The third day of Mecca 2015 witnessed the A cappella competition with a total of six colleges participating. St. Stephens’ team, Sound Machine, gave the first performance followed by Gargi College who performed the song ‘Pass me that Jazz’ by The Real Group. The third performance was by Lady Shri Ram on two numbers, ‘Misty’ and ‘Jailer’, next came Jesus and Mary College performing a medley of songs. The fifth slot was taken by Sri Venkateswara College who performed two songs – Nature Boy by the Real Group and Mary by Take 6. The final performance was by Miranda House College who again performed a mix of two songs one of which was their own creation.

The event was judged by Chayan Adhikari, singer of Advaita and Nisa Shetty, alumnus of Hindu College and now a singer, song writer and performer. The first place was awarded to Lady Shri Ram College, second place to St. Stephens and the third prize was given to Sri Venkateswara College.

The A cappella competition was followed by Mecca Idol, a karaoke competition between individual students from different colleges.A total of 9 participants were part of the event and it was judged by Jagtinder Singh, a semi finalist of India’s Got Talent and lead vocalist of the band, Mrigya. From Kailash Kher’s ‘Saiyan’ to the latest hits like ‘Aa zaara,’ the participants sure won over the crowd.

The event ended with the Indian Music Society of Hindu College, Alankaar, giving a group performance and the judge himself singing a verse. The winner of the competition came to be Arundhati.

In the Western Dance Competition, Mecca saw some of the most popular dance societies of Delhi University perform on a plethora of songs ranging from popular to contemporary songs. Hans Raj Colleges’s western dance society, Oorja won the First prize and SGGSCC was adjudged the first runner up.

Day 3 of Mecca ended with a mesmerizing performance by the music directing duo Vishal-Shekhar. Popular for several Bollywood features like Salam Namaste and Jhankar Beats, they performed on some of their most celebrated songs, like ‘Velle’, ‘Zehnaseeb’, ‘Balam Pichkari’, ‘Chhammak Chhallo’, ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘I hate love stories,’ etc. They kept a steady interaction with the crowd and gave them all a supremely energetic performance.

Writers: Isheeta Sharma, Surbhi Arora, Ayesha Sareen

Photographers: Kashish Madan, Chirag Sharma, Abhay Makhija

Day 2 at Hindu College’s Mecca ended with the Solo Instrumental (Hindi) and the Solo Singing (Hindi) competition that was organised as a part of Harmony – The annual fest of Alankaar, the Indian Music Society of Hindu College. A total of nine participants were a part of the solo instrumental competition and 11 for the solo singing. The event was judged by Pandit Harish Tiwari from the Kirana Gharana who is senior disciple of Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi – winner of Bharat Ratna in 2008.

The event was a quiet and calming affair which went on for about three or four hours. The results came out with Megha Rawoot from Miranda House College winning the first prize and Shishank from Bheem Rao Ambedkar College and Prasen Bhardwaj from Ram Lal Anand College winning the second prize in the solo instrumental. Apporva Tiwari won the first prize and Sowmya Gurucharan and Alish Mohan won the second prize for the vocal solo competition.

Day 3 began with the mono acting competition which witnessed seven participants competing for the top position. The participants were judged on several parameters like dialogue delivery, expressions, body language, stage usage and creativity. Each of them were given a maximum time of six minutes to perform. The judges for this competition were Sidharth Singh, the ex-PM of Hindu College and Vedant who is currently in his IIIrd year at the college.

Sanket from Northern India Engineering College won the first prize. In his performance, he portrayed the role of a psychopath who had killed his own girlfriend. Kaavya from Shyam Lal College stood second and Yukta from Maharaja Agrasen College bagged the third prize. Sanwala Ra, currently a student at Hindu College, was given the special mention award.

The solo singing competition on Day 3 hosted nine participants shortlisted after an online round. The participants were judged on stage presence, pitch, and overall presentation. The judges for the event were Neesa Shetty, a freelance singer and Chayan Adhikari from Advaita.

