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Arushi Pathak

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Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests.

The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during various cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were awarded 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points and for the third position, 1 point was added to their tally.

For the Western Music category, Western Music Society of LSR scored the maximum points in the tally. Western Music Society of LSR’s 14 points were followed by Zephyr (Kamala Nehru College) that scored 12 points. Musoc (Kirori Mal College) bagged third spot scoring 10 points.

 

The Winning Society at a glance

 

The Western Music Society of LSR

The society has been a consistent performer in the Western Music category. This year, their production was widely appreciated and applauded wherein they covered a Jazz Gospel number called ‘Come Unto Me’ by Take 6 and their own arrangement of Janelle Monae’s  ‘Electric Lady’.

Satwiki Adla, the President of WMS said, “The secret to our success is our dedication. We practice everyday diligently for 4-6 after college hours. Another strength of our society is also the understanding and love that we share for one another and the music that we make which binds us all together into a close-knit family. The ability to be able to work on our strengths while pointing out our weaknesses is something we strive to achieve at LSR WMS .”

Names of performing members:

1) Satwiki Adla – President
2) Sparsh Bajpai – Secretary

3) Sharanya S – Treasurer
4) Pallavi Pervela
5) Kim Biak Hoih
6) R. Lalthansangi
7) Hlingdeikim Changsan
8) Maulshree Kumar
9)  Roli D Yeputho
10) Thinley Chodon
11) Megha Lama
12) Sange W. Thungon
13) Imlikokla Kichu
14) Sangey Dolma
15) Lentina Longkumer
16) Tenzin Choezom
17) Ruth Lalrinawmi
18) Bhavya Kulshreshtha
19) Lucy T. Vaiphei
20) Anna Charenamei
21) Faith Kasar 

Winners Tally: Western Music

Nine college fests were referred to while evaluating the top societies tally this fest season which were: Tarang, LSR; Ullas, KNC; Tempest, Miranda House; Montage, JMC; Mecca, Hindu College; Reverie, Gargi College; Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College; Shruti, IPCW and Confluence, Hans Raj College. The society emerged victorious at the following fests:

1st Position: Ullas, KNC; Montage, JMC and Mecca, Hindu College
2nd Position: Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College and Shruti, IPCW
3rd Position: Tempest, Miranda House

(Hover on the icons below to know more about their victories)

 
Arushi Pathak
[email protected]

Day 1: Inauguration, Western Dance and Dance Workshop with Shakti Mohan:

The day one of Kamala Nehru College’s annual cultural festival Ullas began with an inauguration ceremony where eminent dancer Padmashree Madhvi Mudgal performed. Amidst first events was Indian classical solo and Folk Dance event organised by Nupur, the Indian Dance Society of KNC.

The Indian classical solo event saw Raghav from Sri Venkateswara College as the winner. In the Folk Dance competition, the Bhangra Group from SGND Khalsa College emerged as the winners. Maitreyi College and Sri Venkateswara College bagged the second and third prize.

The much awaited dance workshop by ace celebrity dancer Shakti Mohan took place at Day 1 of Ullas, which refreshed the fest comers despite the wave of heat. Performing as a part of MTV driven Nescafe’ Labs-Dance Challenge, the event witnessed the participation of a selected bunch of students from various colleges.

Nrityakriti organized by Adagio, the Choreography society of Kamala Nehru College, was a solo choreography competition which saw  Vipin from IGNOU bagging the first position. Post Nrityakriti was hosted ‘Ol That Jazz’, the Western Dance Competition wherein V-Defyn of IIT-Delhi declared as the winner of the event, followed by Misba of Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce and Afroza of Indraprastha College for Women as second and third.

Soon after this event, the crowd flocked towards the main ground where the band Astitva had already taken over the stage. They enthralled the audience with popular numbers like ‘Aa Raat Bhar’ and ‘Gulaabo’.

 

Day 2: Music Events and showdown with Sona Mohapatra

Day 2 of Ullas started with Swaranjali, an Indian music competition organized by Sangeetika, the Indian Music Society. Samranjini of Gargi College took home the first prize in choir followed by Hans Raj college and Sri Venkateswara College at second and third spots.

