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Antaragni 2019: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Conclude the Four Day Extravaganza

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Antaragni’19, the annual cultural fest of IIT Kanpur was declared officially open on 17th October 2019. The four day fest culminated on 20th October 2019.

The fest began with an inaugration ceremony held in the Main Auditorium. The guest of honour was DGP Om Prakash Singh and District Governor DC Shukla, with Director of Institution and many distinguished IIT alumnus. This year marks the diamond jubilee of the institution, hence to add to the festivities many cultural performances were organised like a upbeat song amalgam sang by IIT students to welcome outstation students and a soulful classical rendition to highlight the grandeur of the fest. The opening ceremony also marked the collaboration between IIT Kanpur and Rotary Club of Kanpur North to make Antaragni’19 more socially responsible.

The first day of Antaragni commenced with an EDM night. Even the heat of Kanpur couldn’t stop people from enjoying the night to their fullest and sweating profusely. The pronite was started by Ravator. He took over the stage and made the crowd jump off their feet with some of the most amazing beats and drops. Later, DJ Bonka,took to the stage and lit up the stage with some amazing songs. They even played some Punjabi tunes along with EDM, a combination you don’t get to experience that often. At last, Giannobille came up and made the crowd grooved to the amazing beats. After the pronite, a DJ war took place at The Club in the Open Area Theatre. Artists performed their remixes to qualify through the prelims. The event had seven participants, out of which only five were to be qualified for the finals. The event saw about 200 people dancing off their feet with a lot of cheering and hooting. It was judged by Spin Guru Academy, best DJ and Music production academy of India. The participants won everyone’s heart by playing all kinds of music.

Day 2 of Antaragni 2019 began early and bright with a plethora of creative and competitive events lined up.The prelims for duo music event ‘Pair of Stage’ and prelims for the solo singing competition ‘Antargini Idol’ were organised, and saw participation from students across different colleges in different cities.

The venue for the prelims of Pair on Stage was shifted from L-16 to L-19, and saw about 44 mesmerising performances. About 15 pairs qualified for the finale. On the other hand the prelims for Anataragni Idol witnessed 150 participants out of whom only 20 would qualify for the final event. This competition was judged by Naman Sharma, the vocal coach at culture root foundation.

Mayanagri, the comprehensive quiz organised by Hindu Literary Events (HLE) with topics ranging from mythology to literature, and with different qualifier rounds including word games and pictionary was conducted along with a general quiz. HLE manging committee also conducted prelims for Aamna Saamna, a hindi group discussion competition. The participants were divided into random panels and topics were provided, each team was given a 2 minute preparation time. The Panel Discussion would then go on to reach a constructive conclusion.

The Anime Quiz saw Anime buffs enjoy answering questions posed to them. 8 teams , out if 18, qualified the prelims with 3 to 4 members in each team. 1st Round was Bounce, 2nd Round was the Pokemon Round, while the 3rd Round was the Giant Slayer.

Estampie, the prelims of Solo Western Dance competition followed by Jitterbug, the prelims of group western dance competition. Taking place in the main auditorium, the event was a full house. 46 dancers participated in the solo competition out of which only 8 qualified for the finals, and 17 teams partook in the Group Dance Competition, out of which only 7 made it to the next round. The event was judged by Ravi Verma, prominent dancer and Rahul Suryavanshi from Hip-Hop India championship. The dancers successfully lit up the stage and left the audience awestruck.

Synchronicity, the western rock band competition took place at the Synchro stage. A total of six bands from all over India took to stage with different kinds of genres. The performances had people dancing and banging their heads to the beats. The event was judged by Gautam Sarkar, owner of music label Ditto and Hickson V. George.

A creative writing event was conducted channeling the inner writers of participants. The event had about 15 teams of two people each. It consisted of two rounds. In round one, four words were displayed on the screen with one word every ten minutes and the participants had to write on that word. In the second round, participants were given five prompts and had to write on one of them, but it had a good twist. After halftime, the team had to exchange their pieces within them and continue writing in their teammates piece, which made the participants scratching their head. The event was judged by the English literary society of IIT Kanpur.

Comic Kaun participation vividly and was one of the most celebrated event with crowd more than 500 people sitting in one event. The event was platform for budding comic to show their sets and test them in front of such a large audience. The event organised with a great initiative seemed to miss the purpose of a platform because of the participants and the audience.

The third day of Antaragni had wonderful energy. A number of events took place simultaneously. Starting with Mela quiz, a quiz covering questions from Music, Entertainment, Literature etc. A total of 9 teams participated in the event, out of which all 9 of them made it to the finals. On the occasion of the Korean Culture Day, the quiz had a separate session covering that as well. The quiz was conducted by prominent quiz masters Somnath Chanda and Anindita Roy.

Not just quizzes, the day also witnessed some other entertaining events. Antaragini Idol, The prelims for the Solo Music competition took place at lecture hall 8. The contest had 150 on the spot participants, harmonising beautifully. It witnessed Naman Sharma, The vocal and instrumental coach of Cultural Roots foundation as the judge. Only 30 people qualified through the prelims for the finals to take place on 20th October.

Drishtikon, The Hindi extempore taking place at Lecture hall 2 added some traditional values to the day. The participants were shown a random picture and were given 30 seconds to analyse to speak on it for 2 minutes in Hindi. They were judged on the basis of choice of words, hand gestures and presence of mind. Out of a total of 35 participants, 15-20 were expected to qualify for the finals. Famous editor Arun Dev and Professor of Humanity and Social Science Department of IIT Kanpur, A.R.K. Verma judged the event.

The fest had supervised another quiz, TLC quiz as the name suggests, covering questions about Travel, Culture and Lifestyle. The questions were displayed on a screen and the team had to give on the spot answers. Correct answers gained a team 10 points, judged by the Quizmaster, Anandita Roy. There were 52 questions comprising of 14 questions from each of the 3 categories. The event was a tie between two teams, so it witnessed a tie-breaker round which was won by Vallari Srivastava who took the first position home.

Another extempore came about called the Jam Finale. The Jam masters supervises the event and gives the participants 3 words to speak on them. The event had about 9 participants and they were judged on the basis of grammatical errors and hand gestures. The event was highly informative.

The Stage Play finals took place at L7. Six teams qualified through the prelims and made it to the finale. Teams gave a splendid performance with beautiful storylines. The event lasted for 7 hours and every team had a unique concept. Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi won the first prize, whereas the second prize was won by the Dramatics society of IIT Kanpur itself. Miranda house, University of Delhi took home the third prize.

Day three of Antaragni, IIT Kanpur also witnessed the dance events- Tour De Force, group street dance event and Estampie, the solo dance battle event adjudged by Rahul Suryavanshi, Hip Hop india champion and Ravi varma, B-Fab Crew.

8 teams participated in the Tour De Force. There were two rounds- the performance round and the battle. Satyawati College emerged as the winner while the second position was given to Delhi Technical University.

Estampie held 3 rounds, the performance round out of which four participants qualified, the two two-way one-on-one battles, and the finalists then fought a three-way battle. Rahul Rao, from Outbreakers, ARSD College emerged as the winner of Estampie.

