Seven Wonders of SBE

AND MANY MORE YET TO COME.....

By Parth Patial and Aarushi Kadam

SBE-VIT, Society for Biological Engineering-Vellore Institute of Technology also known to everyone as SBE is an international student chapter that became family in such a short span of time that even we as volunteers cannot grasp the very phenomenon. From the shells of introverted freshers to giving out our ideas, scratching our heads with our seniors and having nights of our life let us embark on our journey on how graVITas gave birth to this family of a bond.

Do you think organizing  events in GraVITas are all about work and deadlines? Think again. Behind the scenes, there's a mix of excitement, teamwork, creative problem-solving, and yes—a lot of laughs. As we would embark on the journey of how SBE’s six whole events went on to be successful and unbeaten there lies hardwork of all the volunteers and board members creating memories in the process which will forever be imprinted on our minds and hearts as we carry them down in our life. The night slips were the real deal of the whole process, for the board who once were junior core the entire thing was about getting to dance at benches on bhojpuri songs, pizza delivery , throwing around paints and props, making a mess out of the room and one another and obviously work.

All this happening while being in SMV up till midnight screaming, crying, perfect storms and  making all the tables turn into a mess is what night slips stood for us. Rather than just coming for whatever work assigned we’d not only just do that but also gossip like aunties at parlor and spy on other clubs.

And now we shall begin with our first event on the list, Yellow Tape. Ever wanted to be a part time detective but missed the opportunity to do so. Worry not, SBE is here with its flagship graVITas event. 4 suspects, 20 minutes, hidden clues and a murderer. Trying to create a case that seemed so confusing was a kaleidoscope of laughter, brainstorming sessions, looking up different types of deadly poisons, fixing  plot holes, creating clues and a ton of fun moments which are now sketched on a colorful canvas of memories. “Your story can be as simple as possible, but it’s the clues you set and the predictions you make on how the participant would think is what will make the case more complex”, something that stayed in the back of our minds till the event started and then the participants came in. This being SBE’s flagship event required a lot more preparation than the rest.

Every team came up with versatile murder mysteries, adding in and solving any story line problems that came in the way ,getting corrections from the seniors until the last 2-3 night slips when the cases were completed and ready to be tested! Everyone including the board members volunteered to act and were assigned the roles for their cases. Learning when to say which dialogue, when to drop clues, everything was discussed(even fights were scripted and acted out in a few cases, a sight to savor might we add!). As the actors prepared and learnt their roles, it added to more corrections and polishing of the cases. The highlight of the whole prep was when each team had their cases ready and began testing them by assigning three people at random to solve the case as though it were the actual event. The classroom was full with people who pretended to be crying, yelling, convincing the "participants" of what had happened, and the game masters themselves losing their composure and joining in on the laughter. A few vivid memories were 2 people arguing (almost fighting), one guy acting as if he was drunk, one of the board members themselves almost actually (happy) crying while fake crying and pretended to lose their mind! During this testing period, the Advisory board also joined the event to volunteer as actors which added onto the fun. The day of the event in itself was a full madhouse from tackling a participation count of about 350 students to bringing supplies for the actors who were dying of hunger because it was a sunday and nothing close to PRP was open and the only hope was the main gate. Food supply came in when Round 1 was almost about to wrap up, it was a good break for everyone. 

Next on the list, an event based on the fusion of folklore and science was a brand new concept that our Research head, Prakriti came up with and was brought to life by her and the volunteers. A lot of brainstorming went on for this one, one of the initial ideas was a mood board but was scrapped to then become an event where participants came up with theories trying to prove the existence of “mythical creatures”. The volunteers had fun during the event but faced a few setbacks behind the scenes, firstly because of commiting to other event preps, it was hard for everyone to come together and ideate and it was tough to put together an absolutely clear idea for the event within a given timeframe.

A presentation was made as a reference for the participants and everyone had a memorable time sharing ideas and theories. This event's poster was among the best we've ever seen; it was more enchanting than any of the fabled beings. It received a great deal of attention during the expos especially for a new event, leading to a positive & happy attitude within the members. Everyone had a great time at the event, a little escape where you try to blur the line between reality and fiction.   

Just like how there’s madness in fusion of myths and science, there is madness in calamities and destruction. “I’m a huge fan of war & chaos” Atharva Purohit, The current General Secretary mentioned as he went down the  memory lane telling us about how the event was put together. The whole event was about creating a simulation on how the people would react if the world was in anarchy with respect to biological warfare.

The participants were given problem statements which they had to solve but simultaneously create problems for other countries(teams). Brainstorming and 80% of the planning had already been done before the junior core even decided to volunteer! All the angles were covered and the preparation was done in maximum 2-3 night slips.

The junior core bonded with the board during the 1st expo prep. Night slip. The advertising chart for wargaming came together over wholesome conversations in Marathi, trying out our artistic sides by selecting color combinations and also accidently spilling white paint on a black chart paper(which was cleverly covered up and fixed of course).

The seniors that seemed so intimidating then, were now just like us, sitting together on the floor coloring and drawing while the music continued playing in the background. It was then easy to approach the board, talk and figure things out which made the rest of the preparation for the events so much more easier and fun. 

As the warfare comes to a close the fourth event comes to a beginning. “It was really fun to see all the cute designs that they made,” one of the volunteers mentioned. This wasn’t the first time biology and art went hand in hand in an event. The 2nd installation of microbial mosaics this year was another successful event which involved using live microbes to get stunning designs. This hands-on experience took place in a lab with specific instruments, which required the volunteers getting special lab permissions, glassware etc. 

