Quick answer: Rendezvous 2026, IIT Delhi's annual cultural fest, ran from 28 September to 1 October 2026 with four pronites at the Open Air Theatre (OAT): Inayat Kaur Bajaj and DJ Kunal Grover (28 Sept), Chaar Diwaari and Raman Negi (29 Sept), Bismil ki Mehfil (30 Sept) and Jubin Nautiyal on 1 October. Entry needed an entry pass from rendezvous-iitd.org plus government ID, and the 2027 dates have not been announced yet.
| Rendezvous 2026 | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2026 (main fest); Pre-RDV on 26–27 Sept | @rendezvous.iitd |
| Headliner | Jubin Nautiyal, Melange pronite, 1 October | @rendezvous.iitd, 24 Sept |
| Pronites | Four nights, all at the OAT from 7 PM | rendezvous-iitd.org |
| Entry | Register online for an entry pass; carry government ID matching the pass. The entry pass is not a pronite pass. | rendezvous-iitd.org |
| Pass prices | Not published on the official site or in the posts we found | n/a |
| Rendezvous 2027 | Dates not announced | n/a |
Updated 2 October 2026 · The day after it ended · This page was first written in August, when only the dates were out. It now covers what Rendezvous 2026 actually looked like, and keeps the parts that will still help you plan for 2027.
Rendezvous 2026: what happened
Rendezvous is IIT Delhi's annual cultural festival, so if you searched "IIT Delhi fest 2026", this is the one. The 2026 edition ran under the theme "A Riot of Fusions" and stuck to the dates the organisers first put in their Instagram bio in August: 28 September to 1 October.
The four pronites
Each night closed with a concert at the OAT. The official pronite page lists them like this:
| Night | Date | Pronite | Artists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon, 28 Sept | Spectrum | Inayat Kaur Bajaj & DJ Kunal Grover |
| 2 | Tue, 29 Sept | Kaleidoscope | Chaar Diwaari & Raman Negi |
| 3 | Wed, 30 Sept | Dhoom | Bismil ki Mehfil |
| 4 | Thu, 1 Oct | Melange | Jubin Nautiyal |
- Night 1, Spectrum. The organisers introduced Inayat Kaur Bajaj as "a Universal Music-signed singer-songwriter and Indian Idol Season 15 Top 30 finalist" and billed her "live at Rendezvous '26, IIT Delhi on 28th September, from 7 PM onwards at the OAT". Hindustan Times previewed the set on the day, saying she would perform "for a crowd of more than 7,000". DJ Kunal Grover played the same night; afterwards he posted "Thankyou for showing up in such large numbers".
- Night 2, Kaleidoscope. The official post promised "No rules. No filters. Just Chaar Diwaari" at 7 PM on 29 September. The pronite page also lists Raman Negi on the bill.
- Night 3, Dhoom. Bismil, described by the organisers as having "a sound rooted in Sufi, folk and contemporary music", played Bismil Ki Mehfil at 7 PM on 30 September.
- Night 4, Melange. The headliner was announced on 24 September: "Jubin Nautiyal is taking over Rendezvous on October 1!" With about 3,470 likes as of 2 October, it was the most-liked of the four pronite announcements.
Our August version of this page expected the line-up three to four weeks out. It came later than that: the headliner was announced on 24 September, four days before the fest opened, and the official feed posts we found for the night 2 and night 3 acts are dated 29 September, during the fest itself.
Pre-RDV, Pokémon GO and the rest
- Pre-RDV, 26–27 September. Two days before the main fest, the organisers ran Debutant, MUN, Euphony, Last Man Standing and the Blitzkrieg semi-finals, plus a Prom on 26 September (7 PM to 10 PM, SAC Lawn) and a Garba Night on 27 September (6 PM to 9:30 PM, SAC Lawns).
- Pokémon GO. Niantic's game ran an official in-game event and booth for the fest, "Monday, September 28, at 10:00 a.m. to Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. local time", with daily raids (Meowth, Psyduck, Snorlax, Lapras). Anime News Network reported a Pokémon parade, dance show and Pikachu meet and greet on campus as well.
