(BITOTSAV 2012), Green Bitotsav (2013) Thalassemia(2014), and Women Empowerment(2015). As a part of this year's BITOTSAV, BIT Mesra is organizing an awareness campaign on cancer.
Media, Sponsors and Past Associates
With more than 100 participating colleges, 100 events and CSR initiatives, Bitotsav is covered by national dailies like The Telegraph and Times of India, among others. The radio partner Big FM 92.7 does the promotion over radio networks. Bitotsav is sponsored by companies like ONGC, COCA COLA, ED BULL, SONY, WIPRO, MICROSOFT among others.

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