Mr. and Ms. Antaragni, delayed by two hours, began at the Main Auditorium in the campus and witnessed a large audience. 8 participants fought tooth and nail in four rounds- Introduction, Talent, Improvisation, and Interview, to win the title. Judged by Christeena Biju, Miss India Finalist from Odisha, and Abhishek Dubey, a Splitsvilla and Roadies contestant, the event saw a lot of heckling of the participants by the rowdy crowd. Vikhyat Singh and Jivika Wadhwa from Delhi Technical University won the title of Mr. and Ms. Antaragni respectively.

Lokalz, a K-Pop band graced the stage at Antaragni in association with the Korean Cultural Festival to celebrate a Korean Cultural Day on Day three of Antaragni 2019. Their energetic performance, even though delayed, energised the audience.

Day four, the last day, of Antaragni 2019 was full of event finale’s and wild spirit and energy.  It commenced with quiz  based on the world of Cinema and movies. The quiz consisted of a total of 35 questions from Movies. The quiz had two rounds in which the participants had the liberty to ask for hints. The first round had 25 participants out of which only 6 qualified for the second. The event covered every aspect of cinema from Bollywood to Japanese movies and from the 70s to the 21st century. The event was supervised by quizmaster, Anindita Roy.

In today’s world of westernization, when it’s getting harder and harder to stay in touch with your roots, Antaragni conducted Kavyanjali, a Hindi Poetry Event. The event invited online registrations through samples which had a count of almost 175 participants. The samples were then shortlisted and 20 contestants made it to the final round. Judged by Manglesh Dabral, prominent contemporary Indian poet and winner of Sahitya Akademi Award, Pankaj Chaturvedi, winner of Bharat Bhushan Smriti Puraskar and Geet Chaturvedi, winner of Bharat Bhushan Agarwal Award. Poetry enthusiast had filled the venue and people poured their heart out through poetry.

The finals for Antaragni Idols, Solo Music Competition took place at lecture hall 14. The venue was filled with a beautiful and soothing aura. The audience was full of music enthusiasts and witnessed the participants performing all kinds of music, making it diverse. The competition was judged by Naman Sharma and Akansha Grover, Vocal coaches at Cultural Roots foundation. 16 finalists took to the stage and sang their hearts out for the title. Apart from the singing abilities, participants were also judged on the basis of their knowledge of classical music.

The most robust event of the day was the finals of Jitterbug, the Western Dance Competition. After the prelims of 17 teams, 7 teams qualified for the finals. The event was hosted by none other than G.D. Suyal. Judged by Rahul Suryavanshi, Gold Medalist at Dance World Group, Canada and head teacher at Korean culture Dance Academy and Ravi Verma, the founder of VFab, the event was a full house. There were two rounds and the teams successfully lit up the stage. The audience didn’t stop cheering which showed their excitement level.

 

The finals for Steet Play event, adjudged by Mr. Anjan Srivastava, Indian film, television and stage actor, and Indian People’s Theatre Association affliant, of which he remained Vice-President for several years, and Mr. Darshan Jariwala, Indian film, television and stage actor who the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Gandhi, My Father. 9 teams performed out of which, The production ‘Dharam Sankat Mein’ by Fursat Mandali, the dramatics club of IIT Kanpur was placed first at the Nukkad Natak Finale on the last day of Antaragni 2019 ‘Tujhe Kya Naam Du’ by Anubhuti from Sri Venkateswara College placed second. Aayam from Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, and Dramanomics from College of Vocational Studies were placed third and fourth respectively. Despite being apprehensive of giving out individual results, the judges on deman by the organisers gave out individual acting prizes. Consolation prize was given to Dadi from KMV, while the third and second position were won by members of Shivaji College’s dramatic society, while a member of Lady Irwin College won the first position.

Kavi Sammelan at Antaragni witnessed Ankita Singh, Madhyam Saxena, and Aman Akshar deliver their poetry on social issues, current scenarios, and other topics with passion and grace. The audience at Open Air Theatre enjoyed the poetry with immense enthusiasm and cheer.

The Auditorium in the evening witnessed popular performances by the musical duo on Sacophone and piano Jerry and the Pelicansystem, and the immensely celebrated comedian Karunesh Talwar. The packed audi was impressed by both these talented artiststs, enjoyed music with the first, and laughed along jokes with the second.

The popular musical trio, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy closed Antaragni 2019 with their strong, energetic, and eclectic performance.  The audience danced to the tunes of their famous songs including Zinda and Gallan Goodiyan.

 

Avni Dhawan 

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Sakshi Arora

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Chhavi Bambha

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Arts & Culture

Mood Indigo’19 Multicity Eliminations Conclude at NSUT

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The Multicity eliminations for Mood Indigo’19, annual cultural fest of IIT Bombay took place at Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) on 12th and 13th October, 2019.

With great anticipation and excitement, the first day of Mood Indigo’19 Multicity eliminations was on for a great start. Multicity eliminations were held at Netaji Subhash University of Technology (NSUT) for IIT Bombay’s fest, with innumerable teams and societies, from all over Delhi and nearby cities, participating in the prelim rounds in Delhi, to grab the opportunity to compete at one of the most sought-after fests.

The Day 1 saw a lot of competition and some wonderful performances. The bars and expectations were set high.The level of talent and rigorous eliminations makes one only wonder how much more will we see in the fest to follow, given the number of contestants that were hand-picked from Delhi. Being one of the eleven of these eliminations.

The day was quite lovely with the lawns of NSUT, the venue being filled with loud drumbeats and louder slogans.It was the street play teams warming up for the coming prelims. The competition was tight with 34 teams competing for a spot.The main auditorium had various events lined up beginning with Conchord, the group based acapella competition that had eight colleges as participants, followed by Singing the Indigos,  the solo western singing competition, and MI Idol, solo Indian singing competition.

Aagaaz, the Street play competition, organised for Mood Indigo, the fest of IIT Bombay witnessed a tough competition among 35 teams. The judges of the competition were Swati Pandey and Sharad Chaudhary. This competition had several impactful performances. The unequivocal energy, intensity and moving street plays, left the audience in an awe. Each team put forward their best foot and highlighted issues affecting the society today and from time immemorial. Jesus and Mary Collegelead by DivyaNunhoi Sharma bagged the first position followed by Venkateshwara college lead byAryaman Sethi and Atma Ram Sanatan College under Tushar Bahirwani.

Conchord which was judged by Mr Diyatom Deb and Ms. Aswathy had the winning college LSRperforming covers of “Lost in the World” by Kanye West, “Berlesk” by Christina Aguilera and “Shrutika”which was led by ShilpikaBuragohain. The second place was bagged by Jesus and Mary College headedby Khushi Pallavi.

The solo competitions which began with western songs had the same judges with around competitors. The Indigos saw LSR bag both first and second positions with Gina Garbyal being first and Shilpika Buragohain second. Followed by Jesus and Mary headed by Khushi Pallavi.

This was followed by a felicitation ceremony for the judges and the Indian solo singing competition that MI Idol judged by Mr. Jamil Hasanand and Mr. Yatin Arora. Deen Dayal Upadhyay College secured the first and the second positions. First being Kushagra Dudeja and Second Nityaa Ramesh.

Ms and Mr Mood Indigo Delhi, as a part of IIT Bombay’ fest was also held. The judges for this event were Mallaica Chatterjee and MC Snub. The competition involved a showcase of talents. Each of the 16 participants fought hard to bag the title, with talents like singing, rapping or dancing.

