Day 1 of Rendezvous, the Annual Cultural fest of IIT Delhi started with the Lifestyle Prelims, the college fashion competition, which saw models strutting in themed ensembles and high heels. Galore, the Fashion Society of Maitreyi College delivered a body positive walk. “We want the heart high and the chest bigger,” they quoted. The society, anxious about probable mishaps such as tripping and slipping during the performance, complained about the dusty stage and careless placement of wires. A slight delay was experienced, owing to the inadequacy of housekeeping staff. Among the 13 participating societies were Delhi University’s Motilal Nehru College, Dyal Singh College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, College of Vocational Studies and Hindu College. Due to the unavailability of a proper backstage area, inconvenience and congestion was experienced by the heavily costumed participants. The Fashion Society of Manav Rachna University emerged as the winner at Lifestyle, with their fashionable take on Sikhism.
At the Western Group Dance Prelims, the blaring music surely impaired some auditory senses but the exuberant dance performances were a treat to the eye. The audience burst into hoots as societies dropped groovy moves. Peppy playlists combined with flashy lighting set the mood at the Seminar Hall of IIT Delhi. Outside, the venue, a chaotic queue of youngsters were seen behaving rowdily towards the gatekeepers who were reluctant to allow entry into the already-packed room. Gargi College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Motilal Nehru College, Shivaji College, Hansraj College and IIT Delhi qualified the first round, with Sri Aurobindo College and Daulat Ram College in the waiting list. Gargi College’s Enliven bagged the first position at Kaleidoscope followed by Spardha of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Dance Club of IIT Delhi.
The Acapella competition contestants from 14 previously-shortlisted societies were spotted at Allegro, in their monotone society T-shirts. The audience of LHC121 also comprised non-participating societies and acapella admirers, who came to survey the performances. Encore, the Western Music Society of Daulat Ram College performed a medley of five songs. Euphony from Gargi College sent the audience into a state of idyll through their thoroughly rehearsed harmonies. Judges Joshua Peter and Akash Gadamsetty awarded the first position to Jesus and Mary College’s ECHO. Madhurima from Delhi Technological University bagged the second prize, and the third position was shared by Sri Venkateswara College’s Crescendo and Gargi’s Euphony.
The second half of the day commenced with the inauguration ceremony and the lightning of the lamp by Deputy Director of IIT Delhi, Prof M. Balakrishnan. The ceremony was anchored by Shubendu Sumbli, an IIT Delhi alumnus. It was followed by a short speech by Prof Mausam, VP of BRCA and Prof Rajesh Khanna, Dean of Students Affairs. The inauguration event ended on a musical note with Harmononium performing on stage. It performed a wide range of songs including Chaakar, Fakiri, Jhakar and Gubbare which took the audience’s breath away. It later on, added Marwaari songs to pep up their set.
The Quizzing Club, IIT Delhi organised A fan’s notes, an open sports quiz. Over 50 teams participated in teams of two or three. Eight teams made it to the final round. The quizmaster was Ashish Kumar Rai, an alumnus of IIT Delhi.
The Literary Club of IIT Delhi organised a Slam Poetry Competition, Slam Blues. Twenty six participants were short listed for the event which was adjudged by Aditi Angiras, Indrajit Ghoshal, Saumya Kulshreshtha, and Ravie Solanky. The winners of the event were Seep Agrawal (1st prize, English), Ayushi Dwivedi (2nd prize, English), and Mohit Sethi (1st prize, Hindi). My Jottings, a Creative Writing Competition was also organised by the Literary Club of IIT Delhi. The results for it will be declared on October 15th.
In the prelims for the beatboxing event, a total of 33 teams participated in the prelims consisting of the Showcase Round and the battles. 16 teams proceed to the final round to be conducted on 14th October. The event was adjudged by Mr. Ishaan Nangia, Vice Champion of the first ever Indian Beatbox Championship. For Battle of the Bands, Acid Pit was declared the winner followed by Mirage and Over Root Third.
The day came to a magnificent close with The Local Train’s performance, which swept the crowd of it’s feet. With songs like Choo Lo, Dil Mere, Aaoge Tum Kabhi the band ensured that the crowd didn’t lose their enthusiasm even for a single minute.