- Daytime events. The official schedule filled lecture halls, Dogra Hall, Red Square and the OAT from 8 AM, with events such as Comedy Hunt, Beatbox, Off-Script: Rdv's Got Latent, Decryptic Conundrum, SynerZ and the Lifestyle fashion show finals at the OAT.
Footfall. The organisers have not published an attendance figure for 2026. The only number in the press is Hindustan Times' pre-show estimate of more than 7,000 for the first pronite. We found no reports of any pronite being cancelled, moved or cut short.
How entry worked in 2026
Entry ran through the new official site, rendezvous-iitd.org. The organisers' instruction was simple: "Follow the steps, get yourself registered, and get your entry pass ready for four days of music, dance, art, chaos and everything in between."
- Register, then get an entry pass. Visitors sign in with Google and fill in their details once. IIT Delhi students sign in with their Kerberos ID and do not need an entry pass; the site says "Your IITD ID card gets you onto campus."
- Bring government ID. The pass page says: "Carry a physical or digilocker copy of government ID matching this name. The entry pass is not a Pronite pass." Anime News Network also reported that only college students were allowed in, with a college ID and a government ID.
- Pronite access is separate. The pronite pass is a different credential from the entry pass. Neither the site nor the posts we found give a public price for either, so we are not printing one.
Accommodation
Accommodation registration opened on 22 September, six days before the fest. The announcement read: "Accommodation for all Rendezvous'26 participants is now open."
The 2026 rules on the accommodation page split visitors in two. "IITD hostel rooms are reserved for students from other IITs, confirmed by an institute email address verified during registration. Everyone else books a partner hotel." Rates are per person per night, cheaper for larger groups, paid at booking and refunded in full if the booking is not approved. Room rates only show after you sign in.
This is consistent with 2025, when the organisers warned of "limited accommodation available outside campus" on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are not at another IIT, plan on booking your own stay near Hauz Khas, IIT Gate or Green Park. Prices in that area rise during fest week.
What Rendezvous is: the flagship events
Rendezvous is IIT Delhi's annual cultural festival, run by students in the last week of September. These events recur every year:
- Blitzkrieg, the western battle-of-the-bands competition, described by the organisers as "one of the oldest and biggest Western Battle of the Bands competitions in India." Its 2026 semi-finals ran during Pre-RDV on 27 September.
- Lifestyle, the fashion show, which "unites a stellar lineup of designers, models, makeup artists, and choreographers." Its 2026 finals were scheduled at the OAT.
- Pronites, the headline evening concerts, one per night. This is what most outstation attendees come for.
- Competitive roster: slam poetry, street play, a pop-culture quiz, Model UN, stand-up, beatbox, dance battles and regional-culture events.
Past pronite acts give a sense of the booking tier: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Nucleya, Sonu Nigam and Guru Randhawa have all played Rendezvous, and Hoobastank headlined back in 2013. In 2025, Shalmali Kholgade played a pronite alongside a Qawwali night. Jubin Nautiyal in 2026 sits squarely in that range.
How big is it, really
Rendezvous bills itself as one of Asia's largest college cultural festivals. Its 2025 website claims 1,60,000+ total footfall and 1,200+ colleges.
Those are the organisers' own figures, not independently audited attendance counts, and no fest in India publishes one. Read them as a scale claim: directionally useful, precisely unverifiable. The same caveat applies to every Indian college fest's footfall number, including the ones we quote for Mood Indigo and Saarang. No figure has been published for 2026.
Which edition was this?
Our August version of this page guessed the 51st, based on student press calling 2025 the 50th. That was wrong, or at least not what the organisers say. The official 2025 website states that "The 48th edition ran from 27th to 30th September 2025." By that count 2026 was the 49th, but the organisers did not state an edition number for 2026 in anything we found, so treat 49th as arithmetic, not an announcement.
