Mood Indigo: Laughs and gigs take over the third day of IITB fest

Mumbai: Workshops by dawn and concerts at night, the third day of Mood Indigo continued to be a fun and sleepless ride for its young crowd. The third day of IIT Bombay's Mood Indigo was undoubtedly reserved for humour. Witty panels, famous comedians, and skilled improvs lit up various stages within the campus.

The day began with troops of students lining up outside the convocation hall, and teams came in from TVF or The Viral Fever, an OTT Platform, with the cast of their popular web series, 'Pitchers.' Arunabh Kumar, the CEO, reminisced about performing live at Mood Indigo ten years ago, when the OTT universe was settling into the country.

The entrepreneur revealed how they shot their first-ever YouTube video in IIT Bombay hostels. Talking about the latest release of 'Pitchers', Kumar said, "Moving from season one to season two of our web series felt like getting through IIT's first year and reaching the fourth." Students threw their questions from the audience to converse with stars who created several shows around IITs.

Right after, the wickedly funny bunch who went by the name 'Medium size improv' introduced visitors to the world of improvisation. Within a span of seconds, the group immersed themselves in various bizarre scenarios that took them from an airport to an interview to a rather messy breakup. The audience involved themselves with the performance prompting suggestions and ideas to make the scenarios even funnier.

The event saw a demographic ranging from entertained professors to sarcastic teenagers who encouraged the performers to pull off eccentric punches.

By late noon the students were all about business, with sun caps, water bottles, and firm determination, the youngsters tried their best to remain unmoved through the long queue that took over the IIT sidewalks. The stand-up star Samay Raina was about to throw in his punches in the light-hearted event.

The fest had set the bar high after bringing in stunning lineups on the first two days. Gaining entry to an event had become tougher than what many expected it to be. The Mumbai Police team alongside IIT's security personnel were all set and in action to organise the humongous crowds, and keep the fest going on time.

Even Mumbai's bomb squad with its loyal fiend sniffed around the event halls to perform routine security checks during the day. IIT Powai students were seen constantly directing the crowds ensuring the safety of both, performers and visitors.

These days had also been especially tough on the fresher batch, who attended classes at 8 am donning their Mood - I shirts. As the lecture would end at 12:30, the students sped towards their bikes and rode down to get on with their Mood Indigo duties. "We sleep less to make sure that we're getting both things done. Today I got five hours so we can call it a good day," said Ankeet Saha, a first-year student.

To beat this problem, the host IITians came up with a system of sleeping in shifts. The Mood-I coordinators and volunteers came up with a timetable that ensured that all the volunteers were getting enough sleep while making sure that enough students were awake to plan out the next day. Once the sun went down, the coordinators caught their breath and wound down to attend 'The Yellow Diary' concert, all until plans for the final day began again.