Kurukshetra is the biggest fest down here in the south of India. How do you, as the logistics team, manage the logistics for this event?
We basically receive a database of requirements towards the end. During June-December we discuss and estimate which team will need what, a few teams will be requiring some things in that period and we fulfill that instantly. In Kurukshetra, mainly requirements arise for events from around November. We consolidate it, arrange for the items and get it delivered to the respective teams.
There are challenges faced for any kind of work; what are the challenges you face in the logistics team of Kurukshetra?
The biggest challenge is to fulfill the requirements. It needs to be done on time and to the satisfaction of the organisers.
The logistics team goes hand-in-hand with the finance team. How do you manage the limitations in the budget?
We have a review where we sit along with the organisers and we decide on the necessary items for an event, trying to discard the optional items that don’t seem like a necessity. We discuss with organisers and conclude as to what items are completely essential for the event and those the event can do without. Keeping in mind the budget limit we purchase the items.
Suddenly, you are posed with a last minute requirement. Someone requests for an item very close to or on the day of the event. What do you do in such situations?
For issues like these we have organisers assigned for running logistics. Under the organiser we will have juniors with a minimal amount of cash as buffer. So when a sudden requirement occurs the juniors can go purchase it as soon as possible.
How do you split the work among the members in the logistics team?
We basically split the work based on the interest for each individual. If someone does not like doing something we alter our roles.
How much help do you need from juniors?
We mostly need third years to help with us. They will have to drive around and it isn’t advisable to give these jobs to a first year. In the team we have five third years who have license, they drive a bike around in a rotational duty to go purchase items and another set of five juniors to split the purchased items. We do take in volunteers from first year for on-day work.
From your point view, give us a general overview of Kurukshetra.
This year we have freshly introduced k! awards. We have also included the Neon run initiative which is taking place for a good cause. We are trying these new things. Apart from that, we have grand events like Godspeed and we are striving to make it even better than before. We are also extremely careful not to repeat mistakes that were made in earlier editions. Altogether, we will make it big success!
