With the second day infusing energy and vigour in hearts and souls, day three at Oasis 2017, BITS Pilani’s annual cultural fest, was an amalgamation of creativity and zeal beautifully wrapped up in the “realm of fiction”.
The fest opened with the dance extravaganza, Razzmatazz. The event divided the evaluation in two rounds, and was adjudged by Pradeep Adwani of Pradeep Adwani’s Institute for Performing Arts. The stage brimmed with rhythm and electrifying tunes as teams from several colleges, including College of Vocational Studies, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Ramjas College, Miranda House, and Maharaja Agrasen College, amongst others, set out to battle their dancing prowess. The event was preceded by an elimination round which was conducted yesterday to shortlist the final teams which would be proceeding to the final round. The event was host to an exuberant audience and some brilliant performances.
Andhalika was a competition aimed to discover the most versatile vocalist. It was organized by the Music Club of BITS Pilani. The categories were Eastern and Western Vocalists. The elimination round was held on Day 1 and the finals were held on Day 3. For the finals, 8 contestants out of 49 were selected. The participants were supposed to perform three pieces, one solo, and one duet which were allocated by the club, and one song of their choice. The musical background was provided by members of the Music Club itself. The judges were two members of the band, Agam. The stunning performances wowed the audience and the participants drew immense applause from the crowd.
Tandav, the classical group and solo dance competition, was held in the afternoon. The event saw three teams and various solo artists giving splendid folk and classical dance performances. The judge for this event was Priya Dinesan, head of department of dance at Birla Balika Vidyapeeth.
The face painting competition was organised by CrAC (Creative Activities Club). The location of the event was Rotunda, an amphitheatre in the college. There was no cost of registration for the event and the raw material which included brushes, paint, and trays were provided by the organisers. There were lucrative cash prizes and vouchers up for grabs for the best pieces of work. CrAC has also provided volunteers who could paint the faces of people who wanted it to be done. The event attracted a huge crowd and the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Harry Potter, The Joker, and Wonder Woman were popular choices.
At night, the Students Activity Centre brimmed with people dressed in their best clothes for the Harry Potter themed Yule Ball. EDM artists Rave, Christina Novelli, Candice Redding, and Crave created a spunky atmosphere with their edgy music. The third day of Oasis concluded on their musical notes.
Feature Image Credits: Vansh Sabharwal for DU Beat
Day 3 at Oasis 2016 was packed with colourful events such as Pitch Perfect, Splash, Poetry Slam, and others, which added to the atmosphere created by Amit Trivedi’s live performance the night before.
The results of the previous day’s events were also declared. Lady Irwin College won the first prize in Razzmatazz, the group dance competition. Funk In Motion of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology bagged the second prize. Swaranjali was an umbrella event which included group and solo singing competitions. In the group category, Deshbandhu College won first place, whereas the individual category had winners for all the different musical instruments. In Desert Duel, a solo dancing competition, Mehul Sharma won the first prize, followed by Divyanshu Kumar. Both participants are from the College of Vocational Studies. Finally, the Drums Duel was won by Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, and second place was awarded to St Xavier’s College of Commerce.
Image credits: Harshit Thukral
Pitch Perfect, an acapella event, also had its final round on Day 3, the results of which haven’t been declared yet. Other events included Blab, Poetry Slam, and Story Baazi – a talk by Divya Prakash Dubey, a Hindi literary artist. Night’s Watch was organised by the astronomy club which was in perfect harmony with the theme of the fest, ‘Of Gods and Men’ where students related Greek, Roman and Indian mythology to stars.
The night concluded with the highlight event – an EDM prof show by Zaeden.
On the morning of Day 2 of the BITS Pilani fest, the results for the previous day’s competitions were declared. First place in the Street Play competition went to the Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS), while the Hindi drama club of BITS Pilani came second.
The first half of the second day at Oasis 2016 was filled with quirky activities and competitions. These included events like Canvas Street, Swaranjali, and Drums Duels. The evening was occupied with high-energy events such as Rap Wars and Razzmatazz, the group dance competition.
Image credits: Gerush Bahal
Razzmatazz was a highlight event, with many Delhi University colleges also participating. Unlike most other dance fests, Razzmatazz conducted three rounds in its finals. The first was the prepared performance of the teams. The participants had an extremely short amount of time to prepare for the second and third rounds. In the second round, the teams were given a mix of songs on which they had to create a cohesive performance. This was to test their synchronisation with each other and with the beat. The most entertaining round was the third, in which each team was given a different prop which they were required to use throughout the performance. An engaging event, it elicited immense applause and cheers from the audience. The results of all the competitions conducted today will be declared tomorrow.
The night is to conclude with a Hindi prof show by Bollywood star Amit Trivedi, known for his soulful performances at Coke Studio.
Enamored with love and luxuries, a delightful journey to the best cities across the globe was explored at Oasis’2015, the 45th annual cultural festival of BITS (Birla Institute of Science and Technology), Pilani, at the Pilani campus from 28th October to 1st November, 2015. With their central theme being ‘Around the world in 96 hours’ this voyage was toured by myriads.
The festivities began with a grand inauguration ceremony, where a symbolic ribbon cutting tradition was held, graced by the presence of the Director, Prof A.K. Sarkar and the Deputy Director, Prof S.C. Sivasubramanian to set the pace for an enchanting experience that lay ahead. A variety of remarkable stage performances by all the cultural societies of BITS along with a colorful panorama of fireworks display lit the spark for the coming transcendence of the world tour. The ceremony was followed by the sublime performance of an Israeli band, which included NirMotzeri accompanied by Yonatan Sharon on percussion instruments and Yanush Hurwitz on the accordion, which left the audience mesmerized by their soulful and hauntingly beautiful music.
