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KMC Musoc’s Surmanjari: A Curtain Raiser

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The 25th edition of Surmanjari, the annual fest of Musoc, the Music Society of Kirori Mal College will be held on on 1-2 March. While the fest would see a spectrum of Western and Indian Music competitions being held, the highlight would be the Musoc Concert. ‘This That’, the new in-house band of the society will also gig in the concert.

The Musoc is among the most reputed college music societies in the country, having produced renowned singers like KK, Gaurav Bangia and Shamit Tyagi, Valentine Shipley and the band Parikrama. It’s an Indian cum Western music society where every member performs both the forms of music. Surmanjari is the oldest music fest in the University.

On the day 1 of the fest, the prelims for the Indian and the Western Choir  will be held. This would be followed by the Musoc concert which is scheduled to start at 12 noon. The set-list for the Musoc concert this year includes songs by AR Rahman, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Coke Studio and Vishal-Shekhar. The concert would be a 3 hour affair. This year, the society’s new band ‘This That’ will put up its first public performance. Pranav Pahwa, a Jazz fusion guitar player and the ex president of the society would also play during the concert. “Fusion music with Carnatic vocals going into modern funk, or a set of vocalists that are trained in Indian Classical music and are equally good at singing western songs with complex harmonies, Musoc’s performance is a reflection of stellar instrumentation and outstanding vocals”, says Shruti Badri, the president of Musoc. A few pass-outs of the society will join the current members for the performance of an original composition by the choir.

A footfall of about 4000 students is expected during the fest, with majority of it for the Musoc concert. “Students from across the campus, even the South Campus come over to attend the concert. Last year’s concert was a big hit amongst the students and we are expecting an even better response this year”, says Parth Sharma, a second year Musoc member.

The day 2 of the fest would see a number of musical competitions being held. The finals for the Indian and the Western choir, the solo Indian Music competition, and the solo Western Music competition will be held. Unlike other solo Indian music events, in Surmanjari, participants are not allowed to sing to ghazals, folk or semi-classical music songs.

The entry for the concert is free for students.

 

Photo Credits: Shaleen Seth

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Events

Tempest – Highlights of the fest

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The students union of Miranda House proved its mettle by putting up a good show at Tempest, the annual cultural fest of the college. The three day affair drew crowd in thousands every day.The swarm of people seen outside the college gate trying to pour into the college through the thin entrance only proved it better.

The day one of the fest, tagged as ‘Qayamat’ kicked off with the stage play competition, which saw the audience asking for more. The plays went house full, while one could always spot a crowd of atleast 20 people waiting outside the auditorium waiting to get inside. A few students misunderstood the entrepreneurship cell event, ‘the End of Times Sale’ as some sale which the society had put up and went back disappointed as the event was about making a product out of waste material provided. The talent show organized by the NSS unit of the college for the differently talented people received a very good response. Supriya from Miranda House won the first prize in dance category while Shipra won the second prize. DJ Sumit Sethi who came dressed in red, coupled with a sparkling red hat, played out some groovy numbers for the crowd while rapper Aman had the audience cheering for him for his Punjabi rap.

Resurrection, the day 2 of the fest saw the two most crowd pulling events being held. The bare spring sun didn’t stop the audience from cheering, singing and clapping during ‘Dhol Pitara’, the street play competition. Shivaji College bagged the first prize in ‘Dhol Pitara’, while Kamla Nehru College and Ramjas College shared the second prize. The third prize went to Ramanujam College.All the three prizes in the Poster Making competition, organized by the Fine Arts society of the college were bagged by the students of the Fine Arts and Photography society of Kirori Mal College. ‘Rear Gear’, the cycle stunts show organized by the Adventure Club of the college was a big hit amongst students.

The folk dance group of the host college won bagged the first prize in Sira, the Indian Dance competition. The day ended with ‘The Last Step’ the western group dance competition. Teams from 17 colleges across the city participated in the competition. The girls from Maitreyi College won the hearts of the crowd and the first prize with their scintillating performance on numbers like the ‘Naadaan Parinde’.

