THARANG 2K24

Hosted by: College of Applied Science, Kozhikode

Tharang 2K24: a Techno-Cultural-Entrepreneurial Fest, the flagship event of IHRD (Institution of Human Resources Development) was hosted by our college, College of Applied Science, Kozhikode from February 1st to February 4th, 2024. The main theme for the event was AI (or Artificial Intelligence) and the motto of the fest was "AI: Re-Designing your Lifestyle". As a part of this event, we had planned numerous pre-cursor events. The planning for Tharang 2K24 started in January 2024, when it was announced that this year, the fest would take place at our institution, one of the major IHRDs in the Malabar region. We joined hands with other surrounding institutions to form a team capable of tackling this challenge in a short period. With the help of our sister institutions, we managed to put forth a fest like no other, one of happiness, knowledge, and color. Here is our Tharang 2K24 journey, a journey of realizing a million dreams.

The main aim of conducting a fest like Tharang is to encourage students to take part in competitions, attend sessions, and also to connect. We kickstarted Tharang 2K24 with several online events as we felt that all students from all our IHRD Institutions as well as other institutions should get a chance to take part in this event. We knew that only very few lucky people from various institutions could attend the fest in person due to the travel involved, so we set up something for the general public online. An Online Treasure Hunt called Gemora was one of the first major events that flagged off the online phase of Tharang 2K24. The week-long competition was followed by two other competitions, one was an AI prompt engineering hackathon, and another was an AI storytelling competition. Parallel to this, we conducted several online workshops and seminars on diverse topics by many speakers including Amrit Sanjeev Sir (Google Product Expert), Richa Daga Ma'am (CISCO Women Lead and Best-Selling Author), and many many more. There were over 15 sessions by various speakers on a variety of topics.

The first day of Tharang 2K24, February 1st kicked off with an inauguration ceremony at 10.00 AM. The inauguration ceremony marked the beginning of the 4-day event and the fest was officially inaugurated by the Honourable Education Minister, Bindu Ma'am. Many important guests graced the occasion with their presence, including famous poet and lyricist Kaithaprom Damodaran Namboothiri Sir, the Kozhikode city Mayor Beena Ma'am, many notable names from media, politics, and other fields, and various guests including students, teachers, and principals from other IHRD institutions as well as our institution. After the formal inauguration and welcome speech, we moved on to some very colorful cultural events, which included performances from big names like Pradeep Somasundaram who is also the principal of one of our Institutions, CAS Vadakkanchery. Several students also performed various art forms during this time. After lunch, we kickstarted the technical side of things with the various competitions, seminars, workshops, and so on. On the first day, we had a competition on Model United Nations, followed by a 3D printing and Hardware Maintenance workshop and a seminar on Cybersecurity. After the technical events were concluded, it was time for that day's cultural night and we had many amazing performances by our students as well as a band performance by Ipta Nattu Thudi and Salt Mango Tree.

The second day started with a flurry of competitions, including AI Film Fest, Robo Race, Hackathon, Shark Tank, Coding Competition, Film Fest, and Treasure Hunt. In parallel to these competitions, we held many seminars and workshops. AR and Metaverse, IoT and Robotics, Hardware Hacking, and Chatbots were the major workshops while we had a seminar on Business Trends and FOSS. After the second day's technical events winded up, it was time for the cultural events to take center stage. Today's events were flagged off by famous movie and drama artist Santosh Sir, followed by an exhilarating performance by the Indian Army. This event was a major highlight and everyone was having goosebumps during the event. After this, many of our students performed live on the stage.

As the third day began, so did the festivities. The day witnessed the finals of the AI challenge, the valuation of the Project expo, CTF, AI Dance Challenge, Web Designing, Quiz competition, AI debate, No Code, and Gaming competitions. Today we also had seminars on the Responsible use of AI, Tiny Steps, and Gen AI along with workshops on Hacking and Trading. After the day's technical events came to an end, we had more cultural programs set in store to entertain the audience. There was a small talk with Indu Menon, a novelist and short story writer, followed by a Karate showcase by the Kaju Kaido Karate team. This was followed by more programs from various IHRD institutions.

On the fourth day, we had the valedictory function where the winners of each of the events were announced along with the overall winner among all the institutions. The Valedictory function was graced by the Honourable Minister for Higher Education, Bindu Ma'am, and various guests of importance. After the award ceremony, we moved on to lunch after which a wonderful performance by the famous artist Resmi Sateesh was awaiting us at Sarovaram Bio Park. The fest concluded on a high note with the energetic performance of Resmi Sateesh Ma'am and her band ReSatrippin'.

In parallel to this, we had a small wing working at the Regional Science Center and Planetarium, Kozhikode spreading the knowledge to young minds visiting the planetarium. As part of Tharang 2K24, we had set up a fun photo booth, an AR & VR Experience stall, an old technology historical galleria museum consisting of various old technical equipment, a stall partnering with KSEB, and another stall partnering with Sargasheshi, an initiative by ULCCS. Apart from this, we wanted to share the beauty of AI with the kids coming to the planetarium and as such, we set up AI voices for many of the planetarium attractions with voices from many of the children's favorite characters like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and so on. This encourages the children to listen to the various exhibits, instead of reading the text written which in most cases the kids tend to miss a lot. We hope to spread the use of AI in personalized learning through this.

We had arranged the food and accommodation as per the requirements given by the various institutions for their students at our college and in nearby venues.

It was a memorable 4 days of executing a plan that had been put together meticulously in the past month. For a fest arranged in a very short time with very few resources, we feel proud to have entertained and enlightened the guests making them satisfied. It is with pride and honor that we have embraced and completed the fest, a memory that we will always cherish at our institution.