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Spandan

Spandan is the annual cultural, literary and sports festival of JIPMER that is organized and conducted by the JSA. It is held in late August and early September and runs over five days. It is the largest medical inter-college festival in south India and attracts participants from medical colleges all over India as well as from regional engineering, law and business colleges. The number of registered participants is around 5000 every year.

History

In the 1960s and 1970s the JSA conducted an inter-collegiate sporting festival that included the Chaddha Memorial Inter Medical Hockey tournament and the Dr S L Basu Football tournament. In 1978, the inter-collegiate sporting festival became Les Jeux and included basketball and badminton in addition to hockey and football. In 1980, cultural and literary events were added to the sporting events and were named Les Beaux Arts. In 1982, Les Jeux and Les Beaux Arts were folded into the overarching Spandan festival.

Inter Medical Youth Festival

The Inter Medical Youth Festival was the first inter-collegiate sporting and cultural festival held by the JSA. The first Inter Medical Youth Festival was held in 1969 and organized by the 1966 batch. The second and last Youth Festival was held in 1971 and organized by the 1968 batch.

Dr S S Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament

The Dr S S Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament was instituted in the memory of Dr S S Chaddha, who was a lecturer of surgery and a popular teacher at JIPMER. He died of a brain tumour in 1964 and the Chadda Memorial was instituted in the same year. The trophy presented to the winner was known as the Dr S S Chaddha Memorial Ever Rolling Trophy. Till the late 1980s it was one of the most prestigious sporting events in JIPMER and was usually held in the month of January over 4 days. More than 20 hockey teams from all over India used to participate in tournament.

In its heydays, the standard of hockey that was played was very high. Players in the tournament went on to play even at the national level. For example, Albert Shaw of St Johns Medical College played for Indian National team and Antony Susainathan of AFMC was the reserve goal keeper for the Indian National team.

With the introduction of Les Jeux the Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament became one of the major events. The Chaddha Tournament continued to be an important event of Spandan till the late 1990s after which sporting events declined. Till day, Spandan’s hockey tournament is a minor event and is no longer known as the Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament.

SPANDAN 2007 will host the hockey tournament in its origianl name “Dr S S Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament”. The event, certificate and trophy will carry its name.

Dr S L Basu Memorial Football Tournament

The Dr S L Basu Memorial Football Tournament was instituted in the memory of Dr S L Basu, who passed away from a heart attack while he was Professor and Head of department of Biology at JIPMER. Dr Basu was a very quiet and soft spoken person who had nothing at all to do with football or for that matter with any sporting event. The Basu Memorial Football Trophy and Tournament was instituted in his memory as a mark of love and of respect by his students. The first Basu Memorial Football Tournament was held in 1981.

Historically, JIPMER boasted a very strong football team thanks to many talented footballers who hailed from North East India and from abroad. The JIPMER football team continuously won the Dr S L Basu Memorial Football tournament for more than a decade since its inception till until 1994.

SPANDAN 2007 will host the football tournament in its origianl name “Dr S L Basu Memorial Football Tournament”. The event, certificate and trophy will carry its name.

Timeline

• 1964 - First Dr S S Chaddha Memorial Hockey Tournament
• 1969 - First Inter Medical Youth Festival
• 1971 - Second Inter Medical Youth Festival
• 1978 - First Les Jeux
• 1980 - First Les Beaux Arts
• 1981 - First Dr S L Basu Memorial Football Tournament
• 1982 - First Spandan