With nights studded by a star DJ and a star comedian, and days marked with celebrations of the performing arts, the “Neon Noir” themed version of Oasis, the annual fest of Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences came to glorious end.
Oasis’19 also unfolded with itself a solo singing competition for the budding singers in the circuit. The three-day competition “Andholika” began on the first day with it’s preliminary round, a workshop on the second day, and the final round on the third day.
The competition was divided on two basis, eastern and western singing; and Male and Female categories. The finale unfolded with two contestants from each of the 4 categories in a duel against each other, and Manjit (Eastern Male); Shivangini (Eastern Female); Nakul Chugh (Western Male) and Aroonema (Western Female) emerged champions.
The musical notes rung high with an Indie Night where notable rising bands like Pakshee played their tunes. Apart from the notes, we had a display of ragas too with Swaranjali, the competitive event for Indian classical singing.
Like every college fest, street plays also played an important part in raising their voices and asking the right questions. A field near the Main Auditorium became the sight for these “nukkad natak” mandlis, with their kurtas and djembes, every play with its own social message. In this event, the street play societies of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (Aflatoon) and Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (Manchtantra) emerged as winners.
Social messages and personal voices were also expressed at the poetry slam competition called Purple Prose. Out of all the wordsmiths expressing their feelings in Hindi and English, two poets emerged victorious. Interestingly, Sowmya, the poetess who was adjudged first, was an alumna from BITS Pilani itself.
With a theme like “neon-noir”, there was guarenteed fun for the geeky ones too. The open air screenings at the amphitheatre called The Rotunda carried on from the previous days with screenings of movies like Drive. The artworks of popular characters from the neon and noir pop culture pantheon were still being crafted, giving the sombre coloured campus a multilayered look.
And finally, coming to the main selling point of any fest, each night closed with an act by a star. Day 3 closed with a powerful performance by EDM maestro Nucleya. Along with his desi brand of dubstep, a major aspect of making his performance lively were the trippy, random, and vintage Bollywood inspired visuals playing on the colossal stage screens. The credit for these designs goes to Nucleya’s frequent designer, Diprav Jadhav.
The final night came to an end with a comedy performance in the auditorium by renowned stand-up comic Biswa Kalyan Rath. The tickets were sold out but still the demand for his show was so much that even the floors were occupied by the spectators. And then Biswa went on with his banters on engineering students, Indian civic sense, and other matters, leaving the audience in fits of laughter.
But the nights never really ended at Oasis, with the auditorium and amphitheatre having some sort of event or the other literally all the time. And the high energy was consistent too. Just take the example of a Street Dance Competition at 5:30 am on Day 3. After a college’s flashbmob-like performance, the audience joined in too. BITS Pilani would hardly get wild on other nights!
Lying in the desert state of Rajasthan, BITS Pilani might seem like a desered cut-off place. However, with Oasis, it turns into an oasis of life, energy, art, and talent. Here’s hoping the Oasis of Pilani never turns dry!
Shaurya Singh Thapa
[email protected]
With inputs and coverage by
Akshat Arora, Anandi Sen, Jaishree Kumar, and Shreya Agarwal
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