The Cultural Committee of the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur strives to celebrate cultural diversity on campus by celebrating various cultural festivals and events. They ensure that the students have a home-away-from-home experience at IIM Udaipur. The committee provides multiple opportunities for the students to relax and enjoy campus life amidst rigorous academics. In short, they fill colours in the student life at IIM Udaipur.
The members of the IIMU community come from diverse backgrounds, and celebrating our differences and similarities helps us unite and learn from each other. Cultural sensitivity is vital in today's business world, and the cultural committee strives to ensure the same on campus. The committee also seeks to provide platforms for students to showcase their talents and creativity by collaborating with other clubs like FootWorx, Octaves, CreArt, and Live Puppets and organizing various events throughout the year.
IIM Udaipur organized Dandiya Night on the 7th of February 2021. The event was mainly conducted as the whole batch missed out on the actual Navaratri festival due to COVID. The delightful sight of energetic light-footed young boys and girls swirling in graceful rhythmic Garba and enthusiastically playing Dandiya evoked admiration amongst all present there. Traditional Garba music, Dandiya numbers, along with some peppy Bollywood songs, kept everyone glued to the dance floor throughout the evening till the very end of the event. The students enjoyed it thoroughly, and the event was a grand success.
Unprecedented times made celebrating Navratri a challenge, but it didn't stop them from celebrating Rangat virtually, with the same zeal and ecstasy. Despite being apart, students were encouraged to showcase their creativity and share glimpses from their Navratri celebrations in unique ways via an Instagram competition. Winners were selected and awarded cash prizes from among the many participants.
The Indian festival of lights, Diwali, is celebrated with extraordinary enthusiasm and exceptional joy at IIMU. The venue is decorated with a beautiful canopy of shimmering lights, lanterns, rangolis, diyas, and tender smiles on everyone’s face. The hostels are also embellished with colourful dangling lights. It is a soothing yet enthralling sight to see the lights from diyas all around. The evening starts with a traditional Diwali pooja, followed by lighting sky lanterns, which is truly a sight to behold. Faculty, along with the entire IIM Udaipur community, adorns the celebration with their performances. This year despite the unprecedented times, the evening was graciously celebrated with adequate social distancing and the mandated Covid guidelines. The night ended with a delicious traditional dinner for the community.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary solutions. Thus, a virtual game night - “Bamboozled”, was organized to increase engagement among the students. It provided them with a platform to interact and enjoy during their busy schedules. The students were divided into random teams where different games like Dumb charades, Pictionary, Lip-Sync were played. It was really enthralling to see the rooms filled with candid talks and endless laughter. Winning teams were also awarded cash prizes.
The IIMU community celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with great pomp and splendour over a span of three days. The Ganesh sthapana of the five-foot idol was done on a rainy Friday afternoon, followed by aarti and puja. Students welcomed Bappa with great enthusiasm, and we got to see some brilliant performances by Octaves, FootworX, and the student community. On day 2, the aarti and puja were followed by students enjoying bhajans and songs in the mess area. The visarjan was planned for the afternoon of day 3. Once the aarti was concluded, the students, all dressed in white, danced in gulaal to the beats of dhol and gladly bid goodbye to Bappa.
The procession where everyone tirelessly cheered "Ganpati Bappa Morya" ended with the idol immersion in the lake.
The colours of life came back to full sparkle once again at IIMU when the Holi celebrations reached full fervour on the campus. The festival is celebrated with everyone’s enthusiasm, sweets, lots of gulaal and dancing. The festival is a true testimony to the fact that togetherness lifts the mood of celebrations to a different level. All batches of PGP and PGPX unite and play Holi. Later they join for a delicious lunch with thandai and sweets prepared by the Mess staff for the occasion.
IIMU celebrated Krishna Janmashtami with great devotion and enthusiasm. The homage was offered with devotion and dedication to Lord Krishna through Aarti. The venue was embellished with flowers, bright lights and lamps. The spotlight of the event was Dahi Handi, where students had to form teams to break a handi filled will flowers and colours hanging from a high beam. They participated in the event with great enthusiasm & three-layered pyramids were formed to break the handi. The girl's team was the charisma of the event. All students concluded the event by dancing to music and had a gala time.
Pongal, the harvest festival from the south, is celebrated on the campus with a lot of enthusiasm. Starting from 6 o'clock in the morning, students start gathering together dressed traditionally to make the sweet dish of Pongal and kick start the celebration. It is followed by creating a beautiful Rangoli of flowers. The celebration continues with a traditional lunch and some dancing to the folk tunes from the south! Students who are new to the tradition are introduced to this celebration, and they participate with equal zeal. In the end, pictures are clicked, and memories are made at the IIM Udaipur campus !!
"Before becoming a Sikh, a Muslim, a Hindu or a Christian, let's become a Human first." On the auspicious occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Baba Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the entire IIM Udaipur community prays and wishes that the whole of humankind is constantly blessed by the words and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji for eternity to come. Gurupurab—the birth anniversary of 1st Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, is celebrated at IIM Udaipur with religious fervour and gaiety. Students come forward with great enthusiasm and zeal to light diyas on the campus to celebrate his birthday. This celebration filled the whole atmosphere with peace and tranquillity.
We celebrated Onam, one of the three biggest harvest festivals celebrated in Kerala, on campus, with 175-200 students attending the celebrations. The students made a beautiful Pookkalam (rangoli) using myriads of flowers inside the mess. Men dressed up in Mundus and women were seen wearing graceful Kasavu sarees. The lunch for the day was specially prepared by Sarovar through Messcomm. Tug-of-war was played as a ritual during Onam celebrations, followed by 'The Cluster Wars', organised in collaboration with Utkrisht. Rounds included 'Pinata' or 'Matki Phod', and a treasure hunt. It was indeed a visual treat to see all the happy faces dancing and celebrating their win.
The IIMU community celebrated the 75th Independence Day with great splendour. Flag hoisting by our Director, Prof. Janat Shah, Prof. Dina Banerjee, Mr. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, and five student representatives from each course, along with mesmerising performances by Octaves, FootworX, and Live Puppets, were the highlights of the event. Adding life to that were the students and faculty dressed in ethnic, and the staff, Sarovar and the security team in bright uniforms. The first community event ended on an enthusiastic note with delicious breakfast and group photos.