Jennifer Dhupar, of Jesus and Mary College, and Sachin Rager, of Swami Shraddhanand College, were awarded with the title of Ms and Mr Mood Indigo Delhi. They will now head over to Mumbai for the finals at IIT Bombay.

Rap Battle competition, Mi’nem, was held between 16 participants, competing to win the title and get selected to go to Mumbai. The judges of this competition were MC Snub, Tez Bhai and Arjun Arora. The competition brought to light talented individuals from a multitude of colleges and universities. Each performance filled with immense emotions, from one’s life experiences to the political environment, a myriad of stories poured out. Aman Mishra bagged the first position and Abhi Baisla bagged the second.

Day 2 of Mood Indigo’s Multicity round began at around 10 AM on Sunday. The elimination rounds opened with poetry slam competition inside the mini auditorium of Netaji Subhash University of Technology. Five participants from Keshav Mahavidyalay, Rukmani Devi college and IIT,Delhi poured heart and soul while reciting their poetries in hopes of qualifying for the final show in Mumbai. Juveriya Khan from Keshav Mahavidyalay who performed a heart wrenching poetry on mental health and suicide made her way to Mood Indigo ’19. Next in line was a stand-up comedy elimination round called Humour Us where five contestants exhibited their quirk and wit Madhur Virli from IIT, Delhi stood out as the sole qualifier.

Simultaneously, three dance events were happening in the hall area of administrative block of the university. It started with Indigo Saga, a thematic group dance competition where eight teams from various colleges of Delhi grooved on contemporary music. Wearing similar attires and synchronizing steps on every beat, young performers charmed the event with mesmerising dances. LSR team led by Anjali Kaushik and IIT Delhi team led by Manan Patel paved their way for the finals. Indigo Saga was followed by Desi Beats, a Bollywood style dance competition and Beat the Street, hip hop street dance event. LSR, Zakir Hussain College and Motilal Nehru grabbed 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively in Desi Beat while Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and ADGITM qualified in Beat the Street.

All the selected teams and individuals from Delhi will be competing against people from other states in Mood Indigo’s 49th edition scheduled between 26th and 29th  December in IIT- Bombay.

Stephen Mathew

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Priyanshu

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Amit-stical Odyssey: Rendezvous 2019 Ends with Amit Trivedi

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Indian Institute of Technology Delhi’s grand annual festival Rendezvous came to an end today.

The third day of Rendezvous 2019, the annual cultural fest of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) was a success, despite starting slow, owing to the venue recovering from the previous night’s rain.

The day saw many competitions conducting their finals and semi-finals. “Swar“, the classical solo singing competition conducted its finals, which had seven participants showcasing their vocal abilities and captivating the audience. The competition, which was organised by the Music Club, was being judged by Pundit Chethan Joshi. The competitors gracefully awed the audience.

Abdul Samad Kahan of Shaheed Bhagath Singh College and Shradha Singh of Hansraj College bagged the first position. Whereas the second and third positions were bagged by Rishab Raghuvanshi of Shaheed Bhagath Singh College, and Chinmaya Iyer of Kirori Mal College respectively.

Simultaneously, the seminar hall saw talented dancers grooving to the beat with individual performances, entertaining the crowd with their dance moves.

The “Pop Battle” which was being judged by Nidhish Pandey had nearly 200 participants, with back-to-back competitions involving various western dance genres under the pop culture.

The dramatics society of IIT-D conducted the prelims for “Natika Vatika”  a multilingual stage theatre competition with prominent judges like Ashok Nagar and Rejneesh Gautham. These plays dealt with various social issues like corruption and the philosophy of life.

Mr and Miss Rendezvous (RDV’19) was filled with spirited faces eager to display their talent and personality. From over 80 entries, 24 participants were shortlisted for Mr and Miss RDV. Out of these 24 entries, 14 were present for the event. The event was judged by the famous Instagram influencers, Stefy Gupta, and Raghav Gogia. The first round consisted of a ramp walk, where the contestants put their best foot forward, literally. The shortlisted candidates from those were then asked to showcase their talent. The six final shortlisted candidates were then asked questions by the judges. The title of Mr RDV was won by Siddhartha Dayani and Miss RDV was won by Tarushi Anand. The judges had asked Dayani what his biggest accomplishment was in the judge question round to which he replied, “My biggest accomplishment has been leaving home and coming to Delhi. I was a mama’s boy at home but now I live on my own which I think is great.”

As young men and women were competing in one of the auditoriums to be the idol of Rendezvous’19, young women were competing in the hall right above to be the Campus Princess. The competition was conducted by the Miss India Organisation and was judged by Viren Barman, Peter England Mr India, 2016 first runner up, and Siddhi Gupta, FBB Colours Femina Miss India, Uttarakhand 2019. From over 180 registrations, there were 62 selected for the competition. The first round was a ramp walk round, where the contestants had to walk in pairs of two. The second round was an introduction round, where the contestants introduced themselves, and the last round for the shortlisted candidates was talent round. The contestants came from different backgrounds, with future lawyers, engineers and even airforce officers present. They were all dressed in black cocktail dresses and looked ready to light up the ramp.

“Allegro” was the Western Group Singing Competition organized by the Music Club of IIT-D. The preliminary round was online where colleges had to send in a video of their performance. From 30 online entries, 12 were shortlisted for the finals on 4th October. The competition saw music societies of various colleges singing beautiful mashups. The competition was judged by Joshua Peters, a western classical music maestro, and Nirupan Sinha, a Delhi based singer-songwriter and composer. After a tough musical battle, Echo, the Western Music Society of Jesus and Mary college stood first. Euphony, the Western Music Society of Gargi College and the Western Music Society of LSR were the first and second runners up, respectively.

Day three also saw the reputed IIT Delhi MUN, where students came as delegates and put their diplomacy skills to use.

Apart from these, there were quizzes and games going on all over the campus. From quizzing enthusiasts racking their brains in the Open Numbers Quiz and Conjurors Bout. SPIC MACAY, an organization for the promotion of Indian classical music and culture, also organised Bharatnatyam and Madhubani Painting workshops.

Conjuror Bout, a word game event was also held. The game ignited the literary gene in all to crack questions based on word jumbles, meaning and literary references. Participants received a question paper, and were given 1 hour and 30 minutes to find the answers. They were given rough sheets and stationary to answer the questions.

The event witnessed bibliophiles, literature enthusiasts and poets all throughout the Delhi circuit with their friends, teaming up to answer questions on British Literature, pop culture references, and solve jumbled words through their meaning.

The four-day long IIT Delhi’s fest, Rendezvous ended on a spectacular note on October 5, 2019. A day full of events and performances from every spectrum of life found its way in the four captivating days of the event. 

The final day begun with a plethora of events that happened simultaneously ranging right from the debates to performing arts.

One of the key highlight events of the day, ‘Instrumental Impromptu’ saw participants from all colleges who presented their mesmerising melodies for the audience. The judge of the event was Mr. Vinayak Panth who has been playing the Sitar for the last fifteen years and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was awarded the CCRT Scholarship by the Government of India and has been a part of various ensembles, sub-collections and Anirudh Varma Collective, amongst others. 

