Abhivyanjana – the Debating, Poetry and Creative Writing Society of Motilal Nehru College, conducted their annual fest, Abhivyakti’17 on the 20th and 21st of February. In the spirit of the 10th edition this year, the fest was planned and exhibited with remarkable ebullience and vibrancy

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The two-day fest attracted students from across the university and other private institutions, allowing them participation in an incredible line-up of events. First in queue, for Day 1, was the inaugural ceremony, where the Chief Guest for the fest, Mr. Anshu Mor, was received by the Cultural Convenor of the college. The inauguration was soon followed by a storytelling workshop by Mr. Anshu Mor, the CEO, and founder of Talking Mime. He is a renowned stand-up comedian whose journey to the stage in itself makes for an awe-inspiring story to tell. He used his rib-tickling anecdotes to punctuate the process of being a good storyteller. After the workshop, he was presented with a quotation poster, his caricature and a copy of his interview with An Inception by the president of the society.

This year, the society made its debut with hosting a 3 on 3 Knockout Parliamentary Debate, taking the second edition of the event, Clash of Clans, to another level. The core adjudicators were Taufique Shoogufan from Sri Venkateswara and Dev Baraya from St. Stephen’s, who are well known in the circuit for their perplexing list of credentials.

We Hear You 2.0, a Poetry Slam competition, witnessed students performing spoken word poetry, reflecting on an array of topics. Abhimanyu Verma from ‘Bring Back The Poets’, was present to judge the competition. Shreyasi from DCAC and Srishti Kapil from Sri Venkateswara won the first prize and second prize, respectively.

Next in line was Send My Love, a letter writing competition which tested the participants’ creativity by challenging them to reply to letters written by famous writers. Vrinda Anand from Indraprastha College for Women and Kriti Sahay from Jesus and Mary College bagged the top two prizes for the event.

The Betrayer, a turn cloak, wrapped up the events for Day 1. Monis Ahmad Khan, a writer, poet, actor, and performer was present as the judge for the competition. The debate was won by Aditya from PGDAV with his articulate speech on the topic ‘feminism’.

The second day started with round 3 for Clash of Clans and Point Break: A Conventional Debate.

Teams of two presented their arguments for and against the motion “THBT Racial profiling is justified in the contemporary world”. The conventional debate was won by the team from Sri Venkateswara college.

The last event for the fest was the highly anticipated finale round for parliamentary debate. With dimmed lights and a heedful audience in the seminar room, the battle between the two final teams – LSR and CBS-KMC cross – began. After a back and forth of constructive arguments, the team from LSR was declared as the winner of the tournament. The prize for the best adjudicator was given to Nashra Rashid and the prize for second-best adjudicator was shared by Kundan Sen and Ishika Seal.

Taufique and Dev were felicitated with a memento for their commendable work as Core Adjudicators in the closing ceremony.

The fest concluded on a successful note, with a great turnover and remarkable energy on both ends- the members of Abhivyanjana as well as the participants. This is a major leap in the journey of Abhivyanjana considering how young the society is. The fest was loaded with all the essentials- a great quality and quantity of participation along with some really popular and talented faces.