On Nirvana, the last day of the fest, a number of informal events like Holocaust-the ad-mad, Ancient Sleeves- the t-shirt painting competition, The Signs- the Tattoo making competition, a treasure hunt, et al were held. The Nishad-the Indian and the ‘Ending on a good note II’, the Western Music events went on for the whole day.                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                            
The highlight of the day was a performance each by the Hindi metal band Nigambodh and Parikrama. Nigambodh played some original compositions, accompanied by some growls by the vocalists and killer music by the guitarists. Parikrama along with its original compositions played a number of popular numbers of other bands like the Coldplay. People in the crowd were seen banging their heads off to the music of the both the metal bands. Free artist Jasleen Royal sang a number of popular songs and gave away free autographed CDs after the show. Parikrama ended its show and also the fest by calling upon the stage the core organizing committee of the fest and bowing in front of the audience along with them.

 

Photo Credits: Parthiv Goel, Saurabh Jain and Shweta Arora

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News

Ramjas in murky waters

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The principal of Ramjas College would have breathed a huge sigh of relief when every subsequent revelation pertaining to the fake admission scam left him unscathed. However, one shouldn’t suffer with a guilty conscience for long and therefore the principal has joined the ranks of the co-accused. Naresh Tau, admission scam mastermind spilt the beans when he told the police that he gave Rs 80,000 and a bottle of Johnnie Walker to ensure the fake admissions met with no resistance from within the college, to college principal Rajendra Prasad. Although the Principal has denied allegations, he has been charge sheeted in the case filed before the Tis Hazari Court.

Delhi Police believes that in the last two years 36 students have gained admission in the college using forged mark sheets. As a result, 28 charge sheets have been filed wherein several admission committee members of the college have been named as suspects including the convener PK Malhotra along with the “dealing assistants” who handled the admissions in the absence of the teaching staff. The police have identified discrepancies and “mistakes” which would be more compatible with a fixed cricket match. Shockingly, the admission committee overlooked conspicuous misprints in the mark sheets. What is amazing to note is the fact that the staff signed on admission forms backed by mark sheets that had misspelt ‘ninety’. Hence it is apt that a charge sheet says, “It seems that staff of the admission committee has benefitted the accused knowingly.”

As far as the Principal is concerned however, the charge sheet indicting him also mentions “no evidence yet” on his role in the scam. The scamsters, including several former and current Ramjas students, charged exorbitant amounts from students ranging from 1 to 6 lakhs to forge their mark sheets.

It seems as if the admission sham is getting murkier by the minute with skeletons tumbling out of the closet as every revelation comes along. What remains to be seen is whether the Principal manages to clear his name once this shameful affair is over and done with.

 

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Events

10 things you couldn’t miss at Nexus 2012

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‘After two years of disappointment, justice had finally been done to the brand name Venky is’. This was the general opinion after Nexus 2012, the annual cultural festival of Sri Venkateswara College came to an end. This year’s event stood out in a number of aspects from its previous arrangements, having 5 professional shows being just one of them.

From a spectator’s point of view, the three days were certainly eventful. I list the 10 things you couldn’t have missed at Nexus 2012:

Rangoli competition

 

