Festival season at Delhi University has almost touched the finishing line. In hindsight, certain trends dominated the culture and the crowd over these few months. From main college fests to department fests, from star performances to sponsorships, from food stalls to fashion (and its disasters), the University witnessed the most vibrant period of the year.
This year, star performances, the greatest deal of the big college fests attracted huge crowds at most of the colleges. Unions with high budgets went to call performers like Arijit Singh, Mohit Chauhan, Shaan, Papon and Kailash Kher to name a few whereas many colleges saw Punjabi stars like Diljit Dosanjh, Bohemia, Indeep Bakshi among others. This new trend of hooking up Punjabi stars for the fests seems to be a fair deal, mainly because they aren’t buried under extensive Bollywood rage and it ends up being a less costly affair. Not only that, Punjabi performers create that insane mood among the spectators by singing party numbers.
With many star nights overlapping, DUites had started blabbering to themselves about where to go and where not to. Though looking at it from a broad perspective, artists performing this year were more appreciated and attracted large audiences compared to last year. The college fests that were tagged as “big” last year might have disappointed a few, while few others (probably the ones that are not usually listed in the top 5 college fests of Delhi University) attracted many young heads from all over the University. This also encouraged better participations in various main and filler events of the fests. In terms of creativity and organisation, most of the colleges did not fail to impress.
The individual department and society fests within the colleges were almost as big budget affairs as were college fests. Histrionica and Eclat, the Theatre fests of Shri Ram College of Commerce and Hansraj College respectively, Appulse – the Commerce fest of Kirori Mal College and Scoop – the Journalism fest of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce to name a few were bigger this year. The cash prizes and awards at all the fests around the University were inciting enough to grab the attention. Sponsorships remained an issue with most of the colleges as all the decisions were taken at the last moment but in the end big brands like Coca Cola, BBM, Radio Mirchi, BlackBerry etc. were seen as partners with the fests.
The food stalls at most of the fests, however, disappointed majority of students. While the usual chaat, bhelpuri, pasta were commonly found at colleges, at certain times, the college canteen was seen to be more occupied than the food stalls at the fest. Local new eating joints and restaurants in the University area were also catering to students occasionally.
After attending classes late for the whole year, dressed up in night suits and pyjamas; the fest season practically changed the routine of all university students. Reaching 4 hours before the arrival of the star performer and dressing up to impress others were most the trends among the youngsters, especially girls. Fashion disasters weren’t missing nevertheless.
Largely, the colour and flavour of all these elements during this season will surely make up all for the messed up schedule during the other time of the year. Finally comes a time, when students stop thinking about the confusion going on and struggle to get to the classes on time. The time is here.
See you all next year at the fests!
Illustration credits: Mehr Gill for DU Beat
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