Hanita Bhambri from Shaheed College for Business Studies won the first prize. Shivash Chagti from HansRaj College and Leena from St. Stephen’s College won the second and third positions respectively.

“The competition was really nice and the variety of genres of songs made it really difficult for us to judge”, said Chayan, one of the judges at the event. Gokul from SRCC and Karnika from SGTB Khalsa were given the special mentions for their performances by the judges.

Feature Image: Shivash Chagti from Hans Raj College (Photo by Abhay Makhija)

Surbhi Arora
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Isheeta Sharma
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The second half of Day 2 at Mecca, Hindu College’s cultural fest came to an end after a variety of events and competitions.

Certainly the touch of sports would make Mecca a multi dimensional event hosting a gamut of participants from diverse fields. This was competed by street football or futsal which hosted colleges from across the university in the competition which boasts an impressive prize for the winners.

6 teams participated in the 5 a side competition. With the famous Ibtida lawn, hosting the event, Deshbandu College, DDUC, St Stephens College, Zakir Hussain College and two teams of Hindu College competed for the trophy.

The first round was a knockout round followed by the semi final match of two qualified teams and the third getting bye to the finals. This was decided by draw of lots. Each half of 7 minutes made the players race against time and mostly maiden goals decided the matches. The final victory was awarded to St. Stephen’s College against a team of Zakir Hussain, Deshbandhu and Hindu College.

The second and final round of the Battle of the bands began on the second day of Mecca 2015 with the six bands that were shortlisted on the first day –The Cosic Truth, Knight Shades, Transmigrate, Rangrez, The Hansraj Projekt and Paperboat . The event was judged by Anuj Gupta, an individual metal guitarist. The bands performed to a crowd of almost a hundred students with their self written songs as well as covers of other songs.

The final winner of the two rounds of the battle was The Hansraj Projekt and the second prize was taken by the Paperboat and with that the much sought after battle finally came to an end.

The final event that concluded the second day started off with the band F16s playing in the genre of Indies music while a large crowd of students swayed along as the sky shimmered with the stage and sky lights followed by Duallist Inquiry playing their famous Progressive House and EDM numbers with a guitar in the background. The last hour of the evening was taken over by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale. The crowd cheered, danced and at times just sat ad swayed to the music.

Isheeta Sharma
Iresh Gupta
Sidharth Yadav

Image credits: Kashisha Madan and Chirag Sharma

After competitions like choreography and Battle of Bands, second half of Day 1 at Mecca hosted the much awaited nukkad natak competition which complemented Mecca’s Bollywood theme this year. The event comprised of 12 teams including the host team Hindu College that did not compete. Various political and social issues like women empowerment, communal violence, rights of the farmers and corruption were presented by the teams. The event was judged by Ms. Vibhuti who is an alumnus of Hindu College and the nukkad natak team in particular. She was accompanied by Mr. Vipul Pachauri who is a veteran street actor and director in the national street play circuit.

The event began with the hosts depicting scenes of everyday ignorance that every human shows towards certain societal obligations. This was followed by impressive performances by Jesus and Mary College and Hans Raj College with the latter making the audience aware of their own susceptibility to being influenced by others. Performance by IP College for Women was lauded by the audience for its coordination and originality. Other performances included those by College of Vocational Studies, PGDAV College, Daulat Ram College and ARSD College.

Street production ‘Mannmarziyaan‘ by Abhivyakti, the dramatics society of IP College bagged the first prize at Mecca. The spot for first position was shared by Kshitij– The Street Play Society of Gargi College. Another tie saw Verve, the street play society of SSCBS and Hansraj Dramatics Society sharing the second position.