Day 2 was packed with back-to-back competitions and the events went on till the wee hours.
At Tatva, the Fusion Band Competition, bands presented their creative compositions. The amalgamation of Hindustani Classical and Western tunes combined with an interactive stage presence enthralled the audience. Parameters performed a combination of Hindustani classical music, western rock and rapping through their compostion, ‘Alone’. The competition was adjudged by instrumentalist, engineer, and producer Yatin Srivastava. In his small feedback speech, he pointed out that no society exceeded the time limit and that the bands paid careful attention to music mixing. He also advised the bands to use a better stage presence for livlier performances. IIT Delhi’s MoonShine won the first prize. The second position was bagged by Parameters from the College of Vocational Studies, followed by Amity University’s Metronome who was the second runner-up. As announced by IIT Delhi’s Music Society, Ruhaaniyat, the top three best performances were Sri Venkateswara College’s Where’s My Bag, followed by Five One Nine from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, and then Black Beat from Ramjas.
Sprightly vocal percussions left the crowd spellbound at the second round Beat Boxing Competition of IIT Delhi’s Rendezvous’18. The shortlisted 16 participants were adjudged by Ishan Nangia, Sri Venkateswara College student and Vice Champion of the first ever Indian Beatbox Championship. At the LHC Informal Stage area, a large crowd of beatboxing enthusiasts turned up despite changes in the event’s schedule not being properly conveyed. Aranya Banerjee, received a congratulatory hoist for bagging the first position. The winner received a cash prize of Rs. 5000, followed by first runner-up Jatin Pant who received a prize of Rs. 3000.
An exciting array of performances focusing on a multitude of poignant themes ranging from menstrual and religious regression to Indian education policy, displayed all day from the morning to the evening in Mimansa, the street play competition. Out of the 12 finalists, the team of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Natuve won the event with the title of overall best performance as College of Vocational Studies and Maharaja Agarsen Institur of Technology followed. The best actress went to Shivaji College whereas the best Actor was a student of Maharaja Agarsen Institute of Technology. Best music was unsurprisingly won by Sri Venketeshwar College; best director was won by Hindu College; best entertaining play went to the hosts, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The event was sponsored by Theatreleela and adjudged by Varun Sharma, director and owner of Theatreleela.
The highly anticipated Campus Princess pageant was also organised. The event was judged by Viren Barman, Peter England Mr. India 2016. The judge acknowledged the extensive participation of 51 contestants this time when he said, “I was trying to take a picture but I couldn’t fit you all in the frame!”. Last year’s title winners were also conducive in enhancing the morale of the contestants as they shared their own experiences with everyone and narrated their transformation stories after winning the title.
Far from all this, the atmosphere was an absolute envelope of peace at Aagaz, the group Indian Classical Music competition was organised. In the baritone and the soft yet bold lilting of the participating 15 teams from across the state, the audiences were left swooning. Girls took the first two positions as Alahyaa, the Indian Classical Music society of Daulat Ram College and Sangeetika of Kamla Nehru College won the first and second positions respectively, with Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College in the third place.
The Debating Club of IITD hosted the annual edition of its freshers’ parliamentary debate titled Debutant. Constituting five rounds, a plethora of debating themes were up on offer as twelve teams from a variety of colleges, including but not limited to CBS, JMC, Ashoka, and Hindu, finally made it through to the prequarters stage.
The KTM roadshow was another contrast to the peace. With breathtaking stunts defying the laws of gravity, the performers left the audiences’ jaws wide open. As their tires dusted gravel around, a crowd of a hundred students found a thrilling experience becoming real.
Another interesting event of the day, the Comedy Hunt was also organised. Judges Milind Kapoor and Anubhav Singh Bassi, renowned stand-up comedians themselves laughed heartily with a crowd of 500 students cheering for the participants sharing their ridiculous stories. Mohak Arora was named the winner of the event. Most stand-ups focused on deeper social causes, striking just the right balance between conedy and reality.
Follwing this, the final rounds for Lifestyle and Kaleidoscope were organised, and the day culminated in fervour and renewed energy for the next day’s events.
Feature Image Credits: Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat
Ananya Acharya
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Muskan Sethi
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Disha Saxena
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Kartik Chauhan
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Adeel Shams
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