  1. The Rangoli’s. Every other fest is marked by a beautiful Rangoli to greet the participants, and Nexus 2012 was no different. Made at the centre of the foyer, it made for a pretty sighting. So much so that not even a single person stepped over it, careful of not disturbing its beauty.
  2. Celebrating Delhi’s 100 years. A number of events showcased this year’s theme of celebrating Delhi’s 100 years as capital of India. Upon entering the college, you could see a cutout of the Lotus temple placed in front of the entrance. Apart from that, the Rangoli competition, Collage making among others incorporated the same.
  3. The photographs, which were pinned to the walls in front of the seminar hall, in the lobby, in the foyer, almost everywhere were a hit with the audience as well.
  4. Security. After the hap hazard handling of the audience during Celeb nights the previous year, the security handled the situation very well this time round. Though at one point of time the Delhi Police authorities did not allow anyone to enter the college including the participants. What followed were the typical Dilliwallah dialogues – ‘Sir, organizing authority mein hun mai, XYZ se puch lo aap’, ‘ Bhai gate pe hun, entry karwa de meri’ among others.
  5. The organizers. Dressed in their suits running from one end to another with a walkie-talkie in their hand, responding to the numerous requests from sponsors, celebrities and the participants.
  6. The impromptu b-boying to some videshi numbers was a huge crowd puller. The back spin, turtles, hand glide, six steps were among the various moves these performers pulled out of their magic hat. You can find the video on DU Beat’s facebook page.
  7. Even though Parikrama rocked, strangely enough there were seats deployed for a ‘concert’, and the audience was supposed to be sitting during numbers like Highway to Hell and But it Rained. While the audience in the front often got up, some cranky fellows sitting at the back who had apparently come for a movie started cribbing. One of them even said – ‘Baith jaoo oyee, warna aag laga dunga sab mein’. He was with a girl, so the crowd let it be.
  8. The rattled expressions on your face when you were thoroughly stumped by the questions in the Delhi Quiz, wondering if you have been living in a parallel universe for the past 12 years.
  9. Razzmatazz, the western dance competition was marked by a few technical stoppages, but kudos to the teams which kept on performing even with minimal sound and were rightfully cheered on by an appreciating audience.
  10. Finally, after the enthralling performances by Parikrama and Advaita, next was the turn of Shibani Kashyap. But, even her ‘Sajnaaaaa ‘performance could not match up to the levels set by the two bands. If this was not enough, a shimmering dress and a pointless Guitar prop did not help her case, entertaining none the less.

 

Shashank Gupta

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Events

Nexus 2012: and the winners are…

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WESTERN VOCALS (Solo)

  1. Nirupan – Hansraj
  2. Shreya Adhikari – Venky

WESTERN VOCALS (Duet)

  1. Nirupan and Devika – hansraj
  2. Ketan and Malvika – VENKY

WESTERN VOCALS (Group)

  1. Kirori Mal College
  2. Lady Shri Ram College for Women

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC (SOLO)

  1. Dhruv – Hindu ( Sitar)
  2. Sagar – Hansraj (Piano)

INDIAN VOCALS (Group)

  1. KMC
  2. LSR

Special mention – Venky

LIGHT INDIAN VOCALS (SOLO)

  1. Shalini- Venky
  2. Prachi – LSR

Indian Classical Music (Solo)

  1. Risha – LSR
  2. Ananya – Hindu

WESTERN DANCE (Solo)

  1. Gaurav Mankoti – Venky
  2. Mohit – Dronacharya College of Engineering

 

FOLK DANCE (Group)

  1. SGND Khalsa
  2. JMC

RAZZMATAZZ – WESTERN DANCE (Group)

  1. Hansraj
  2. Sri Guru Gobind Singh College and I.P. College (Tie)

CHOREO

  1. Hansraj
  2. Hindu

CREATIVE WRITING (English)

  1. Riddhi – Venky
  2. Rahi Punyashloka – Venky
  3. Kapil Joshi

GENERAL QUIZ

  1. Shankhayan Dutta, Nishit Jain – IIT Delhi
  2. Ishit Gupta – CBS

STREET DANCE (Group)

  1. Fair Field Institute of Management

STREET PLAY

  1. Maharaja Agrasen
  2. Shivaji College

MR. AND MS. NEXUS

  1. Tanvi Metre
  2. Joshua Haokip

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

  1. The Uncertainty Principle

Raghav Meattle-Vocals

Abhishek Rajan-Lead guitar

Nishant Kurup-Rhythm Guitar

Siddharth Rajan-Bass

Keith Peter-Drums: Best Drummer

Genre- Rock/Alternative/Progressive 

       2. Mutiny in March

Aman Bharti-Guitars (Maharaja Surajmal, IP Univ.)

