Edited by: Sonal Rana (UG20)
Clubs and societies are an integral part of Ashoka’s culture. They make the campus more vibrant with their events, sales, showcases, etc. From baking club to dance society to societies dedicated to different subjects, such as History and Psychology, there is an endless array of options because we at Ashoka have it all! However, every year sees the onset of a fresh batch of students who come with their own ideas and aspirations, which they then contribute to the already functioning clubs and societies. Otherwise, they form new and exciting ones of their own. This year too, Ashoka witnessed the start of three different clubs dedicated to three distinct fields. On occasion of Jashn-E-Jazba, we interviewed the heads of these three clubs and got to know a little more about these newbies!
1. Allure:
Allure is the fashion society created by Preksha Mishra of Undergraduate batch of 2021. Their first event was a garage sale held on campus, where they sold clothes and accessories donated by various students. None of the donated clothes were thrown away and were instead transformed into a new garment, thus reducing waste production and bringing out their sustainability goals.
So what inspired the creation of a fashion club? Hear it from Preksha herself:
“Before I joined Ashoka, I figured the one club I would invest time in would be the fashion club. When I figured there wasn’t one, it just seemed like a huge void that needed filling in the Ashokan community which is why I thought of starting the club.”
Although their journey so far hasn’t been easy, it has surely been an interesting one. Allure’s main goal is to elevate and incorporate the diverse fashion trends on campus. Alongside this, they wish to hold photoshoots, make-up events, and even help other clubs in terms of makeup. Most recently, they helped the community-engagement club Neev by putting up a stall for face painting on Children’s Day. Presently, they wish to end the year with a grand fashion show with clothes that are designed, stitched and styled by their team. We are surely looking forward to this!
2. MUN:
Although Ashoka has a lot of MUN enthusiasts, an official club was only created this year, by Ishaan Khosla of Undergraduate batch of 2021. This club aims to ensure that people see MUNs as these essentially life-changing instruments that bridge the gap between the real world and the Ivory Tower, and give people the power of networking, conflict resolution and ideals of working in a team.
When asked about why he decided to start a club, Ishaan described his relationship with MUNs as a parallel to DDLJ, with him playing Raj and MUNs playing Simran!
“Never thought I’d like them, never paid too much attention to them. But as soon as I realized that they were the ‘one’, I decided to forego everything and run towards the train, the Train in my case being the Social Sciences and what I gave up on, as a true Simran, was a life in Engineering.”
Even the MUN club’s journey so far hasn’t been easy, with multiple logo changes, administrative roadblocks, etc, but according to Ishaan, the passionately driven team that they house is what keeps them alive and kicking. If not for the team, he would have given up eons ago.
The club has also hosted an event this semester, and it was highly successful! Although initially facing some setbacks, they pulled off the Intra-conference 2019, which saw a large number of delegates who learned through the experience and engaged with fellow MUN-ers. We hope that the MUN club organizes more such successful events, and wish them all the best!
3. Tinkerville:
Tinkerville can probably be considered the newest club of them all, given that it was started by a first year! Aakanksha Agrawal of Undergraduate batch 2022 spoke to us about what inspired her to start the club.
“I always loved tinkering with craft and tech and making stuff. I wanted to do that on a professional level in college, go to hackathons, make projects that solve problems. When I came here, I saw an opportunity and randomly submitted a proposal for a club, and it got accepted.”
Her aspiration for this club is to get people interested in craft, technology and creating exciting things and also show them that computer science and coding is actually fun! She wants people to solve problems by creating projects that are tangible, scalable, ethical, and meaningful, and of course, fun.
The first event that they hosted was actually on occasion of Jashn-E-Jazba. It was a success, courtesy all the people who put in their efforts into it. More importantly, the event garnered the interest of the didis and bhaiyas on campus, who were in awe of how music was coming from a banana for crying out loud! This gave Aakanksha the idea of teaching how to use computers and apply coding to the staff at Ashoka. We wish her all the best in this endeavor!
All of these new clubs are sure to make Ashoka an even more vibrant and engaging campus, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for them!