With each performance, the audience was hooked to the beats produced, from various instruments such as the Sarangi, to the drum set. Out of the ten teams that participated in the event that turned out to have an intense competition, Nabeel Khan from Zakir Hussain College won the first prize, Saarah Roy from Daulat Ram College won the second prize, and Saksham and Sarthak from SGTB Khalsa College bagged the third position in the event.

The events began at 9 a.m. Debutant- IITD’s vigorous debating competition- came to an end with Gargi College bagging the first prize, followed by Lady Sri Ram College, and Hansraj College. 

Quizzing whizzes battled out their wits in the India Quiz Competition as well as the General Quiz later in the day, at Rendezvous, which was conducted at the Lecture Hall Complex, with questions varying from Pop Culture-  Music and Entertainment- to History and Science, sensitising the participants as well as the spectators.

Belly Dancing event saw a wide range of cheerful spectators. The performers showcased their impressive dancing skills, making the crowd thrilled with excitement. However, a few spectators raised objections to the lewd nature of the audience’s perspective. “The majority of audience saw the event not as an art form, but rather a way to get cheap thrills. It degrades the participants,” a spectator commented. The general ambience too, was more of a way of objectifying rather than appreciating the dance form. Yet, the participants were energetic and well-rehearsed, and set the stage on fire. The first prize was bagged by Shivani Gupta, and Muskaan Singh bagged the second position.

Duo Dance event witnessed scintillating performances by dance duos from the entire Delhi Dance Circuit.

The biggest highlight of the competition was liberalisation in terms of dance forms and dance types which paved way for diversity and Versatality among dancers.

All performances ranging from Bhangra, Kathak and Bollywood displayed their dance routines.

Members of Spardha, Dance Society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College came first in tie with Angat. The second position was banged by Athak and Kathak.
The special mention was bagged by Phulkari and Adrita.

Monoact provided the grandeur that IIT Delhi’s Rendezvous needed to come to an end.
The event was filled by artists from all over DCTC i.e. Delhi Collegiate Theatre Circuit.

Monoact which works on the principal of one actor in one scene, stood alone to set the mood for last day of Rendezvous.

The beauty of art is to be an anecdote of emptiness of existence in the society, and the many monoacts performed on pressing issues like lack of choice, lack of sexual preference, domestic violence and patriarchy raised necessary conversations.

Echoes, the Western Solo Singing Competition was also conducted at LHC at 1 p.m.  The event drew a heavy crowd of music lovers. There were 11 participants, all from various colleges and universities. The participants were allowed to either sing solo, or with an accompanist, and the singers were joined by pianists and guitarists. The competition was extremely subjugating in its aura- with the singers entertaining with high notes and vibratos. The first prize was bagged by Dattatreya Biswa, from Deen Dyal Upadhyay College. The second and third position went to Rashim Anand from Daulat Ram College and Janhavi Rajaram from Delhi Technological University respectively.

Another interesting event was FAIL! Initially the idea of this event was conceptualized in Massachusetts Institute of Technology to bring out stories of successful people who have come so far after facing many failures in their life. IIT held a desi edition where celebrities  including Rajat Sharma, Sudhir Chaudhary, Laxmi Agarwal, Sharad Sagar and Captain Raghu Raman addressed the audience with their inspiring life stories.

The event started with a captivating speech by acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. Laxmi suffered a barbaric acid attack at the age of 15 and came out as a warrior. She started a campaign called Save Sale Acid and has never looked back in her life. She talked about her journey post the incident very modestly. Laxmi’s speech was followed by a video conferencing with Sam Pitroda. A telecom engineer by profession, Sam is considered to be the pioneer of hand held computing in India. He talked about his humble family background, friendship with Rajiv Gandhi, contemporary politics in India over other things. While there was a connectivity problem initially because of technical glitches he took a jibe saying what an irony it is to face such technical glitches in an institute like IIT. His brief address was followed by Sudhir Chaudhary who organically took the audience by his presence. He spoke about his life, his profession and the nationalism that he preaches. Acknowledging the humble response that he gets in IIT he said there’s another university in affinity just about 5 kilometres away where he never gets such overwhelming welcome. He implicitly referred to JNU with which he shares a controversial relationship because of the 2016 JNU Sedition case.

Captain Raghu Raman appeared next. His quirk and unconventional ideas about life enthralled the audience. The second journalist in this event’s list was Rajat Sharma,  editor in chief of India TV. Keeping himself apart from other speakers he held a rather interactive session asking questions from the audience for the majority of his speech. Event was concluded with a speech by young and dynamic Sharad Sagar, who heads the Dexterity Global foundation.

The final day was a melange of events right from the ones of competition and team spirit to the ones which fuelled up the people around. 

With an energetic and captivating performance, the famous dance group MJ5 had the crowd shimmying along with the members of the group to the tunes of famous Hindi and English numbers!

In what could be best defined as the perfect conclusion to a four-day relay of events and performances, Amit Trivedi and band had hundreds of people swooning and crooning to the exuberant tunes of his songs.

The unified and synchronised coordination between the band members reflected the positivity of their music. With this unforgettable rendition of a timeless musical experience, Rendezvous 2019 came to a grand end.

Feature Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

Satviki Sanjay 

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Stephen Mathews

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Chhavi Bahmba

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Shreya Juyal

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Amrashree Mishra

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Priyanshu 

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Kartik Chauhan

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Shankar Ehsaan Loy Close Day 1 of Rendezvous; Rain Washes Away the Star Night on Day 2

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Rendezvous 2019, the annual cultural fest of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi began on 2nd October 2019. Here is an outlay of what went down at Day 1 and Day 2.

The western dance competition marked the unfolding of the four day long fest with great zeal and excitement. The first round of the event began at 9 a.m. with eyes glued on to the dances which set the stage ablaze. Satviki,Sanjay, a student of Miranda House said, “The performances blew my mind and made me want to dance myself”. Another student from Lady Shri Ram College for Women said, “The teams left us jaw dropped. I really liked team Nritya, looking forward to seeing them in the finals”. “The teams entertained us thoroughly. The hosts added their own quirks, but sexist jokes did resurface again and again,” added a student who wished to remain anonymous. The judges of the event were Akshat Dhanvani and Reuben from Ace Crew.

Mimansa, the street play competition was organised by the dramatics society of IIT Delhi, saw participants gearing up for the preliminary round with vocal exercises as early as 7:30 a.m. After an impromptu session, the competition began at 11:30 a.m. From over 120 online entries, 37 teams made it to the preliminary round. The competition was judged by theatre artists- Rajneesh Gautam from Saitaan Theatre, Yogesh Kumar from Jazba Theatre, and Ankit Dhawal from Theatre Leela. The teams captivated the judges and audience alike with their well-crafted dialogues and punch lines on socially relevant issues such as sex education or the role of government.

“But comedy is more than just humor. It is about confidence, wit and understanding of the audience,” reads the description of Comedy Hunt, competition for talented comedians to up their game of humor. True to its words, 9 shortlisted comedians competed in the finals to captivate the audience. The competition was judged by the comedians Srijan Kaushik and Pratyush Chaubey. It saw the audience rolling with laughter at jokes on hilarious human traits, religion, politics, sex, and relationships, among other things. Comedians Mohit Arora, Zubin Jacob, and Shubham Pujari bagged the third, second and first prizes respectively, collectively getting cash prizes worth more than INR 15000. “We are not an official club. Just a couple of students enthusiastic about comedy,” said a member from the organising team of Rendezvous’19.