Jatin Chabbra-Bass (Chitkara univ.)

Tushar Saxena(fill in)- Bass(Amity)

Shoumitro Roy- Guitars (Amity)

Abhijeet Sanyal-Vocals- (Jims,IP univ)

Abhijeet Baneerjee-Drums (Arena Animation)

Genre-Metal/Hardcore

DELHI QUIZ

  1. Shubham Prakhar – NSIT ,Shashank Malik – IGNOU
  1. Shashank Ojha, Soumya Sagar – AIIMS

“Out of Focus” – PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION cum EXHIBITION

  1. Chaarvi Mathur – Gargi College
  2. Nikita Malik – NIFT
  3. Yamini Yogya – Hindu College
DEBATE (English)
Best Team – Aisha and Gauri Chauhan, Maitreyi College
Best Speaker – 1. Gauri Chauhan, Maitreyi
                              2. Robin, Dyal Singh
DEBATE (Hindi)
Best Team – 1. Jainendra Kumar, Jamia Milia and Adarsh, SGND Khalsa
                         2. Aarti, South Campus and Manoj Yadav, North Campus
Best Speaker – Jainendra Kumar, Jamia Milia
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Campus Central

Battle of the Bands at Nexus 2012

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Mutiny In March, a metal-rock band, were the first to perform. Though their performance was laden with synchronised head-banging by the band members, their music seemed to not rouse the audience a great deal. They were followed by the rock group which calls itself Uncertainty Principle, who started a teeny bit shakily with their Nescafe jingle but their subsequent songs were immediate hits with audience, with many standing up even on their seats. [caption id="attachment_3611" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The Uncertainty Principle"][/caption]

Swarantara was next in line, and they had a large ensemble of musicians with guitarists, tabla players, a drummer, pianist and both Indian and Western singers. They performed the popular Bollywood number, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. However, they too failed to enrapture the hordes of students who had been in their element for the previous band.

The last band to perform in the competition was aptly titled as regards their order of appearance as they were called Better Late Than Never (BLTN). BLTN performed a cover of a popular Arctic Monkeys song among their other items and concluded with a self-composition – ‘Come Back Home’.

[caption id="attachment_3612" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The much-enthralled audience who was rocking along with the performers."][/caption]

The judges, who were the members of the celebrated Indian rock band, Parikrama, who were to perform later that night, came up with the results soon thereafter. It came as no surprise as Uncertainty Principle bagged the award for ‘Best Drummer’, ‘Best Guitarist’ and eventually they were named the ‘Best Band’ of the night. Mutiny In March was declared the runners-up.

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Features

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

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Singularly depressing choices generally between letting your girlfriend die or seeing the world engulfed in flames may not send a cult superhero into a cold sweat but they can easily be considered avoidable. The superhero for his part has the consolation that by the time the credits start rolling in, the girlfriend would be in his arms and the world free of doomsday plotting villains (at least for the time being). Unfortunately, India caught up in a similarly precarious situation has no such assured ending to fall back on.

With an ever increasing energy demand, managing oil imports has become the first priority for India. Around 13% of these imports come from Iran. Under such circumstances, one can forgive India for wishing that Iran had not courted the wrath of India’s long time ally, Israel and the almighty West. But that is exactly what Iran has done by refusing to cut back on its ambition of becoming a nuclear capable state.

Recent events have only made matters worse. Iran has publicly expressed delight on the progress of its nuclear programs. If that wasn’t enough, a terror attack on an Israeli diplomat’s wife in India has conveniently been linked to Iran by the ever so enterprising Israel. All this has left India ropewalking an increasingly thinning rope with no safety net what so ever.

