Mumbai: Exams Stress Puts A Damper On Halloween Celebrations For Students

Mumbai: Is your social media feed flooded with Halloween-related posts?  From tips on how to throw a rocking scary party, to carving a pumpkin to perfection or makeup tricks to get the zombie-look just right, Halloween may not exactly be a local festival, but Mumbai isn’t far behind in soaking in the festive spirit.

While everyone appears to be rushing to be a part of these festivities, the city's students, for whom this would have been a fun day, have exams playing spoilsport, as most of them are busy with their faces buried in their books. The Free press journal spoke to a few to find out if they had plans for Halloween.

Exams prove to a dampener for city students

With most colleges conducting their end semester exams, students have been forced to sit out of the Halloween celebrations this time. “We have our practical exams coming this week. Halloween is fun, but exams are important too and I am currently focusing on my studies. Although there’s a lot that goes on in IIT Bombay at Halloween. Most prominent being the Halloween General Championship organized by StyleUp. They have a fashion showcase as a competition in hostels on Halloween. It's fascinating to watch,” says Ashita Dutt Sharma, a second year student at IIT Bombay. 

“My plans are to go there for photography, and study for exams obviously, have 4 submissions and two end semester exams lined up next week. Something fun always goes on as well as academics. It all depends on our priorities,” adds Ashita.

While not many colleges make it a point to celebrate Halloween, students often attend events that’s organized around the city geared up with spooky outfits to celebrate Halloween on October 31. “As the exam season seeps in, the tension of exams and studies hits hard. And being an undergrad in engineering, the mock tests , submission, practicals, Internal assessment, tutorials and what not doesn't let you enjoy anything, plus the month passes by without even noticing because of everyday's busy schedule,” says Saket Marathe, a student at KJ Somaiya College Of Engineering. 

“Although my college doesn't celebrate Halloween officially. We students do celebrate it amongst ourselves by an unified decision, dressing in weird avatars. Despite exams being right ahead of us, I’m still going to enjoy Halloween as I personally find this celebration very interesting,” added Saket.  

But exams don’t seem to draw out all the fun from students. “I may not celebrate Halloween on a grand scale as  we have exams starting on Monday but since I live in the hostel, I may play a prank or two on my friends,” says Parag Pande, a student from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute Of Management.