Day 1 at the fest also saw aspiring rappers battling it out at the preliminary rounds of Hip Hop Fiesta: Rap Battle in the Lecture Hall Complex of IIT. Judged by rapper MC Kode, the event had 16 shortlisted candidates for the final rap battle. The Lecture Hall Complex in IITD was also home to a number of writing competitions such as ‘My Jottings’ and quizzes such as Shabdvyuh and Chakravyuh.

Mridang, the the Indian Music Society of IIT Delhi organised the first musical event of Rendezvous 2019, ‘Agaaz’, the eastern group singing competition. The event saw participation of 14 colleges who were judged by a panel of two eminent musicians, Dr. Mahesh Deshmukh who has been trained in Indian classical music under the tutelage of one of the finest Sitar Maestro in India, Ustad Usman Khan and has performed at eminent music festivals in India and countries across globe, and Mr. Pt. Chetan Joshi who is one of the senior most flutists of Indian classical music who has introduced several innovations in the sphere of flute playing which have become parts of his repertoire. Alahyaa, the music society of Daulat Ram College bagged the first position for their performance “Original Piece For The Year 2019-2020 in raag Shankara and Chandrakauns”, while Mridang, the music society of IIT Delhi came second for their performance ‘Krishna Morari Kala- a tribute to Lord Krishna’, and the third position was won by shared by Musoc of Kirorimal college and Alaap of Indraprastha College for Women for their performances “Garaj- Garaj Raghmiya Ki Malhar” and “Naam Ratat” respectively.

The second half of day one of Rendezvous commenced with prelims of Beatboxing contest of the Hip-Hop Fiesta. The event had a participation of 126 teams out of which only 16 teams qualified for the final round to be conducted on 4th October. The event had a footfall of about 80-100 students who thoroughly enjoyed the Beatboxing battle. The event was adjudged by N-Grave, a prominent Indian Beatboxer.

Abhivyakti, Hindi creative writing competition took place at LHC-114. The event had on the spot registration and had almost 150 participants. It was judged by Smt. Rajiv Kumar Shukl, Delhi Director at Aakashvani (All India Radio) and Smt. Ravi Shankar, Creative Director at an Advertising agency. The participants were given topics on the spot by the judges. They were first asked to write on the topic “Gandhi aaj mere liye” in reference to the date of the event,  2nd October. The students were reluctant to this topic so the judges gave them two more topics – “Swachhata, tan ki bhi, man ki bhi” and “Gandhi Vichar aur humara paryavaran“. The students were given the liberty to write on any one of the three options given to them. They were given about 1.5 hours to submit their piece and in any literary format they wished to.

At Pratirodh, the protest poetry event, a total of 9 poets took to stage and used the medium of poetry to express their emotions and views about various social and political issues of the world. The organisers defined poetry as a concept of how one “names the nameless”. Being a non-competitive event, it still witnessed a crowd of about 60-70 people. The participants spoke against mob lynching, female genital mutilation, marital rape, and various other issues of the nation. They addressed these crises in the form of art which really influenced the audience and even left them in tears.

In the later part of the afternoon the Dogra Hall hosted the Young India Debate moderated by Tanvi Shukla, News Editor at Mirror Now. The discussion involved well known panellists like Mr. Aman Sinha BJP Spokesperson, Mr. Raghav Awasthi member of the RSS, Yogendra Yadav Political Activist and Sanjay Rajoura from Aisi Taisi Democracy.

The agenda for the debate was, “Is New India More Intolerant?” Mr. Yogendra Yadav opened the debate denying that New India is intolerant in any way. He stated that intolerance has been privileged from a certain class in the society and is being systematically constructed.  He said, “When lynching takes place the spirit of new India is violated, however this is due to the political cloud that surrounds it.”
The debate went on to have a heated discussion on the growing intolerance towards caste, political ideology, gender, language, and religion. On the other hand, BJP spokesperson, Mr. Aman Sinha stated,” India has been a tolerant and diverse country right from the ancient to contemporary times.” The other speakers brought to light about the various aspects of tolerance and collated it with the national party regimes. Social media and its democratisation was debated extensively and the young student audience acknowledged the debate with equal fervour through active participation.

Just after the Open Sports Quiz, the IIT Delhi Quizzing Society organized its second event on the first day of Rendezvous’19, Karnival-Open Mela Quiz. Over 60 teams, each comprising of 3 participants came together to fight for the top spot. The event began at 2:30 p.m, with the quizmaster coming up with the first question of the prelims round, where a set of 20 mind boggling questions from various fields and interests were derived to decide the participants of the finals at the end of the first round, top 10 teams were selected to proceed for the final round where another set of questions were waiting to be answered by the super genius participants. The competition was a close affair with an enormous amount of coerciveness & fierce quizzing attitude interplaying throughout the game.

The day came to a magnificent close with performance of the trio, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, which swept the crowd of its feet. The audience grooved to their numbers such as Locha-e-Ulfat, Mitwa, and Dil Chahta Hai.

With great vigour and enthusiasm, the second day of Rendezvous, IIT Delhi was welcomed by excited participants and a plethora of events.

Madhubani Painting Workshop was conducted by Ms. Manisha Jha who enlightened the eager participants on the significance and history of Madhubani paintings. From a communal, caste and gender background she went forth to explain the background of prominent paintings.

JAM or Just-A-Minute tested the wit, fluency, presence of mind and grammar of the participants. The judge Dr. Sanjay Chugh left the audience in splits while the participants tried their best to not stutter. Aashima Anand, Aditi Utreja and Chim Sharma stood out as the ultimate winners of the game.

‘Mimansa’ or the street-play competition revolves around the theme of a social message. Participating societies educated the audience on themes related to human trafficking, sex, bias media, faulty legal system and the likes. The winners of the competition are, Hindu’s Ibtida bagging the first, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma’s Rangayan at second and College of Vocational Studies’ Dramanomics at third. The ‘Best Actor Male’ was from Deshbandhu, ‘Best Actor Female’ from Janki Devi Memorial College and the ‘Best Musical Play’ by Sri Venkateshwara College. The judges consisted of seasoned artistes; Tarun Kohli from Akshara Theatre, Varun Sharma from Theatreleela Studios and Vipul from Asmita Theatre.

The Mythological debate, Aaj Ka Narad, was also conducted. The event was judged by an ex-IITian, Mr Yatish Kumar. It was an open event with both college and school students participating. The participants were divided into teams of three each with two rounds- prelims and finals. The first position was backed my Mr Shivam Sanoria, while the second and third positions were shared by three contestants each.

A perfect platform to rant your hearts out, Spin-a-Yarn was a fan-fiction writing competition, an open event for both college and school students. The participants were given 2.5 hours to write a story on any of the prompts given. A total of five themes were addressed- Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Death Note and Percy Jackson. For each theme three situations were provided out of which the contestant could choose to write on any one. This competition was subject to internal checking and the results for the same would be announced in about a week or two’s time.

