Students show off one of their creations in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

It’s that time of the year students of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT)-Mesra, and those of other institutes too, eagerly wait for.

BITOTSAV 2012 is here. The inter-college annual techno-cultural fest of BIT-Mesra kicked off on Wednesday with the registration process. The next four days will see a host of programmes and competitions with the top draw being performances by Pakistan’s Jal the band and Group Scribe Band.

On the first day, around 1,000 students from 20 technical institutes, including the extension centres of BIT-Mesra at Noida, Patna and Jaipur, IIM-Ranchi and other cradles of Bengal and Jamshedpur, registered themselves.

Studies and hectic academic schedules took a backseat as participants got busy with rehearsals. The off-beat theme of the fest — Pop Goes The Culture — only demands that they put in their best till March 4.

The venue has been decked up with posters of Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Rolling Stones, not to forget the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

“This year, we are revisiting the pop culture of 60s and 70s. And when one speaks about pop, the first name that comes to mind is that of Michael Jackson. We have put up huge posters of him at staircases and other places,” said Ananya Nath, a third-year student of BIT-Mesra.

He added that they completed the registration process on Wednesday while the events would start from Thursday. “As far as cultural events are concerned, future managers and engineers will take part in music, dance, fine arts and oratory competitions. The technical section will include events ranging from robotics to quiz to puzzles to case studies. Mainly it will be a battle of the best brains,” Nath said.

One of the event organisers, Prithvi Raj, added that the other events would be dance performances, dramatics, film-making, games, guest lectures and public speaking among other contests.

A lot more is in store with Group Scribe Band performing on March 3 and Jal the band entertaining the audience on the last day, that is March 4.

Classical vocalist Rita Ganguly upped the culture quotient with a performance on the campus on Wednesday evening as part of Fest 12, a cultural extravaganza organised by Spic Macay, Jharkhand chapter.