IIT Kharagpur organize cultural festival ‘Illumination’ on Diwali

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has organized a cultural festival ‘illumination’ on the occasion of Diwali festival on October 27. It is a one-of-its-kind festival, where students from each hostel within the IIT Kharagpur campus get together to create extravagant patterns using ‘Diya’ against a wooden structure or ‘chatai’. This tradition is continuing since 30 years in IIT Kharagpur. Each hall used more than 20000 ‘Diya’ to create these patterns that have a story dictated itself against the chatais, which are nearly 20-feet high with an area of about 1500 square feet. More than 12000 students participated in a cultural event. While speaking to ANI, one of the students said, “Around 200-300 students of each hostel start preparing for this festival before the one-two month of Diwali. Students also participate in Rangoli making which is based on different subjects.” ‘Illumination’ marks the triumph of endless night-outs, mammoth hours of planning and exemplary teamwork uniting the whole campus community and making a yearly statement of how nature can be saved along with following the traditions.