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The fest season has begun and so have the stories of chaos, harassment, and safety issues at these prestigious cultural festivals. Let’s see what went down at Tempest 2019.

Tempest 2019, the three-day Annual Cultural Festival of Miranda House took place from 14th to 16th February 2019. Reports of chaos, security breach, rape threats, and harassment arose on Day 2 and Day 3 of the fest.

On 15th February, a message from the Women’s Development Cell (WDC) was circulated for the girls to be safe as allegedly, some members of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) had barged into the college campus, and were acting very violently and threatening people with rape threats. An anonymous source from the WDC security team shared her experience, stating that on the same day she noticed something weird going on around the entrance to the barricaded women’s area. When she went to investigate, she saw a few men who were trying to intimidate volunteers into letting them enter. When she asked them to leave, they retorted, saying, Aapko pata hai hum kaun hain? Humare saath Shakti Singh hai.” (Do you know who we are? Shakti Singh, the President, DUSU, is with us.)

When these people were blocked and not allowed to enter, they retreated but only with threats like “we’ll come back soon- just wait and watch” and “aaj 20 log laaye hai, kal 500 laayenge” (Today we have brought 20 people, tomorrow we’ll bring 500). She also added- “This kind of hooliganism has increased in the campus. There were men from Hindu College who had infiltrated the crowd, asking about the people who had taken part in the V-Tree protest the previous day.”

Anoushka Sharma, a second-year student from Delhi School of Journalism and a Copy-editor at DU Beat, also shared her horror story from Day 3 at Tempest. She stated that while entering the college on the third day of the fest, she was trying to show her media pass at the entrance to enter when a guy pushed her and said in a very rude tone- “Madam ji, kya kar rahi hain?” (Madam, what are you doing?). At first, she ignored but he was persistent and kept on insisting. When she told him about the media passes, he again said in a harsh tone- “Tameez nahi hai baat karne ki? (Don’t you have any manners?). Seconds later, the guards opened the door and at that moment people started touching and groping her. She quoted, “The lady security guard had to hold me since I almost fell on the ground, and she told me to go inside through the lawns since there was less crowd there.”

Talking about the ruckus created at the gates, the Head of Security from Miranda House’s WDC told DU Beat that due to the crowd build-up at the gate, the Principal had to open the gate when 50 to 100 unidentified individuals without passes barged inside the college. She also added that men came up to her, and to the Vice-President of the Student Union to threaten them by quoting their support from DUSU. When they were refused entry, they said, “Agli baar toh fest hi nahin hoga.(We won’t let the fest happen next time.” She added- “There was a sense of fear in the environment and the girls were uncomfortable by the presence of such people.”

When DU Beat contacted the Vice-President, she denied the story, saying that she personally didn’t hear any comments; however, due to the rush outside the gates, she talked to Shakti Singh who said that none of his people were involved in any such threats and misbehaviour. She also stated, “The passes said entry till 2 P.M. and people didn’t follow that which created more ruckus but actions were taken and things went smoothly later.”

These incidents are examples which show unsafe environment at fests. Even in a fest regulated with passes, unidentified crowd entered in mobs through the front gates and created a ruckus, not only threatening the attendees but also the organisers and volunteers. These prestigious annual cultural fests are the platform of growth and inclusivity which have now unfortunately become spaces for assault and harassment.

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa

Sakshi Arora

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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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Day 2 of Tempest witnessed different society events taking place and closed with the EDM night.