Day one, thus, began with a beautiful battle of vocal wars in the solo singing competition of Andholika, and a dance extravaganza in Razzmatazz. The preceding events included the Oasis’ 2-on-2 ParliamentaryDebate, a photography Exposure to make the world visible to the naked eyes and an Apt to Act to unleash one’s theatre maniac through spontaneous enacting of on-the-spot given situations in the most creative way.
Organized by Pepsi MTV Indies, the English Professional act featured an exuberant combination of Skrat and Dualist Enquiry. Skrat, is a three piece alternative rock band from Chennai known for their tight and electrifying performances, comprising of band members Sriram T.T, the vocalist and the lead guitarist, Satish Narayanan, the bassist and Tapass Naresh, the drummer. Followed by this performance was the act of Dualist Enquiry, a solo electronic project of Sahej Bakshi, a Delhi-based music composer who, is also known to have worked with electronic dance artists such as David Guetta and Fatboy Slim.
The campus was filled with the loudest cheers when it was time for the Street Dance competition to be held. An exciting Treasure Hunt was also organized with a goal to unearth a proverbial treasure chest by travelling the ‘world’ around us. The day ended with a spectacular display of mesmerizing musical performances in the classical group singing competition of Tarang.
Day Two of Oasis comprised of the event of Beg, Borrow, Steal for all the street smart students, which was met with most enthusiasm. The list of items was a unique blend of objects that were easy to find like a selfie stick or a dongle, and yet, some crazy stuff that were impossible to attain such as socks with golden snitches or Yaoi painting. The team ADP which showed unique creativeness by making a Hawaiian guitar out of thermocol, was the one that eventually won. The following events of the day included vocals workshop for singers, movie quiz for movie buffs, Metamorphosis which served to be a heaven for budding film directors, a Spell Bee and The Golden Gravity Show which showcased stunning aerial acrobatics by a Swiss Trapeze Artist. Preceding these events were delightfully melodic contests for all music lovers such as Swaranjali, displaying the depths of Indian Classical Music and Pitch Perfect exhibiting the extent of one’s vocal prowess through a capella. A bounty of knowledge was received through Skiller, the World Beatbox Champion 2012 from Bulagria and so was the true meaning of love and life through the movie screening of ‘Amelie’, a fanciful comedy of Switzerland. Dance Duels, a solo dance competition was also held which raved great reviews for all its performances.
Papon
Day Three included exciting events like Triathlon, a mind-boggling test of wits and strengths, Tandav, a classical dance competition and a writer’s paradise in The Oasis Reading Session for all closet poets. The much awaited night of supreme pleasure and elevated spirit levels had finally arrived with the amazing acts of Sunburn’s Zenith and Shaan and Russian Hard Rock Sofa’s electrifying performance which left the crowd grooving on both feet in no time and longing for more and more with each passing moment. Mr. and Ms. Oasis, a contest for the hunt of the most talented and charismatic male and female personality of Oasis made everyone stay up all night in the cold just to hear the final results. In the midst of the decisions being made by the judges, the audience was also rewarded with a visual treat of Sonya Nakti, a belly-dancing-fire-spouting performer who, surprisingly, enthralled high amount of cheers from the tired audience even at three in the morning.
The Last day of Oasis was celebrated at the N2O Comedy Show with Biswa, Utsav Chakraborty and Daniel Fernandes who made the crowd roar with laughter till the point they could laugh no more, making everyone forget their worries. In the end, the beautiful Lantern festival made the sky gleam brightly from the farthest distance, with smiles spreading from one face to another thereby creating a perfect end to a perfect festival.
Therefore, it can be said with certainty that there were beautiful memories made for every person to take home during this extraordinary Oasis of ninety six hours.
List of Winners for the above mentioned competitions:-
AND MS. OASIS:-
Kushal and Ashmita
ANDHOLIKA:- Western Andholika- 1st -Male: Paritosh Pande from Vivekananda Insitute of Professional Studies, IP University. 1st– Female: Shradha Kapoor from Pearl Academy of Fashion
Eastern Andholika- 1st– Male: Lakshya Sachdeva from Vivekananda Insitute of Professional Studies, IP University 1st– Female: Harleen Kaur from Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce
TANDAV:- 1st– Priyanka from Lady Shri Ram College for Women 2nd – Shonan from Lady Shri Ram College for Women
PITCH PERFECT:- 1st– Miranda House: Aishwariya Kukrety, Anukriti Singh and Emily Ralte 2nd– Lady Shri Ram College for Women: Satwiki Adla, Anna, Faith and Bhavya
OASIS READING SESSION:- 1st– Prabhat Chaturvedi from Shri Venkateswara College 2nd– Kushal Jasoria from BITS Pilani
TARANG:- 1st– Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce: Rahul Bansal, Shubhankar Jain, Ekyum Singh, Harshit Kumar, Harleen Kaur, Harjinder Singh and Sidhanth Gupta 2nd– Sri Venkateswara College: Zaran Hashmi and Vibhor Sumon
APT TO ACT:- 1st– Sri Venkateswara College: Ananda, Sahir and Tanvika 2nd– Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College: Abhitanshu, Abhilash and Sanyam
METAMORPHOSIS:- 1st– Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology: Sarthak Malhotra, Suyash, Rajat, Mudhit and Dharamjay 2nd– St. Stephens’ College: Nirbhay Nitya Nanda and Rajiv Savio Herald
STREET DANCE:- 1st– College of Vocational Studies: Abheet, Puneet, Vikas, Gaurav, Divyanshu, Chetan, Raghav, Animesh, Rishabh, Yash and Aman 2nd– BITS Pilani: Vishal, Prabhatt, Kapil, Tanveesh, Prabhakar, Samarth, Palash, Srinivasan, Sourabh, Riddhi, Hitesh, Akarsh and Naman