When to expect Rendezvous 2027
The 2027 dates have not been announced. Here is the pattern from the last two years, which is the best guide until they are:
| When | What happened in 2026 |
|---|---|
| By early August | Dates in the @rendezvous.iitd bio; campus ambassador applications open on Unstop |
| Late July – August | Creator programme and ambassador recruitment |
| ~22 September | Registration push and accommodation booking open |
| Final week | Pronite artists revealed, the headliner about a week out |
| Last week of September | The fest: 27–30 Sept in 2025, 28 Sept – 1 Oct in 2026 |
If the pattern holds, Rendezvous 2027 will fall in late September or the first days of October 2027. Do not book around that until the organisers confirm it.
The single most reliable source is the official Instagram account, which had about 54,000 followers by the end of the 2026 fest. The fest's website moves domains from year to year: the 2025 site was rdv-iitd.org (the older rendezvousiitd.in now redirects there), and 2026 ran on rendezvous-iitd.org. Follow the link in the Instagram bio rather than an old bookmark.
The campus ambassador route
For outstation students, this is the earliest way in. The 2026 Campus Ambassador Programme ran through Unstop and was already open by early August. The programme has historically run in multiple phases. In 2025 the organisers posted: "Phase II of Rendezvous'25 Campus Ambassador Programme is here! After an overwhelming response in Phase I, we're opening registrations once again." Ambassadors typically receive passes, certificates and merchandise in exchange for promoting the fest on their own campus.
The 2026 fest also ran a creator programme, which promised "exclusive Pronite access, networking sessions with renowned creators and chief guests, accommodation" and more. Expect both to reopen around July or August 2027.
If you are going from outside Delhi
- Book your stay early. Fest accommodation opened just six days before Rendezvous 2026, and on-campus rooms went only to students from other IITs.
- Nearest Metro is Hauz Khas on the Yellow and Magenta lines, a short auto ride from the main gate. IIT Gate is on the main road; expect heavy congestion on pronite evenings.
- Carry a college ID and a government ID. In 2026 the entry pass had to match a government ID, and press reports said college ID was checked too.
- Do not buy from resellers. Passes were issued against your own registration and ID, so a pass bought from someone else is unlikely to get you in.
Planning your fest season more broadly? We have full guides to Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay, Techfest and Antaragni at IIT Kanpur, plus a calendar of every major IIT fest.
If this page was useful, the merch store is what funds the research.
FAQ
When was Rendezvous 2026 at IIT Delhi?
28 September to 1 October 2026, with Pre-RDV events on 26 and 27 September. Rendezvous is IIT Delhi's annual cultural fest.
Who performed at Rendezvous 2026?
Four pronites at the OAT: Inayat Kaur Bajaj and DJ Kunal Grover on 28 September, Chaar Diwaari and Raman Negi on 29 September, Bismil ki Mehfil on 30 September, and Jubin Nautiyal on 1 October as the closing headliner.
How did entry and passes work at Rendezvous 2026?
Visitors registered on rendezvous-iitd.org to get an entry pass and had to carry a government ID matching the name on it. IIT Delhi students used their institute ID card. The pronite pass was separate from the entry pass. No public pass price was published on the official site.
Does IIT Delhi provide accommodation for Rendezvous?
Partly. In 2026, IIT Delhi hostel rooms were reserved for students from other IITs with a verified institute email, and everyone else booked partner hotels near campus through the fest site, paying per person per night. Booking opened on 22 September 2026.
When is Rendezvous 2027?
Not announced yet. Rendezvous ran 27 to 30 September in 2025 and 28 September to 1 October in 2026, so late September or early October 2027 is likely. The 2026 dates were in the official Instagram bio by early August, so watch the account from July.
Method note: The pronite line-up, schedule, entry rules and accommodation rules come from the official rendezvous-iitd.org pages and the @rendezvous.iitd Instagram posts linked above, read on 2 October 2026. The organisers have not published 2026 pass prices, a 2026 footfall figure or 2026 edition number, so this page does not state them. Corrections to hello@iitianvibes.com.