The main responsibility was that the participants understand the lab protocols and no mishaps happen. The culture medium was prepared by the organizers and the volunteers poured it into the petri dishes to store them. An additional advantage was the pairing up of a participant with a volunteer, this led to one on one interactions, the junior core guiding them throughout the event and enjoying themselves. Hangman, Pictionary and games like that were also played while waiting for their turn. The juniors doodled on the volunteers’ badges as well! It was a delightful experience for the volunteers as well as the participants.

Microbes on a plate but have you heard of a miniature forest in your hands that stays by your side, outliving your first year friendships, was the main idea behind this event. With limited resources and unlimited fun, from filling jars with mud and moss to customizing it with your creativity as you enjoy the whole process the whole build-a-terr was an event packed with curiosity and challenges. From bringing cartons of moss, jars, ferns, petals late at night from the lab and what not breaking coal into fine particles by filling it up in a sack and then aggressively striking it down on the floor as if it was your friend that you always secretly wanted to beat up because they would never shut up.

While everything went accordingly during the event,  the initial phases were faced with an issue that there was no connector for the laptop and without that the whole presentation made by the hosts of the event would have gone to waste. After contacting every single soul in the graVITas committee, faculties present around and running from one academic block to another the connector was arranged and the presentation was up running on the screen. As the host of the event would say that he enjoyed the whole experience because that was his first time hosting and with that comes whole new levels of anxiety and stage fright but with an excellent and interactive audience every devil dancing on his shoulder was sent down to the pits.

The volunteers themselves enjoyed the event flow as one of the volunteers would remark that the audience was not just interactive but also willing to actually sit and make a terrarium, they were pretty patient every time the supplies would get exhausted and needed a refill. Even the people from graVITas committee were enthralled by the concept of a terrarium in your room and got their hands on one .The whole event was a smash and everyone, even the volunteers got to take back terrariums that they built.

Before we end it all you gotta find who the father is. The event Bloodlines or unofficially called ‘Kaun Banega Baap’ revolved around a set of problems, mostly puzzles, riddles and some biotechnology related stuff to figure out who of the suspects went to buy the milk for the family and never returned back. The mastermind behind the event Prakriti Shah, the current Research Head, says “ we were trying to think of more hands-on technical events we could conduct that would still be accessible to non biology students, and thought paternity testing would be a fun concept.”

The volunteers had to come up with scandalous storylines for the students to decode and figure out who the father is by solving puzzles that had a tint of biology in it. Working up on scandalous ideas for the participants was the best part about the whole event and incorporating aspects of biology was also a whole spectrum of joy. The scandals revolved around extra marital affairs, doppelgangers finding who their real parents are and must not forget the IVF doctor who mixes donor sperm that are not viable with viable ones just to extort money for his booming fertility clinic. The main part was blood donation where volunteers had to go to Narayani hospital just to get 50 ml of blood extracted from different blood group candidates but the doctor just decided to take a full blow 2 hours process because apparently he was busy ( he was gossiping with his nurses). 

This would conclude the graVITas events packed with loads of sweat, tears, laughter and late night snacks with gossip. But before we could end there is one final event to hit upon before concluding this journey we embarked upon.

And it's now time for the final event on the list, right after CAT-2 this event  was inspired from SBE’s Flagship event BIDFest. Apart from all the work that was done the best part about the whole event was the dress code being traditionals. In a hall full of participants and teachers you could see a set of students dressed in the elegance of ethnic. Along with catering to the participating students, clearing their doubts,  providing them with snacks and refreshments ( out of which the surplus was taken up for a round 2 amongst the volunteers and organizers) there was a special guest as well Dr. Simar Kohli. As the volunteers who were appointed guest care would say “ Overall it was a great experience. Ma'am was very welcoming and interactive with us, so even though it was a short span of time that we got to spend with her, we learnt a lot and spent a great time with her, and heard stories about her varied experiences. Oh yeah, so post event when we went to drop her to her room, she shared fun stories about her international travels and how she actually ended up doing water treatment when she was a language student.” whilst the other volunteer had pretty similar remarks “she was very cheery and quite an eccentric personality tbh. She loves meeting people, and talks a lot. Talking to her you can get to know a lot about her work in the industry and what her vision and ideas are. She's someone who'd want someone to be at their feet at all times when she needs something. also she has this distinct style of dressing.”

Before the event in itself came into fruition, there were tireless nights on what fun and attractive PR strategies could be brought into effect to raise the number of registrations (out of which one was going up to someone and saying about the enormous prize pool and how there won't be any vigorous competitions),to designing of the logo, certificates, ID cards (had to ask people for their pictures and nobody was willing to send them) as one of the design volunteers would say “It was pretty nice, Maria (the current design head)  was really helpful with everything and gave proper instructions. She did not seem annoyed whenever I went over to her to ask for help, which happens A LOT. Personally, I was acquainted with Figma before joining the design domain but even if you are not, the board will help you start out and get used to it before giving you any challenging stuff. Overall, my experience was really good and I’m sure it’ll continue like this for the future members of SBE.”

With this the Seven wonders of SBE comes to an end as everyone from the junior as well as the senior core takes away a good chunk of memorable experiences whilst wishing that something like this comes back once more.