IIT Kharagpur’s Branding and Relation Cell (BARC) is in the process of designing India’s first college mascot. The mascot is scheduled to be released on 14th November 2015, on the birthday of IIT KGP’s founder, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Vyom Shrivastava, a third year student at IIT KGP, told PaGaLGuY, “The
idea of having a mascot always lingered around but substantial steps were taken
during this semester.” The process started in July 2015 with the first of many
hair pulling sessions that lasted a few months. Different avenues like
Facebook, Twitter, and Seminars were used to collect ideas from professors,
students and alumni for the mascot.

The mascot will represent the KGPians and their hardworking spirit. Around
125 ideas were submitted for it. Some students wanted it to be a dragon, a
cycle or a panther. The ideas finalised for the last round are Bengal tiger,
Bengal cat, an ant and a panda. The final phase of selection is a design
contest which will be launched in the coming week. The contest will require
students to picture one of the themes and paint it on a physical or digital
canvas.

The idea of having a mascot is the brainchild of Atal Ashutosh Agarwal,
Vice-President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana. He added, “Students are
warming up for the Inter-IIT Sports meet and we are planning to send our wishes
in the form of the upcoming mascot with IIT Kharagpur’s contingent. It
will work as a constant source of inspiration as its unique traits will resemble
those of a KGPian”.