This event was followed by Sarang, the Instrumental Solo competition. Megha from Miranda House and Aditya tied for the first position. Zephyr- the Western Music Society of KNC organised the Western Solo Vocals competition under the umbrella event ‘Rhythm in Blues’. Despite the cut throat competition, Kishore from Amity University, Noida grabbed the top spot. The society also hosted the illustrious Western Choir and Western Duet competitions. Dhwani of SSCBS stood second, while LSR managed to bag the first position in choir category; Kunal Singh and Anahita Dawar stood first in duets.

A Battle of Bands was also hosted on the college ground where the band Hans Raj Projekt emerged victorious. Thereafter, The Fashion Society of KNC, Glitz, hosted La Vogue. Amity College emerging as the winners for their production ‘Shaitaan’.

The star performer of the day, Sona Mohapatra, took over the stage at dusk and performed songs like ‘O Ri Chiraiya’ and ‘Mujhe kya bechega rupaiya’ presenting the social message of a healthy body image and embracing your sexuality.

She ended the day with a powerful performance of all of her hits including ‘Ambarsariya’ and ‘Bedardi Raja’.

Ullas 2016 in a glimpse

Catch day-wise coverage here:

Day 1: Morning  /   Evening
Day 2: Morning  /  Evening

Catch the entire album of Ullas 2016 here

Arushi Pathak
Riya Chhibber
Tooba Towfiq
Nishita Agarwal
Shefali Bharti
Akshara Srivastava
Shreya Srivastava

Images by Jasmine Chahal, Sahil Chauhan, Paurush Bhardwaj, Gerush Bahal, Aarushi Dhingra and Alex Arthur for DU Beat

The Annual Fest of Kamla Nehru College, Ullas, 2016 stood witness to a handful of exciting and super-entertaining events and competitions. Amongst the lot, Zephyr, The Western Music Society of KNC, hosted the illustrious Western Choir and Western Duet competitions, under the event ‘Rhythm in Blues’.

The participating teams included Musoc (KMC), Orpheus (Miranda), The Western Music Society Of LSR and Dhwani (SSCBS).

Out of these, SSCBS stood second, while LSR managed to bag the first position.
The event, judged by Ms. Sharmila Banerjee Livingston and Ms. Panvi Podder was a fun ride.

Following the Western Choir was Western Duet, wherein there were 8 participants, the names and colleges were whom to remain undeclared.
Kishor Ningthoujan and Rhea Toor from Amity University, Noida stood third, Siddhant Seth and Sparsh Bajpai stood second, and Kunal Singh and Anahita Dawar stood first.

A Battle of Bands was also hosted on the college ground where the band Hans Raj Projekt emerged victorious.

Thereafter, The Fashion Society of KNC, Glitz, hosted La Vogue, wherein Elantra (Bharti College), Amity School of Communication, Ramjas College and Vardhaman Mahaveer Medical College (VMMC) participated. The Fashion event which was judged by a panel of three, which included Mr. Hemant Sood, Ms. Miya Lakra and Mr. Mayank Sharma witnessed Amity College emerging as the winners for their production ‘Shaitaan’ followed by VMMC and Ramjas College on the second position.

The star performer of the day, Sona Mohapatra, took over the stage at dusk and performed songs like ‘O Ri Chiraiya’ and ‘Mujhe kya bechega rupaiya’ presenting the social message of a healthy body image and embracing your sexuality.

She ended the day with a powerful performance of all of her hits including Ambarsariya and Bedardi Raja. The union was ecstatic as Sona drew the curtains to Ullas 2016.

 

Arushi Pathak

Riya Chibber

Akshara Srivastava

Shreya Srivastava

Shefali Bharti

 

Images by Aarushi Dhingra, Gerush Bahal, Alex Arthur and Jasmine Chahal for DU Beat

Day 2 of Ullas, the annual cultural festival of Kamala Nehru College started with Swaranjali, an Indian music competition organized by Sangeetika, the Indian music society of the college. The event started with choir performances and saw participation by 8 teams.