A melodious touch to Rendezvous ‘19 was added by the fusion band competition of Tatva. 8 college bands participated in this event and gave outstanding performances that truly touched the audience’s hearts. The first position was backed by Happy Together (SGTB Khalsa) while the second and third positions were backed by Raag Shas (IITD) and Calico Skies (CVS) respectively. This event was judged by Mr Raghav Verma and Mr Kartik Dhar.

After a tiring day at IITD Rendezvous, comedians Appurv Gupta and Gaurav Kapoor tickled the funny bone in every person by performing their hilarious sets at the Comedy Fest. Addressing all topics like DU students to a typical day with your father, the comedians well managed to throw everyone off their seats laughing.

Sketch-A-Spot was an open and live sketching event with over 450 participants. Participants were asked to discover their own place in the campus and draw the same. The event was judged by Dr. Rajashri Chakrabarti, professor at the College of Art and Shri Saumya Samanta.

Debutante was an intense debating session bifurcated by different rounds. With sharp minds and even sharper tongue, participants ranging over 40 teams battled it out on several themes spanning across several rounds. Over a period of two days, ranging from feminism and Indian politics to pop culture and economics, the participants were welcomed with a variety of themes. The finals remain awaited on the 4th of October.

The prelims for the Mela-Ish Quiz, organised by the Quiz Club of IIT Delhi. Almost 60 teams participated in the event out of which, only eight teams were supposed to qualify for the finals. It had questions from all sorts of topics, covering Music, Entertainment, Art, Indian history, Science etc. The questions very detailed and had the participants scratching their heads. The quiz consisted of about 20 questions and the participants were given a time of 2-3 minutes for one question. The event was judged by the Quiz society itself and was very well informative throughout.

Hindi Samiti (The Hindi society of IIT Delhi) in collaboration with Nojoto, an app that provides aspiring writers a platform to pursue their dreams, organised a poetry competition, Chhatra Kavi Sangoshthhi. The event had about 250 registrations who submitted their poems to the organisers and only 27 participants were shortlisted for the second round. The event was judged by Smt. Rajiv Kumar Shukl, Delhi Director at Aakashvani (All India Radio) and Smt. Kinshuk Gupta, Chief Juror for Konark literary festival. Each participant was given five minutes to present their Shayaris. The audience was deeply touched by the emotions of the poets who well connected with everyone through their poems.

The Dance Club of IIT Delhi organised a Solo Dance competition. They invited registrations through submission of dance videos of people. They received videos of about 300 aspiring dancers, out of which 45 were shortlisted for the prelims. After the prelims, only nine qualified for the final round. The competition was very diverse as the participants performed all different kinds of dance, western, classical, street dance, etc. After the performances of the participants, Deepanshu, A member of the Solo Dance Club of IIT Delhi took it to stage and left everyone awestruck by his dance. The event was judged by Sanyam Bhayana, Choreographer at University of Delhi and a renowned dancer. First position was bagged by Tiger Pop and the second prize was given to Shreewarna Rawat. After the results, the audience chanted the name of the judge askin him to dance. Sanyam took to stage and danced phenomenally, which was clear by the applause from the audience.

Day 2 ended with harsh rain showers and thunder, due to which the Pronite with Ritwiz was cancelled. The weather turned sour, and led to felling of trees. The Organising Committees at Rendezvous uploaded information regarding safety of the participants, students, and attendees. Allegedly a few people were injured and taken to the hospital on campus for immediate first-aid. The thunder washed away the décor and made a ruckus during the pronite.

Feature Image Credits: Gauri Ramchandani for DU Beat

Anandi Sen

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Abhinandan Kaul

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Pulse’19 Closes Amidst Allegations of Forgery in Results and Mismanagement

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Pulse, the annual Cultural fest of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which closed on 22nd September, faced immense backlash for mismanagement, chaos, and alleged forgery of results in the fashion show event.

The 19th edition of Pulse, the annual Cultural fest of All India Institution of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), took place from 16th to 22nd  September. This coveted event soon turned into a chaos when many of their events were delayed by an hour or more. The management is also being accused of forgery in results of the fashion competition, Panache.

An anonymous source from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), told DU Beat, “The entire event was chaotic. We had solo performances, after the event began they told us then that they don’t have instruments set up, which is necessary for performances. So many colleges like Jesus and Mary College and us, helped them set up. Also, the process of sorting of slots wasn’t done right. And the students there weren’t supportive of the participants.” He also said that after a delay of one hour, the first-year members of Dhwani, SSCBS’s Western Music Society, went up on the stage and people in the back were yelling and unnecessarily shouting which made the entire process for the first-years very traumatic. “We literally had to stop the performance to make them (the crowd) silent and then continue. We had to encourage them (our juniors) and tell them that crowd of other places is genuinely better,” He added.

Arjun Jaiswal, Member of Dhwani, said “Being on stage, there were many lights and hence we couldn’t identify who and from where the people were shouting. And the only action taken against them was there were told by the anchor to leave the auditorium or stay quiet.”

The mismanagement did not just restrict itself to the Western Music event, but to the Fashion event as well.  Since past three years, AIIMS has been accused of forging results and favour certain teams. This year the fashion societies of various colleges witnessed the same in Panache, the Fashion Show.

Anshika Jain, President of IVouge, the fashion society of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, said, “They promised us that results wouldn’t be forged like the previous years. They made us believe that it won’t happen. But we get to know that the results were rigged and the judges were switched last minute which was after 1 a.m. It was a waste of time and energy for all the teams who performed. We were given 3rd position, but they didn’t provide us with the mark sheet when asked. Later on when got the picture of mark sheet after arguing for about an hour the results were different from those announced. One of the judges, Ankit Gera agreed that the judgement was biased and that the teams faced injustice.”

She also added, “A few teams practiced on the main stage for 20-30 minutes whereas the other teams weren’t allowed to do the same.”  The fashion society event was delayed for four hours. Many societies, who were promised two rooms for themselves and heavy props, were given only one small room. Other than this, many teams were not even informed of their slot right until they came to the stage which gave them no time to prepare.

In protest of what happened, many fashion societies have come together and stand in solidarity against this. They might boycott AIIMS next year onwards. Many societies have resorted to Instagram to share their experience of this day with numerous posts to prevent anything like this in future.

 


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IVogue kickstarted its session 2019-2020 by securing 3rd position at Pulse – The Annual Fashion event at AIIMS @pulse.aiims, but just like the previous years, the sequence of events of mismanagement were no different. Not only the judging panel was changed at the very last moment, but the scorecards were also tampered with by the organizers of the event. In the era of nepotism, the scores of the favoured teams were spiked at the last moment. The scorecards evidently reflect the results that were intended to be declared by the judges. The scores were changed right before declaring the results and the judges candidly admitted the same. Also, the scorecards were not made transparent initially, being the participants. Every team puts in a hefty amount of hard work into these performances and deserve a fair judgement procedure. We stand united against the biasness and appeal every other team to do the same.

