Jan. 7: The ninth edition of Alcheringa, the annual IIT festival, got under way today with a warning from the All Guwahati Students? Union (AGSU) to keep a check on ?vulgar? shows.

The students? union felt the fashion shows organised in the festival might go against their ?anti-vulgarity? campaign launched recently.

An AGSU delegation, led by its general secretary Pritam Hazarika, met director of the IIT, Guwahati, Gautam Baruah, today and submitted a memorandum requesting him to monitor that models participating in the fashion shows do not portray ?nudity?.

?We do not want anything to happen at the IIT which will lower the dignity of the institution,? Hazarika said.

The warning against the IIT fashion shows by the AGSU came after a citizens? meeting held yesterday announced agitation and awareness programmes to stop ?nudity? in the name of fashion shows or cultural nights.

Saurabh Kasturia, in-charge of media relations, Alcheringa, said Saaz, the classical music show by Pandit Bhajan Sapori and Pandit Sukhamoy Banerjee, was one of the major attractions on Friday night.

The programme was highly successful in drawing the crowd, he added.

The second event was Electric Heels, a choreography contest. The event had lots of mass appeal and attraction, Kasturia said.

A fashion show held today showcased the creations of Prasant Ghosh.

The Enemy Within, a money game show, was also quite successful, Kasturia said.

The festival has a serious side this year apart from the fanfare and merry-making. The organisers of Alcheringa are trying to raise funds for the tsunami victims.

Donation boxes have been put up at the entrance and exit points.

Alcheringa, which means ?dream time? in Australian aborigine lingo, is one of the most vibrant functions in the IIT calendar.

Students from top technical institutions, including IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneswar, NIT Silchar, NIT Jamshedpur, Presidency College and St Stephens College of Calcutta arrived today to take part in the festival.

The festival has been organised at the north Guwahati campus of the IIT Guwahati.

Several visitors who dropped in at the IIT campus appreciated the efforts of the students to organise the festival in a disciplined manner.

Tanima Chatterjee of Cotton College said the festival like Alcheringa could be used as a platform of youths to highlight potentials of the region before the rest of the world.