The event was judged by Shri Avinash Kumar and Srimati Deepti Pandit both of whom are Hindustani Classical vocalists. Samranjini of Gargi College took home the first prize followed by Swaranjali of Hans Raj college and Alaap of Sri Venkateswara College.

This event was followed by Sarang, the Instrumental Solo competition. It saw participation from eight students. Megha from Miranda House and Aditya tied for the first position. The second position was bagged by Naman followed by Kartikeya from Hans Raj College.
In her vote of thanks, Smt. Deepti Pandit mentioned that all participants sang very well and by pursuing classical music were taking the Indian culture and heritage forward.

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Taking musical notes on a new high, Zephyr- The Music Society of KNC organised the Western Solo Vocals competition under the umbrella event ‘Rhythm in Blues’ on Day 2 of Ullas.

With 8 participants, the event was adjudicated by an esteemed panel comprising of Ms. Sharmila Banerjee Livingston, a soloist and Delhi based musician who has also been a conductor of the famous ‘The Capital City Minstrels’ alongwith Panvi Poddler, a celebrated vocalist who holds a diploma in Contemporary performance from Rockschool, UK.

Despite the cut throat competition, Kishor from Amity University, Noida grabbed the top spot as he sang the rendition of the song ‘Listen’ by Beyonce, supported by his accompanist Felix.

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While Sparsh from Lady Shri Ram College recreated ‘Pirate Jenny’ a Three Penny Opera presentation with her accompanist Ashrey Goel, won the second prize, Nisha Chakravorty from Gargi College stood third as she sang ‘And I am telling you ‘ by Jennifer Hudson. She was accompanied by Anirvan from Diva Kera.

Judge Sharmila Banerjee shared her experience of judging the event as she remarked, ” When you are competing, it is important to connect with the audience. A song that you perform must be a song that you own and deliver and that is what a judge looks for.”

 

Arushi Pathak

Riya Chibber

Akshara Srivastava

 

Images by Aarushi Dhingra, Jasmine Chahal and Alex Arthur for DU Beat.

In the midst of a sunny afternoon, the much awaited dance workshop by ace celebrity dancer Shakti Mohan took place at Day 1 of Ullas, which refreshed the fest comers despite the wave of heat. Performing as a part of MTV driven Nescafe’ Labs-Dance Challenge, the event saw a selected bunch of students from various colleges, who attended the workshop mentored by Shakti for the Web dance series she is currently mentoring.
Explaining the history of Contemporary dance form, the Dance-India-Dance fame Shakti, shared with the students as to how the Contemporary dance is a more recent phenomenon. She emphasised on the fact that, to understand contemporary dance, it is important to look at its origins which span to the later part of the 20th Century and early half of the 21st Century.
On being asked what message she would want to convey to the students who wish to pursue dance as a career, she remarked, “One should be very patient to adopt dance as a career prospect. It takes a lot of time to succeed and if one really wants to adopt it as a career, hard work and patience is a must!.”
An enthusiastic student, Pulkit Sharma from Dyal Singh College, shared with us his experience of the workshop. “I am a hip-hop dancer, but learning contemporary from such a well known celebrity like Shakti was a great experience.”
Nrityakriti is an annual dance event organized by Adagio, the Choreography society of Kamala Nehru College. This time the event was a solo choreography competition which saw a total of 16 participations. The event was judged by Mr. Anurag, the founder of Boys of street, Mr. Benjamin Jacob, senior member of Dance Works Academy and ms. Rekha Rawat, founder and instructor at India Dance Theatre.
Vipin from IGNOU bagged the first position while Shivam from Aryabhatta College came second and Sandeep from Sri Venkateswara College was declared third.
Post Nrityakriti was hosted ‘Ol That Jazz’, the Western Dance Competition which was judged by Mr. Vikram Sharma, instructor at Dance Works Academy and Mr. Himanshu Sharma, a Hip-Hop artist.
V-Defyn of IIT-Delhi was declared the winner of the event, followed by Misba of Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce and Afroza of Indraprastha College for Women were declared second and third respectively.
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V-Defyn Dance Academy from IIT Delhi were declared winners at the western dance competition
Soon after this event, the crowd flocked towards the main ground where the band Astitva had already taken over the stage. They enthralled the audience with popular numbers like ‘Aa Raat Bhar’, ‘Gulaabo’, ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Sooraj Dooba Hai’. They also performed, for the first time ever, their original composition ‘Dil Banjara’. Astitva wound up the evening with a power-packed performance of ‘Main Prem Pyaala Pi Aaya’.
Astitva band
Astitva band
Ullas 2016 is scheduled to host Sona Mohapatra on day 2.
Arushi Pathak
Riya Chibber
Nishita Agarwal
Tooba Towfiq
Images by Sahil Chauhan, Paurush Bhardwaj and Jasmine Chahal for DU Beat.