Up until now India has successfully managed to continue importing Iranian oil despite the increasing number of sanctions against the same. According to the latest Indo-Iranian deal, Iran is willing to accept 45% of the payment for oil in rupees. This will further strengthen trade ties between the two countries. Iran will probably use the acquired rupees on Indian goods.

USA and Europe have already placed an embargo on Iranian oil and NATO is continually encouraging other allies to follow suit. This, along with India’s professed commitment to the Non Proliferation Treaty, has politically obligated India to support NATO in its endeavours. Economically and practically, India cannot do without Iranian oil.

India has been at its non committal best on the issue and this for once seems to be the right policy to follow. It will be fool hardy now to cut off trade relations with Iran and equally suicidal to extend support to its operations. It therefore seems best to play the waiting game and while we are at it, we better send out the oil scouts. And ask them to hurry up.

 

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Nexus 2012: Day 1 Highlights

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Farooq Abdullah with Principal Hemalatha Reddy

The first day of the annual cultural festival of Sri Venkateswara College kicked off in the morning with the chief guest Farooq Abdullah inaugurating the three day event.

The first in line of events was the Western Dance (Solo) competition,where the participants gladly showed off their moves and panache to the audience. Next in line were a number of events such as Western Vocals, Folk Dance (Group), Indian Classical Dance (Solo).The Street Dance competition grabbed many eyeballs, and Fair Field Institute of Management nudged ahead of the others in a tough face off. The Delhi Quiz conducted by Venky’s quiz society
Conquiztador barraged a sizeable audience with questions pertaining to the past and present of the City of Delhi, with the team of Shubham and Shashank of NSIT and IGNOU emerging the winners.
The theme of Nexus, which celebrates the 100 years of Delhi as the capital was showcased in a number of events such as Rangoli Making and Collage Making. Next in line was the mega event of the day, the performance by Guillotine- the popular band of Delhi University famous for opening the Metallica Concert in Bengaluru. Although the event got off to a delayed start, they left no stone unturned to enthrall the audience with some headbanging music. Funnily enough, the band was so well received that many girls cheered on the Keyboard player Akshat Taneja and Guitarist Takar Nabam and even flocked them for photographs.
Shortly afterwards, the final event of the day, Razamatazz – Western Dance (Group) competition got underway. The show was marked by a number of incidents which included frequent technical issues relating to the audio. Sri Ram College of Commerce had to restart their routine due to the same, but managed to deliver a fine performance. Following them were performances by Khalsa, Gargi, Kirori Mal and others. The finest performance though was given by Hansraj and they were rightly awarded the first position late in the night.Nonetheless, the opening day of the festival saw an excellent turnout which stayed late in the night much to the delight of the participating teams. Apart from a few inevitable snags, Nexus 2012 is truly underway.Stay tuned to DU Beat’s Facebook page for the live updates of Day 2 and the pictures and videos from Day 1.
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Miranda House Tempest Day 1 Results

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Ending on a Good Note I (Western Music Solo category

First: Vipin, Sri Ventateswara College
Second: Fiona, Miranda House
Third: Swati, Sri Ventateswara College

Bilingual Stage Play Competition

First: Hans Raj College – Ek Tha Gadha
Second: SGTB Khalsa College – The Park
Best Director: Sumer Tiwari – Sri Ventateswara College
Best Actor: Pranav Sachdev – Hansraj College

Bharo Zindagi Mein Rang- The Rangoli making competition

First: Anupama and Puja – DCAC
Second: Moditma – Miranda House

The End of Times Sales

First: Ann Josephine and Akansha Johri – Miranda House

Re-ply – The Business Quiz

First: Ann Josephine and Akansha Johri – Miranda House
Second: Ambika Mangal and Sonal Dhingra – Lakshmi Bai College

Nature Strikes Back- The Collage Making Competition

First: Sameera Sarma and Anu Kadyan
Second: Shweta and Sukriti
Third: Isha and Jasleen

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