IIT Madras is organizing 'Inter-IIT Cultural Meet 5.0'.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will be the host of the 5th installment of the Inter-IIT Cultural Meet. Over 3,200 students from all 23 IITs will be taking part in the cultural gathering from January 9th to 11th, 2023. The event was not held during the last two years due to the pandemic, and its purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to showcase their talents through the many events hosted by the IITM clubs.

This year, the fifth inter-IIT cultural meet includes nine categories: literary arts, speaking and comedic arts, theatre arts, dance arts, musical arts, film-making arts, fine arts, digital arts and lifestyle arts. Each category has its own trophy. New to this year’s event are e-sports and culinary events. The winner of the overall meet will be awarded a trophy and declared champion.

The guest of honor at the opening ceremony held today was Padma Bhushan awardee and renowned violinist, composer, and conductor, L Subramaniam. The esteemed guests included IIT Madras director, V Kamakoti; IIT Madras dean of students, Nilesh J Vasa; and IIT Madras cultural advisor, Arshinder Kaur. The grand finale will take place on January 11, 2023 with the IITM director awarding the prizes to the victorious participants.

Expressing his enthusiasm, IIT Madras director V Kamakoti invited students to take part in the Cultural Meet. He highlighted India’s immense variety of cultural events and noted how engineers who are exposed to art perform better in research, projects and reports. He went on to say that co-curricular activities have the power to bring out creativity, grace and originality in the students.

The Chief Guest, L Subramaniam, spoke to the students and explained to them the importance of music. He explained that it gives people a balanced view on life, helps to relax them and encourages creativity. He went on to say that music should be part of the curriculum in order to increase the creativeness of everyone. He pointed out that Albert Einstein and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam were both musicians.