The day one of Kamala Nehru College’s annual cultural festival Ullas began with an inauguration ceremony where eminent dancer Padmashree Madhvi Mudgal performed. The principal of the college declared the two day fest open. The campus was filled with myriad colours adding to the exuberance of the environment.

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Amidst first events was Indian classical solo and Folk Dance event organised by Nupur, the Indian Dance Society of KNC.

While Indian classical solo event saw 10 participants from various colleges across DU, the Folk Dance competition on the other hand had 5 teams who enthralled the audience with their performances.

Both the events were adjudicated by a distinguished panel comprising of Ms. Madhumita Rout, an Odissi dancer and teacher, Dr. Nalini Jain, Dance Consultant with Times of India and Mr. Tej Prakash, a famous dancer .

Raghav from Sri Venkateswara College was adjudged as the winner of the Classical Solo dance while Suryaash from Maharaja Agrasen College and Nimisha from Janki Devi Memorial College bagged the second and third spot respectively.

Talking about her experience judging the event, Ms. Madhumita Rout remarked, “India is known for its culture. It is our duty to promote these art and dance forms through such events.”

In the power-packed Folk Dance competition, the Bhangra Group from SGND Khalsa College emerged as the winners. Nrityakriti from Maitreyi College who performed Haryanvi Folk garnered a roaring applause and second prize while Nrityangana from Sri Venkateswara bagged the third prize.

PicsArt_04-06-01.52.42

Kamala Nehru College is scheduled to host Shakti Mohan and Astitva Band later today. Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Arushi Pathak

Riya Chibber

Nishita Agarwal

 

Images by Jasmine Chahal for DU Beat

The European Union (EU) has certainly had an eventful year in 2015 dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis; the growing threat of the Islamic State; the disastrous condition of the world economy and the Greek debt crisis among other things. Having avoided a “Grexit” last year, the EU now faces the possibility of a “Brexit” after British Prime Minister David Cameron announced in late February that Britain would be holding a referendum on the country’s membership to the EU on the 23rd of June 2016.

So why exactly would the UK want to exit? The people in favour of leaving, which includes about half of Conservative MPs and (according to online polls) nearly half of the population, believe that Britain is being held back by the EU and that a Brexit would give them the chance to negotiate a new EU relationship. The primary reasons they cite involve trade and immigration. From an economic standpoint, Britain believes that exiting the EU will result in them being able to secure better deals with China, India and America and that Britain’s contribution to the EU budget can be put to better use in scientific research and development. It also believes that it can free itself from EU regulation returning control to the government over fields such as health, employment laws, etc. With the Syrian refugee crisis turning out to be a problem without an immediate solution, Britain also wishes to further strengthen its immigration laws and reduce the number of people coming there to work.

