Kurukshetra (festival)

Kurukshetra
Type	Student Run Non Profit Organisation
Founded	2007
Place	Chennai, Chennai, India
Institute	College of Engineering, Guindy
Major events	Online Programming Contest, Business Plan, K! General Quiz, Cerebra, XCEED, Riddles of Sphinx
Prize money	1 Million INR
Website	kurukshetra.org.in

Kurukshetra is an International Techno-Management festival conducted annually by College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. 'Kurukshetra' is actually the battlefield of the apocalyptic war of survival between the Kauravas and Pandavas in the great Indian epic of Mahabharata. The fest has been named after it to signify that it too is a battle-ground albeit in a metaphorical sense for students to showcase their skill and knowledge there every year.^[1] The tag-line of the Fest 'The Battle of Brains' asserts this spirit of the festival.^[2] The festival is conducted for four days and is aimed at bringing about a higher level of interaction between the industry and academia, and also among the students of different colleges. Kurukshetra began in 2007 and is the first student organised event in India to have the patronage of UNESCO. The sixth edition of the Kurukshetra was held from January 30 to February 2, 2013.

History

Kurukshetra was conducted for the first time in 2007.^[3] XCEED, the nation-wide prelude to Kurukshetra, was conducted for the first time in 2008. It was also the year in which Kurukshetra was granted the UNESCO patronage.^[4] Kurukshetra '09 featured the debut of exhibitions in Kurukshetra. An addition to Kurukshetra '10 was the K! conclave.

Lectures and video conferences

Notable past speakers include:

• John C. Mather, Noble Laureate, Sr. Astrophysicist at NASA
• Raj Reddy, Turing Award Winner
• Brian Jennings, Animations Expert and Oscar Nominee
• Bjarne Stroustrup, The man behind C++^[5]
• Ian Foster, Father of the Grid
• Lakshmi Narayanan, CEO of Cognizant^[6]
• Prahlad Kakkar, Ad-Guru & CEO, Genesis Films Pvt. Ltd
• David Pope Anderson, Research scientist Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
• Douglas Osheroff, Professor of Physics & Applied Physics, Stanford University
• Prasad Ram, Head and Director of R&D, Google India
• Shiva Ayyadurai, Indian-American scientist
• Victor Hayes, Father of Wi-Fi
• Daniel Kish, President of World Access for the Blind
• Stephen Wolfram, Creator of Mathematica

Exhibitions

Exhibitions are an integral part of kurukshetra showcasing technological breakthroughs and paradigm shifts that the human civilization has encountered so far and the surprises that future holds in store for us. The exhibitions of Kurukshetra, known as K!arnival, has nourished the viewers with certain things that have almost looked impossible in the recent past. Some notable exhibits in the past include 'Inspiring India' exhibition, the 'Vintage Automobile Show,' 'Technova' and 'RC Car stunts.'

Workshops

The workshops range all over the radar of technology from aero-modelling, and robotics to motorcycles. The hands on experience, expert guidance and innovative learning environment provided by these workshops. Some of the notable workshops in the previous and the upcoming editions are workshops in animation, cloud computing, aero-modelling and entrepreneurship.

Events

The various categories of events are:

Coding event

• Online Programming Contest- K!OPC is one of the premier events of Kurukshetra, attracting participants from all over the world, including ACM ICPC world finalists.
• Overnight Hackathon- An event where developers sit through the night to create an app based on a theme.
• Heptathlon -An event that tests the seven pillars of computer science- DBMS, Algorithms & Data Structures, Computer Architecture, Operating Systems, Networks, FOSS and Web Development.

Engineering

• Aero Modelling - An event which includes Plane design modelling.
• Contraption – An event where you have to tread the paths of Rube Goldberg towards designing an absurdly-connected machine.
• Electro Warriors - Contraption event mixed with some electronics.
• GodSpeed- A racing event where participants are expected to design an IC engine powered Radio Controlled vehicle capable of maneuvering across a multi-terrain track.
• Rumble in the Junk – A platform for participants to make engineering out of junk.
• Mega Structures – A bridge to connect the imaginary infrastructure and constructional feasibility.^[7]
• Tech Xplore - An event for solving engineering problems.

Management

• Business Plan – An Entrepreneurship challenge for the participants to pitch their business plans and poise them with economic viability.
• K-idol – An event to test the Public Speaking and Decision-making skills of the participant.
• Marketing Guru – Participants pit their marketing strategies against each other in a bid to sell their products.
• Chaos Theory - Real world crisis solving event.
• Battle of Brands - Brand designing and Marketing event.

Quizzing

• K! Open Quiz– Conducted by Dr.Navin Jayakumar of the Landmark quiz fame, this is an eagerly awaited event every year.
• Biz Quiz– Conducted by Mr.Gopal Kidao of QFI, it boasts of huge participation from both students and corporates from all over the country.
• Sci-Tech Quiz– This is one of the most challenging college quizzes on science and technology.
• How Stuff Works– It tests the knowledge of the participants in basic scientific phenomena and their various manifestations in everyday life.

Robotics

• Designer's Quest– Participants pit their creativity against each other to build a robot that is aesthetically designed to effectively accomplish the given objective.
• Robo Wars - Robot designing and fighting event.
• Pirates of K! - Design a robot based on given functionality and problem statement.
• Minesweeper - Autonomous robot designing event based on given problem statement.

Apart from this, different events are conducted every year for manually controlled robots and autonomous robots.

Online Events

• Athena – The ultimate math-coding contest of Kurukshetra which tests your prowess at solving mathematical problems using your coding skills.
• Cerebra- A puzzle championship with online and on-site versions.
• Riddles of the Sphinx- It encourages participants to use their basic Internet knowledge to solve and complete an online treasure hunt.
• Dalal Bull – A replica of the real-world stock market where mind and money play out.^[8]

Miscellaneous

• Gamindrome- An event where gaming enthusiasts compete in a multi-player environment.
• Prof Challenge- It demands participants to elucidate complex engineering topics in simple layman’s language.
• Alcatraz- An event where participants have to break out of a prison-like setting by following a trail of clues.
• Math Modelling- It requires participants to mathematically model physical phenomenon.
• Paper Presentation- It encourages participants to come out with innovative solutions to everyday problems.

XCEED

It is a national level robotics challenge held at various centers throughout the country as a prelude to the main fest. Xceed enables the K! team to reach out to students in various parts of the country. The earlier versions have witnessed robots trying to solve line mazes, battle out in the football field and the like.^[9] The regional champs gain entry to the national finals that are held during Kurukshetra.

Student Ambassadorship Programme

On a national scale, one student ambassador is selected per institution from the several student volunteers of that institution. He/she gets to take across the information and updates of K! to their institution, allowing them to hone their communication abilities and marketing skills through this platform. The ambassadors also get to claim their commuting fees, receive K! branded souvenirs, and have the opportunity to attend K! workshops at no charge. “The Best Student Ambassador” also gets to take home a letter of appreciation and a cash prize.

References

External links

• Official Kurukshetra Website