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.
Vivekananda Society, Miranda House organised three events judged internally by Mrs Aastha Kalra, Mrs Nidhi Gupta, Mrs Nisha Balatyagi, and Mr Raj Verma Singh. The first competition was Essay Writing on the topic- “How pervasive are racism and sexism among youth,” and saw participation by 17 participants. Ananya Reddy and Umang Bhadauriya from Miranda House won the first and second prize respectively while Sniti Raj from Kirori Mal College came third. The Open Mic saw different genres of poems and stories being recited by 12 participants. Harshita and Upasa from Miranda House came first and second respectively while Astha Deepaki from Lady Shri Ram College and Vallary Shukla from Miranda came third. The competition of Impromt story making on the Topic- “you are stuck for 45 min in a lift” saw participation by 4 teams. Team from Ramanujan College won this event.
Shama Kohli Conventional Debate Competition was organised by The Debating Society of Miranda House. It saw powerful bilingual debates by 14 teams on the topic- “This house regrets the narrative of logic and science to interpret the world.” The event was judged internally by Nanda Ma’am, Vice Principal, Miranda House and Mrs. Meeta from the Economics Department of the college. The title of Best Interjector were awarded to Sukhin from Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Siddhartha from Hindu College. The second best Speaker for the motion was Abhipsha from Daulat Ram College, while the Second Best Speaker against the motion was Adit from Kirori Mal College. The Best Speaker For the motion was Yukta, Jaypee and the Best Speaker Against the motion was Abhipshita, Sri Venkateswara College. Second Best Team was Daulat Ram College and Shyam Lal College while the title of the Best Team was given to Shree Ram College of Commerce.
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 Quiz Society of Miranda House organised the Annual Rachita Dasgupta Quiz on the 14th and 15th of February. On the 14th, Ashish Singh conducted an Open General Quiz which was followed by an Eco-biz quiz. On the 15th, quizmaster Anukriti Rai conducted the Open Mythology quiz which happened in two rounds. The winners were Novoneel and Riya (first place), Amlan Sarkar and Ria Chopra (second place) and Shivan and Antariksha (third place).
After the break, the final leg of the event, the Indian cinema quiz kicked off which resulted in Ankur and Ayush winning the first place and a tie in between Amlan, Paliwal and Kartik Puri, Tushar Anand.
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 Ritwik. The audience grooved to the tunes of his enthralling showcase. The crowd then peacefully dispersed.

Feature Image Credits:  Akarsh Mathur

Sakshi Arora
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Jaishree Kumar
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Aman Gupta
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Here is a recap of Day 1 at Tempest 2019, the annual cultural festival of Miranda House.

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 Annual Rachita Das Gupta Quiz was organized by the Quiz Society of Miranda House. They conducted three quizzes on Day 1. The Open General Quiz saw participation of 30 teams with 2 members in each team. Mukund and Dhruv bagged the first position, while Rorik and Rohan came second, and Basab and Amlan stood third. Eco Biz Filler witnessed Kirti and Pragati win the competition. In the Open India Quiz, Ashish and Abhishek Paliwal came first while the duos of Jayant and Amlan, and Ankur and Kartik Puri stood second and third, respectively.

Vaatavaran, the Eco Club of Miranda House organised Enviro Quiz, a short-film-based quiz. It saw participation from 20 teams from across different colleges. The first prize was awarded to Poornima and Yash, while Karishma and Garima, and Pragati and Niharika bagged the second and third prizes, respectively.

E-Cell, Miranda House, organised three Inter-College events at Tempest 2019. Combination- an event related to geographical locations of companies, saw participation of 20 teams with two students in each team. Addictive- a marketing competition of pitching products in the style of Bollywood, was won by Ashok, while Pinku came second. Boss Hunt- a Treasure Hunt had 35 teams compete, where Aditya Sah came first, while Neeruganti Purnima came second.

11 Dance Societies from across different colleges, which qualified the online preliminaries, performed at Burlesque, the Western Dance Competition, organised by Tanz, the Western Dance Society of Miranda House. The event was judged by Mrs. Sameeksha and Mr. Nitin Theo Kerketta. Enliven (Western dance society of Gargi) won the competition, while Crunk (Western dance society of Sri Aurobindo) came second.

The next event was the Hindi Debating Competition where the students battled their wits on the topic- “Sadan ke math mein loktantra maatr ek saashan pranali nahi, jeevan mulyo ka srot hai (In the opinion of the House, democracy is not only a regime conduct, but it is the source of life values).” It was judged internally by teachers- Mrs. Kusuma Krishna Subha and Mrs. Meeta Kumari. Smriti from Lady Shri Ram College was awarded the title of Best Speaker in favour of the motion while Happy from Ramjas College was awarded as Best Speaker in opposition.

Amid the melody of raag Darbari and Yaman, Sangam- the Indian Classical Music Competition- organised by Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House saw various performances that had the audiences captivated. With 14 participants in the Duet Singing Competition and 13 teams representing their colleges in the Choir Singing Competition, the event was a huge success. The Duet Singing Competition concluded with SGTB Khalsa College’s Sukriti and Saksham bagging the second prize, with the winner’s title being claimed by Hansraj College’s Pranava and Ram.

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”.

Image credits: Mahi Panchal for DU Beat

 

Sakshi Arora

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Shaurya Thapa

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Kartik Chauhan

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Shivani Dadhwal

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