The Prime Minister however doesn’t want a Brexit, but simply wants a re-negotiation of the terms of Britain’s membership. Mr. Cameron has said that if he is able to get the reforms he wants, he will campaign for Britain to remain in the EU in the buildup to the referendum. So what does he want? Broadly speaking, he wants two things. From an economic point of view- to secure an explicit recognition that Euro isn’t the only currency of the EU and that Britain should not have to contribute to Eurozone bailouts. From an immigration point of view- to restrict those coming to the UK from claiming certain benefits until they have been a resident for at least four years. Other than these broad objectives, the UK is essentially lobbying for more sovereignty; to free business from excessive interference; remove trade barriers in the services and digital sector. He has also reiterated his standpoint that Britain would resist any move to join an “EU Army” or adopt the Euro.

So this brings us to the golden question, should Britain leave the EU or not? Well there really isn’t a right answer to it, most big businesses want Britain to stay as do a large number of Britain’s scientists and researchers (Professor Stephen Hawking has said that a Brexit will be “disastrous” for science). On the other hand some business houses and ministers recognise some of the obvious benefits a Brexit would bring and feel that it is the right course of action indeed. Whereas polls at the time show that 55% of Britain’s citizens want to stay in the EU, one can’t really predict how the numbers will change by June.
Shraman Ghosh
[email protected]

Day 1 of Montage ’16- The annual cultural festival of Jesus and Mary College was celebrated on 15th March, 2016. Staying true to their theme- ‘Colors of Life’, the entire college was adorned with handmade decorations which further enhanced all the aesthetics of the campus.

The day kicked off with Tarannum, the Indian music society of JMC organising their annual music festival ‘Raag’ which included both solo and choir performances. The solo competitions were categorized into three sections: Classical, Semi Classical and Light. In the Eastern Choir, Hans Raj College was given the first position along with Miranda House as second.

Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House
Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House

The main field simultaneously hosted signature compositions of college bands in Madrigal, The Battle of Bands. A total number of fifteen teams had participated in the preliminary round, out of which five shortlisted bands competed for the ultimate victory: Hans Raj Projekt bagging the same.

Adaa, the Indian Dance festival involved Classical Solo and Folk Dance competitions. In the vibrant event of Folk Dance reflecting the rich culture of all the different lands of the nation, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce’s Bhangra emerged as the winner, while the second position was taken by Sri Venkateswara College.

Chimera, the western dance festival of JMC included a Choreography and Western Dance competition. The first place was given to Hans Raj College while the second one was claimed by Kirori Mal College in the Choreography event. In the Western Dance, Sri Venkateswara College’s Verve bagged the first position whereas IIT Delhi’s V – Defyn stood on the second position and Sri Guru Gobind College of Commerce’s Misba came third. The day ended with Supersonic DJ Mojojojo playing a mix of popular pop tracks.

The final day of Montage  kicked off with ‘Stage Craft’ the Stage play competition. The play had 5 participating teams. The best play was ‘9 Parts of Desire’ by Lady Shri Ram College for Women while the best direction was awarded to the team from Hans Raj College for ‘Party’. Abhinav Kumar (Shaheed Bhagat Singh College) and Tanvika (Sri Venkateswara College) won the best actor award in the male and female category respectively.  

Awaaz, the street play event  organised by Kahkasha, the Hindi dramatics society of JMC. The first position was bagged by the Hindi Dramatics Society of SRCC for their production ‘The Defective Ward’. ‘Kalkothri’ the production of Shivaji College won the second position while ‘Sun Tu Rehne De’ and ‘Hawa Nai Rukh Vahi’ the productions of LSR and Hindu college shared the third position.

Madrigal, the western music festival organised by Echo, the western music society of JMC was categorised into solo and choir competitions. The solo event was won by Shivash Chagti (Hans Raj College). The first position in the group event was won by LSR while Kirori Mal college and Kamala Nehru college won the second position.

The final day ended with performances by rock band, ‘The Local Train’ which sang some famous numbers like Bande and Aaoge Tum Kabhi.