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@pulse.aiims has always been counted as one of the most awaited competitions of the season and seeing such mismanagement was highly disappointing. And we got to know that the result was rigged and the judging panel was switched at the last minute (and this is the 3rd time the same thing happened). After the results were told onstage, we went to the judges asking for feedback along with other college teams but instead of constructive criticism, the judging panel went berserk and shouted in a very unethical manner. Moreover, the event got delayed and all the teams were forced to wait for a long span of 4 hours. The result sheets were shown after an hour of arguing where in we had scored the highest in some sheets (being 7th slot, IHE) despite which not even the third position was given to us! This is the first time one of the judge among all of the judges agreed to the statement of the teams that it was biased ( And the judge was @ankitgera001 who agreed that it was biased). We need to put a stop to this and all the societies must raise their voices against this incident. @ivogue.sggscc @glitzfashionsociety @galorefashionsoc @bizarre_thefashionsociety @mlncbellissimo

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A fashion society member, on the condition of anonymity said, “Bringing our problems to the head coordinator, I also want quote the words of what they said in response- ‘yehi hoga, itna hai toh mat aana agli baar.’ (This will continue to happen, if you are so displeased then don’t come again.)”

 Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Chhavi Bahmba

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Highlights of Tempest 2019 organised by Miranda House

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The three-day fest of Miranda House, Tempest 2019 presented different events and an amazing line-up of the performance nights.

Tempest 2019- the Annual Cultural Fest of Miranda House- University of Delhi kick-started on 14th February 2019.There were a plethora of events scheduled by the college but most of them got delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions. Nevertheless, the events ran smoothly and the first day of Tempest turned out to be a fulfilling and vibrant experience for the attendees.

The Duet Singing Competition organized by Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House saw various performances that had the audiences captivated. It concluded with Sukriti and Saksham from SGTB Khalsa College in second position, with the winner’s title being claimed by Pranava and Ram of Hansraj College.

Adwitiya, the Fine Arts’ Society, in a stunning display of powerful art, transformed SAC to an exquisite art gallery. From portraits to abstract brushstrokes, all the artwork presented had a story to tell. An art-piece labeled ‘Nirvana’ captured the modern world in a representative manner. A symbolic display promised and delivered aesthetic pleasure.   The day concluded with the performance by PARASHARA- a popular Delhi-based progressive band, with an idea conceived and brought to action in the mountains. The audiences swiveled to the beats as they played their melodies, revolving around the realities of life, with an interesting modern touch to it. This wraps up the Day 1 of the fest and all the festivities stuck true to the theme of the fest: “Future of Fun”.  

Day 2 of Tempest 2019, the annual cultural fest of Miranda House witnessed a refreshing hustle-bustle as the day started with a perfect weather, as opposed to the weather conditions prevailing the first day. The day witnessed different societies conducting their competitions.

Anukriti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Miranda House organised ‘Izhaar’, a stage play event after four years. Amongst preliminary rounds between 27 competing team, 6 teams made it to the finals. The event kicked off with ‘Three Tall Women’ the annual production of The Ariels, the English Dramatics Society, followed by SRCC’s annual production ‘Anidra’ and Anubhuti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Sri Venkateswara College’s annual production ‘Kolahal’. After the break, ‘Fourth Wall Productions’, the dramatics society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies presented their annual production ‘Bhunde’. The event ended with Leher, the dramatics society of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce’s production ‘Mahua’ and Hansraj dramatics society’s play ‘Word of Mouth’.

The Day 2 of Tempest 2019 came to an end with an exhilarating performance by DJ Mojojojo. He performed some of his famous mixes like ‘Sapne’ and also played the famous track ‘Udd Gaye’ by Ritviz. The audience grooved to the tunes of his enthralling showcase. The crowd then peacefully dispersed.  

Day 3 witnessed four events taking place. Orpheus, the Western music society of Miranda House organized their annual event Euphony 2019. The event had two competitions: Accapella, the group singing competition and the solo singing competition.Echo the western music society of Jesus and Mary College won the first position in group singing.

Mridang, the Indian dance society of Miranda House presented their annual fest Tarangini’19. The solo classical event witnessed a number of participants portraying classical dance performances followed by a montage of peppy group performances by participants ranging from different colleges.

On the last day of Tempest 2019, renowned singer, Jubin Nautiyal, created an enchanting musical aura at Miranda House. He began the night by interacting with the audience, and telling the enthusiastic crowd that he had been excited to meet them and perform for them since the past few weeks. Soft romance was the vibe in the air as he sang popular numbers like Meherbaani, Kaabil, Gazab ka hai din, and Baawra Mann among many others. In a medley that had the audience captivated, Nautiyal sang covers of old favourites such as Gulaabi aankhein, Dheere dheere se, and Roop tera mastana. The singer then moved to songs like Aaj ki raat, Tamma tamma, Ilahi et al, as the audience grooved in delight. On the same climatic note, Nautiyal bid adieu to Miranda House with the joy and rhythm of The Humma Song.

Tempest 2019 was a success with an amazing line-up of performance nights and multiple events organised by the college societies.

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat.

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Jubin Nautiyal Closes Tempest 2019

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Day 3 of Tempest 2019 saw the hustle bustle of the fest along with a melodious end to the evening by Jubin Nautiyal.

 

Orpheus, the Western music society of Miranda House organized their annual event Euphony 2019. The event had two competitions: Accapella, the group singing competition and the solo singing competition.Echo the western music society of Jesus and Mary College won the first position in group singing.

The solo singing competition was won by Jessjit Singh from Delhi Technological University and Riya Khattar from Kamala Nehru College. The second position was also a tie between Shruti Parasarthy and Janice Joe from Jesus and Mary College.The Western Music Singing competition brought in an awesome load of societies who competed to take home the glory of victory. The group as well as the solo competition filled the atmosphere with melodious voices singing the tunes of some of the best classical songs.

The group competition witnessed 10 societies performing in the final round. The participants seemed enthusiastic as they were seen cheering not only their own team members but members from other societies as well.

The solo competition had 9 performers in the final round. The participants had brought an accompanist for a musical instrument. Though there was a little in the technical aspect, the singers handled it very well. The judge, while announcing the result acknowledged it and appreciated the performances by also giving useful advise.

Mridang, the Indian dance society of Miranda House is presenting their annual fest Tarangini’19. The solo classical event witnessed a number of participants portraying classical dance performances followed by a montage of peppy group performances by participants ranging from different colleges.

On the last day of Tempest 2019, renowned singer, Jubin Nautiyal, created an enchanting musical aura at Miranda House. He began the night by interacting with the audience, and telling the enthusiastic crowd that he had been excited to meet them and perform for them since the past few weeks. Soft romance was the vibe in the air as he sang popular numbers like Meherbaani, Kaabil, Gazab ka hai din, and Baawra Mann among many others. In a medley that had the audience captivated, Nautiyal sang covers of old favourites such as Gulaabi aankhein, Dheere dheere se, and Roop tera mastana. The singer then moved to songs like Aaj ki raat, Tamma tamma, Ilahi et al, as the audience grooved in delight. On the same climatic note, Nautiyal bid adieu to Miranda House with the joy and rhythm of The Humma Song.

 

Feature Image credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat.

Akshada Shrotriya

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Anushree Joshi

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Arts & Culture

Security Arrangements at DU fests: the Staff’s Perspective

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The college fests bring with them large and often overly enthusiastic crowds, necessitating tight security measures. DU Beat looks at what the security staff themselves have to say about this.

“Fest ke samay zyada satark rehna padta hai” (we need to be more alert during fests), tells us a security guard at Hindu College, requesting anonymity. Naturally, a larger crowd makes checking more difficult. The gentleman tells us that while they recognise 90% of the regular college students, strict ID checks are the first step before allowing entry to anyone – outsiders or not. The same sentiments are reiterated by a female security guard at Hansraj College, also wishing to remain anonymous.