Another event saw teams from various colleges performing purely classical acts for Eastern Group Choir competition. The event was judged was Pt. Hirish Tiwari from Faculty of Music, Delhi University and Ms. Anita Vishan from Hindu College. There teams were given a time of 10+2 minutes with an opportunity to select any hindustani raga or such combinations to perform an act.

The 11 performing teams included Maitreyi College, Hans Raj College, Kamla Nehru College, Jesus and Mary College, IP College for Women, Lady Shri Ram College, Daulat Ram College, Miranda College, Gargi College, Sri Venkateswara College and College of Business Studies.

Teams were seen performing various ragas like raga kalavati and raga kalyani for their performances. Alahyaa, the Indian Music Society of Daulat Ram College were declared the winners by the event judges. The second position was won by both Miranda House and College of Business Studies.

Day 1 of Hindu College’s Mecca concluded with its alumnus Rekha Bharadwaj performing for the first time at Delhi University. The National Award winning singer who is as popular for her sufi music as for her playback singing in Bollywood, gave a soulful rendition to the evening. The singer’s presence was paralleled well by the grand stage setup at Hindu College which garnered positive response from the crowd of more than 10000 people. The singer also got nostalgic about her days in Hindu College and the time she spent here.

Donning a white and gold attire, she performed to famous chartbusters ‘Namak Isq Ka‘, ‘Ghaghra‘, ‘Sasural Genda Phool‘ and ‘Kabira‘ among others. She also gave her touch to other varied artists’ popular songs like ‘Tere bin nai lagda‘, ‘Jugni‘, ‘Damadam Mast Kalandar‘. She was seen listening to audiences’ choices continuously and then obliging to a series of requests. Her 100 minute performance ended with a medley of few popular songs.

Feature Image Credits: Kashish Madan for DU Beat
In Feature Image: Alahyaa, the Indian Music Society of Daulat Ram College

Iresh Gupta
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Ayesha Sareen
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Sidharth Yadav
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Hindu College’s sky covered in dense clouds seems to be relieving the pilgrims who have come for Mecca 2015. As the day began, art work and decorations outside the main lawn and the posters of the classic Bollywood movies around the main entrance prepared the students to celebrate the spirit of competition and cultural events.

The inauguration of Mecca began with the lighting of the lamp by the Dr. Anju Srivastava, Principal and other dignitaries and heads of various departments of the college including Dr Kaul and Dr Kapoor. This was followed by a speech by the Principal and Tushar Soni, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hindu College.

A performance by the Indian classical dance society of Hindu College in a Kathak and Bharatnataym fusion led to the conclusion of the inauguration ceremony and the students moved on to attend the various events.

The first round of the Battle of the Bands began around 11:30 at the small stage near PAM where students assembled to enjoy the different genres of band and their music. 11 bands in total participated in the battle, out of which six bands were selected for the second round which would be held on the second day of Mecca. The judges for this first round were members of the Western Music Society of Hindu College itself – Ravi Kohli and Vidhur Hans.

The bands gave a dose of Metal, Pop as well as Sufi music in both Hindi and English. The six bands selected are – The Cosmic Truth, Knight Shades, Transmigrate, Rangrez, The Hansraj Project and Paperboat.

Alongside Battle of Bands, Mecca hosted choreography competition in the college auditorium. The judges for this event were Mr. Ankit and Mr. Gaurav who are the ex-choreographers of Hindu College. Seven teams that participated in the competition were Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Hans Raj College, Sri Venkateshwara College, Gargi College, Kirori Mal College, Kamla Nehru College and Lady Shri Ram College.

The teams presented acts on various like personality disorders and other societal norms. Dance performance by the dance society of Lady Shri Ram College was adjudged the best and it revolved around the life of women in Amazon forests. The choreography society of Hans Raj College, Terpsichoreon won the second position.

The competition ended with a feedback round where the judges advised all the teams to focus on knowledge of the subject they are performing on rather than just its information. “Presence of knowledge in any kind of art helps it last longer”, said Mr. Gaurav.