Montage ’16 in a glimpse

Day-wise Coverage:

Day 1
Day 2

Catch Montage 2016’s entire album here

Vani Vivek
Lovleen Kaur
Shagun Marwah
Arushi Pathak
Tarushi Verma
Shreya Srivastava

Images by: Alex Arthur, Sahil Chauhan, Hitanksha Jain, Vibhana Kanwar, Gerush Bahal, Uzma Rehman, Aarushi Dhingra and Paurush Bhardwaj for DU Beat

Runbhoomi is the annual four day sports extravaganza organized by College of Vocational Studies for BBE, BBS, BFIA and BMS students of Delhi University. This year, eight colleges participated to win the bragging rights for Best College. The fest started on 3rd March, with a vibrant and glorifying opening ceremony with Chief Guest as Mr. Vijender Khatri, a bodybuilder of international repute. The fest started gleefully with Ms. Akanksha, a teacher at CVS hitting the right notes with Shubham Gupta on the guitar. Zest, the dance society of CVS lit the stage on fire and wowed everyone in attendance.

 Sports such as Football, Futsal, Dodgeball, Volleyball, Cricket, Table Tennis, Chess, Athletics and Dance saw participation from all the colleges. The sportsman spirit was quite reflective in each of the participating team. They all played to have fun, they all played to win. The passion was evident in the matches. The Run was on. Zumba, organized by Transform Gym was the star-event of Runbhoomi’16. Everyone let loose their inhibitions and danced as if no one was watching.
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Taking a break from the grueling fixtures, all participants displayed great camaraderie.
IPL Bidding and a FIFA16 PS3 battle was organized under the Runneeti banner in which participation was open to all colleges and courses. Participants racked their brains to be called the best in strategy formulation and implementation. The last day was the most difficult with the constant threat of rain. The rain gods took a break to watch the amazing dance performances in the closing ceremony by CVS, MAC, ABC and SGTB College.
This year, Runbhoomi introduced a new award to encourage fairplay in field. SGTB Khalsa College won the “Runbhoomi Spirit of the Game award”. The Best College award went to CVS after they won most of the events. Being the hosts, the rolling trophy passed to Maharaja Agarsen College who came second in the standings.
Guest Post by CVS for DU Beat
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th and 27th of February on a massive scale. ‘Abhivyakti’ means “articulation of one’s feelings” and that is what was aimed at, during the two day festival held at Motilal Nehru College. The Fest was only restricted to the participants who were interested to express themselves in Hindi.  The events – parliamentary debate, poetry writing, creative writing and conventional debate, ensured enough opportunities for the participants to contest it out with great vigor and excitement. IMG-20160301-WA0007 The fest was inaugurated by none other than Mr. Madan Kashyap who is a famous poet. The highlight of the fest came from Mr. Piyush Mishra, who has worked in movies like the Gangs of Wasseypur duology and Aarambh. He conducted a talk show that inspired the participants and the students present in the hall. Similarly, famous lyricist, Raj Shekhar, who has worked in the movie Tanu Weds Manu also facilitated a talk show to ignite the youth’s passion towards poetry. They were the chief guests in the events of poetry and creative writing. Along with them were other guests, namely Maitreyi Pushpa, Rashmi Bharadwaj and Shambhu Shikhar who are all well known for their fiction writing and humor poetry respectively. IMG-20160301-WA0010 Conventional debate was judged by the like of Mr. DN Shrivastav and Mrs. Asha Yadav. All the events turned out to be highly competitive and full of conflicting, yet new, views. The Parliamentary Debate was the highlight of all the events, where a cross college team of Anju and Shashank Tiwari won the first prize, whereas closely in second came Rajeev Ranjan and Sumit Pandey from Law Faculty. The events turned out to be a huge success. On being asked about how hard it was to organize a fest of this stature, Sejal Gulati , the Vice President of the society replied, ”All I can say is these two days if the year is what we wait for, and with such cooperative juniors and seniors who work for the society selflessly, makes the journey easy and beautiful.” Similarily the President of the society, Kavita stated that for her organizing an event for artists like Piyush Mishra had become and encouraging factor and that in turn ensured that her responsibility had to be fulfilled irrespective of the perils in the way.” Ishaan Sengupta [email protected]]]>