Mr Damodar Singh, a security guard at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) tells us that since it is easier for troublemakers to enter colleges during the fests, the security has to exercise extra caution – switching their phones off is the first thing guards do. Talking unnecessarily to anyone has to be avoided, lest some slip in checking may happen.

Colleges make extra arrangements during fests, especially for maintaining order inside the premises. Bouncers are often present around the campuses to control any chaos. Yet, perhaps their effectiveness is up for question.

Mr Singh tells us that bouncers have an important role to play if chaos erupts; security guards can’t get aggressive in controlling the situation as they have to encounter the students regularly. “Hum bas pyaar se samjha sakte hain” (we can only deal with students softly), he remarks. The lady at Hansraj also tells us how guards sit at the gates while bouncers handle the situation inside.

On the other hand, the gentleman at Hindu, says, with a chuckle, “Hungama hota hai to bouncers bhaag lete hain” (the bouncers run away if chaos takes place) – stating that in such cases, the guards themselves need to control the situation.

While the guards admit that some students get rowdy and try jumping on stages during music performances, they don’t really agree to alleged cases of misbehaviour or lapse of security happening at the fests.

Some students allegedly managed to get alcohol and weed inside the barricades during Crossroads 2018. Mr Singh, however, maintains that beedi, cigarettes and alcohol are strictly banned.

As was reported by the Hindustan Times, the crowd stormed the barricades during singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert at Hansraj’s Confluence 2017. A stampede was caused following a gas leak, accompanied by the felling of a firework station that caused some electric shocks. The security guard at Hansraj, however, denied these claims.

According to an article in the Times of India, similar incidents of crowd rampage and breaking of barricades took place during singer Parmish Verma’s performance at Maitreyi College’s annual fest last year, forcing the gig to be stopped midway.

Regardless of whether the accountability for these incidents is acknowledged, the probability for security lapses remains high. Of course, the management and organisers need to be held accountable. However, with enthusiasm and excitement running high among overwhelming crowds, the responsibility also lies on the students to exercise precaution and alertness and to maintain civility in order to ensure a safer environment.

 

Featured Image credits: The Times of India

Prateek Pankaj
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How to Cure Fest Hangover

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With almost all the major college fests in DU wrapping up, all of us are suffering from a fest hangover. With just one month left to cover up the attendance, emerging internals, and pending assignments, we are officially beleaguered with banality.

Yes, the University of Delhi again signed off with a splendid fest season. Yes, we all clicked lovely pictures and captured as many digital memories as possible. Yes, we all managed our calendars to tackle the friction between the fest bonanza and the internal season. Yes, roaming around the campus dressed in the most stylish attires, everyone managed to cross the threshold of almost all the colleges buzzing with excitement. And yes, the reality is seeping in and we now realise that we are trapped in the cycle of attendance and submissions. Plus, how can we forget the most wonderful semester exams which are creeping towards us with their ever fast and furious pace. We are still reminiscing the fest euphoria and we abhor the vacuum it has left. The big void asks us “What Next?” and we have no answer in return to tell our minds that the next fest is this weekend. Of course, few department fests await us but they are also on the verge of pack up.

The final year students still have few stimulating events left to enjoy, for example, farewell, graduation dinners, but to be frank, they are busy wiping their tears filled with nostalgia while getting their clearance dues filled. Besides, the entire stimulation of entrance tests and interviews is just too much to handle. So what should we all do to cure the fest hangover?

The answer is simple- Study. As ridiculous as it sounds, it is a very sound advice because let us face it, the strike has given us enough of free time and mass bunks wherein we have had two long weekends and our syllabus is now surmounted with some more syllabus to cover up. So please, get out of that ‘void’, otherwise, our marks will leave a big void in our mark sheets. Kindly study!
P.S. – Sorry for disappointing you, but what else were you expecting?

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Oorja Tapan
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DU Annual Fest Season

Highlights: Mecca 2018, the Annual Cultural Fest of Hindu College

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Mecca 2018, is one of the most anticipated annual cultural fests in the University of Delhi. The three-day fest that kicked off on the 14th of March, enthralled the fest going students in the University. With a line-up that included the indie band The Local Train, DJ Zaeden, and Bollywood sensation Amit Trivedi, Mecca 2018 was bigger and better than ever. The fest, which attracted a significant crowd during all the days, was a thrilling event including good music, food, and games.

The decorations of the fest were based on the theme “Around The World in 72 hours”. The college was decked in trinkets, maps, and more which divided the college on the basis of countries and cities. The theme could be seen on the graffitis that were made by students as well. Overall, the decor made the college infrastructure come alive, all the while providing fest going students aesthetic backgrounds to take photographs.

The Inauguration ceremony of Mecca 2018 took place in the auditorium of the college. Alankar, the Indian music society of Hindu College has opened the ceremony with a musical gala which was followed by various cultural performances including Kathak and classical music. The performances enthralled the audience and were a collective display of skills of some of the most talented students of Hindu College. Panache, the Fashion Society event subsequently followed the inauguration in the venue itself.

Various events ranging from Gully Cricket to Street Soccer, Fashion Competition to Musical and Dance Competitions. Slam poetry event, photography exhibition also took place. I Vogue, the fashion society of SGGSCC bagged the first position at the fashion competition. Alaap, the Indian music society won the first prize at Harmony, the Indian choir competition. The Western music society of DTU bagged the first prize at Arpeggio, the western choir competition. Ayaam of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology came first in the street play competition. Verve of Sri Venkateswara College came first in the western dance competition, and Sparx of Gargi College came first in the choreography competition. SGTB Khalsa College and SGND Khalsa College jointly bagged the first prize at the folk dance competition. The Mecca Idol competition was held in the Hindu College auditorium and was one of the most anticipated events at Mecca 2018. A total of 108 people registered for the competition, out of which 30 were selected for the offline preliminary round which was held on day 1 of the fest. Sukriti Poddar of Gargi College won Mecca Idol 2018.

Sumit Anand, a stand-up comedian spirited the Mecca audience in a fit of laughter with his witty and relatable punchlines. With a happy-go-lucky attitude, his jokes were effortlessly funny, leading to momentous hooting from the audience.

The Local Train, a Hindi rock band was invited to close the first day at Mecca. Their set featured popular songs like Manzil, Aaftaab, Khudi, and Mere Yaar.

The closing act and the most anticipated performance, DJ Zaeden called curtains to Day 2 of Mecca. He entertained the crowd with Bollywood as well as western songs like Shape of You and Attention.

It was time for the much-awaited star night. Indeed, Mecca had saved the best for the last. Following a small delay, Amit Trivedi arrived on the stage with four additional singers. The concert kicked off with the song “Dilli”. The four other singers accompanying Amit Trivedi were Arun Kamath, Meghna Mishra, Divya Kumar and Rashita. Meghna Mishra was a 16-year old artist who had won awards for “Secret Superstar”. The team said that they divide their performance into two halves where the first half was for the ears while the other half was for the legs. The songs they performed included hits like “Maanjha”, “ Gulaabo”, “Shandaar” and “ Ud-daa Punjab”.

 

Feature Image Credits: Ayush Chauhan for DU Beat.

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