(or MI ‘73 as we called it back then!)
by Ramesh Advani, B. Tech. EE H2, Class of 1974
It is hard to believe it’s been 33 years since we first had this dream! But I remember it clear as a bell even to this day. My childhood buddies – V. V. Chari (or Vaddu as I knew him from the ‘60s) and Nandu Mugve and I had one great bond – we loved debates and quizzes, especially those with the liberal arts girls and boys colleges. But they were all in downtown Bombay, in Delhi, in Calcutta but certainly not around the sylvan settings of IIT Powai. Yes, we had the inter-hostel competitions, the inter-IIT meets but not too colleges were anxious to come out to the wilderness of IIT Bombay filled with those geeky, socially deprived techies. My friends and I agreed on one thing – this needed a fix!
One day, in 1972, at our Technik editorial meeting (anyone remember that student Gymkhana publication?), I got into a conversation about all this with one of my Board members – Basabi Mukherji – a rare brilliant, non- engineering Ladies Hostel spark. And before you knew it, the 4 of us were plotting and planning in late night sessions how we could host our very own cultural festival here in Powai.
Right away, there were some musts – it couldn’t possibly be just another festival! It had to be fun and attract top talent in many arts fields from across the country! It had to have women join in and compete, right along with the men! It had to showcase talent and be inspirational, especially to all our budding engineers. And that is when we came up with a festival concept that would not be simply the amateur competitive aspects of every collegiate cultural festival. Ours would be one with professional innovation, experimentation and creativity components. After all, the scientific mind turns almost every time to innovation and experiment. The festival would be more meaningful if it gave IITB-ians a chance to demonstrate their ability to break new ground on the cultural scene. After all, we were a Bombay based college (and this, folks, was before Bollywood became such a global rage!)
The most important part was going to be the festival’s mood that would be represented by the color Indigo! Indigo – a fusion of Red and Blue. Red for the warmth and passion of an artistic adventure and Blue for the originality of the rational mind giving Indigo the symbol of creativity, intuition and ideal intellectualism. Then Basabi came up with the idea of theme music – because she loved the jazz number by Duke Ellington – Mood Indigo! And so was born the Mood Indigo Festival. And yes, we stuck the year 1973 on it as we were confident it would get repeated – if it were successful! Who knew! And all these elements – energy, trust, peace, relaxation, intuition and idealism have made the generations of organizers that have followed to make this the best such happening in the world!
Our challenge right away was: How do we persuade professionals and the experimenters in the word of the Arts to come to Powai and possibly all pro bono! The good old student approach of pounding the pavements in Bombay worked. Not only did the big names in the world of arts agree readily but the newcomers in theater, film, music all wanted to part of this new experiment, especially as students from all over India would be there. I remember meeting with Dr. V. K. Narayana Menon, President of the National Center for the Performing Arts, Bombay, one of India’s finest art critics and writer of Indian classical dance and music. Dr. Menon agreed to inaugurate Mood Indigo ’73.
On the opening night of January 3rd, 1973, we opened with the performance of Ellington’s Mood Indigo, an original dance tableau “Navgraha” the dance of the planets by Kumari Chandralekha combining elements of Bharatanatyam and Kallarippayattu and ended with new short experimental films of the day – Seeta aur Salim, Was It For This The Clay Grew So Tall, Abid and Trip. And for the next 4 days, the participants from the IITs, the Bombay colleges, St, Stephen’s, Hindu, Lady Irwin from Delhi, Presidency and IIM from Cal., AFMC and NDA from Pune all experienced the competitions in painting, drama, debates, music and elocution. On January 6th, a Saturday night, was one of my very own favorite unique event under the stars on the Gymkhana grounds – Nostalgia Nite with old Hindi film songs from Talat Mehmood, Jagmohan, C.H. Atma, Rajkumari and Shamshad Begum. That came to us courtesy of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre. The Films Division, the Alliance Francaise and film directors loaned out materials. We had experimental plays, folk songs and a first ever Discotheque Indigo, run and dj’ed by IIT-ians from 11 PM on every night at the Cafeteria. Not quite something that the staid campus authorities really were excited about but the students.
Yes, these memories of joy and the friends we made are what remain in my mind. Even more joyful is the road travelled on by young bright IIT minds and the innovative professionals who today are bringing the expanded wonder of Mood Indigo to the students around the world. Makes us proud of our Institute and our traditions!
Ramesh Advani
B. Tech (EE)
Class of 1974
IIT Bombay 1974 Reunion 