Day 1 at Oasis, the annual cultural festival of BITS Pilani, saw a plethora of events being held in the campus. After the inauguration ceremony and an interactive talk with Amish Tripathi the night before, the institute was buzzing with activity all day which started early in the morning.
The first event was Razzmatazz, a group dance preformance. The elimination round took place for several hours, with teams from all around India giving their best performances. This was followed by the preliminary round of Andholika – an on-the-spot solo singing competition.
Classical prof show at BITS Pilani
Soon after this, the crowd started gathering in the lawns for the street play event, which was in tune with the theme of the fest – of gods and men. The teams gave the audience food for thought with their impactful performances. While the students were in awe of the theatrical events in the lawns, one of the auditoriums was occupied with students who followed the writing of Manav Kaul, a contemporary Hindi poet. Kaul was joined by Manish Gupta, a peer in the theater industry. They both conducted an interactive session, engaging with the students and answering their queries about literature and life. The highlight of the day was a classical prof show with influential musicians such as Pandit Ronu Majumdar. The soft music touched the audience and left them feeling calm as well as ecstatic, resulting in a standing ovation from everyone in the auditorium.
The first day of the fest was a truly fantastic experience for everyone involved. More events will take place throughout the night.
Image credits: Vibhana Kanwar for DU Beat Akshara Srivastava [email protected]
The annual cultural fest of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Oasis 2016, kicked off on 19 October 2016 with an inauguration ceremony. The ceremony began on a musical note with the college band performing for the packed auditorium. The band also received a shoutout from Amish Tripathi, the guest of honour for this year’s fest.
The organising committee was introduced, and the work of the art department was especially praised in reference to the giant panels all around the auditorium. The Vice Chancellor of the institute addressed the audience with his opening speech, and congratulated the organising committee for putting together such a grand fest. Next, Amish Tripathi gave a brief message, expressing his appreciation for the event.
Image credits: Gerush Bahal
The ceremony continued with performance from the college students. The mime club elicited laughter from the audience with their original humorous skits. They also prseented an act with ultra violet lighting. This was followed by a powerful performance by the dance club, depicting the Mahabharata as well as a western dance performance.
The day will be concluded with a talk from Amish Tripathi as well as closing remarks.
With such an energetic start to the fest, we are looking forward to a truly fantastic four-day event!
Feature Image Credits- Harshit Thukral for DU Beat
Enamored with love and luxuries, a delightful journey to the best cities across the globe was explored at Oasis’2015, the 45th annual cultural festival of BITS (Birla Institute of Science and Technology), Pilani, at the Pilani campus from 28th October to 1st November, 2015. With their central theme being ‘Around the world in 96 hours’ this voyage was toured by myriads.
The festivities began with a grand inauguration ceremony, where a symbolic ribbon cutting tradition was held, graced by the presence of the Director, Prof A.K. Sarkar and the Deputy Director, Prof S.C. Sivasubramanian to set the pace for an enchanting experience that lay ahead. A variety of remarkable stage performances by all the cultural societies of BITS along with a colorful panorama of fireworks display lit the spark for the coming transcendence of the world tour. The ceremony was followed by the sublime performance of an Israeli band, which included NirMotzeri accompanied by Yonatan Sharon on percussion instruments and Yanush Hurwitz on the accordion, which left the audience mesmerized by their soulful and hauntingly beautiful music.
Day one, thus, began with a beautiful battle of vocal wars in the solo singing competition of Andholika, and a dance extravaganza in Razzmatazz. The preceding events included the Oasis’ 2-on-2 ParliamentaryDebate, a photography Exposure to make the world visible to the naked eyes and an Apt to Act to unleash one’s theatre maniac through spontaneous enacting of on-the-spot given situations in the most creative way.
Organized by Pepsi MTV Indies, the English Professional act featured an exuberant combination of Skrat and Dualist Enquiry. Skrat, is a three piece alternative rock band from Chennai known for their tight and electrifying performances, comprising of band members Sriram T.T, the vocalist and the lead guitarist, Satish Narayanan, the bassist and Tapass Naresh, the drummer. Followed by this performance was the act of Dualist Enquiry, a solo electronic project of Sahej Bakshi, a Delhi-based music composer who, is also known to have worked with electronic dance artists such as David Guetta and Fatboy Slim.
The campus was filled with the loudest cheers when it was time for the Street Dance competition to be held. An exciting Treasure Hunt was also organized with a goal to unearth a proverbial treasure chest by travelling the ‘world’ around us. The day ended with a spectacular display of mesmerizing musical performances in the classical group singing competition of Tarang.
Day Two of Oasis comprised of the event of Beg, Borrow, Steal for all the street smart students, which was met with most enthusiasm. The list of items was a unique blend of objects that were easy to find like a selfie stick or a dongle, and yet, some crazy stuff that were impossible to attain such as socks with golden snitches or Yaoi painting. The team ADP which showed unique creativeness by making a Hawaiian guitar out of thermocol, was the one that eventually won. The following events of the day included vocals workshop for singers, movie quiz for movie buffs, Metamorphosis which served to be a heaven for budding film directors, a Spell Bee and The Golden Gravity Show which showcased stunning aerial acrobatics by a Swiss Trapeze Artist. Preceding these events were delightfully melodic contests for all music lovers such as Swaranjali, displaying the depths of Indian Classical Music and Pitch Perfect exhibiting the extent of one’s vocal prowess through a capella. A bounty of knowledge was received through Skiller, the World Beatbox Champion 2012 from Bulagria and so was the true meaning of love and life through the movie screening of ‘Amelie’, a fanciful comedy of Switzerland. Dance Duels, a solo dance competition was also held which raved great reviews for all its performances.
Papon
Day Three included exciting events like Triathlon, a mind-boggling test of wits and strengths, Tandav, a classical dance competition and a writer’s paradise in The Oasis Reading Session for all closet poets. The much awaited night of supreme pleasure and elevated spirit levels had finally arrived with the amazing acts of Sunburn’s Zenith and Shaan and Russian Hard Rock Sofa’s electrifying performance which left the crowd grooving on both feet in no time and longing for more and more with each passing moment. Mr. and Ms. Oasis, a contest for the hunt of the most talented and charismatic male and female personality of Oasis made everyone stay up all night in the cold just to hear the final results. In the midst of the decisions being made by the judges, the audience was also rewarded with a visual treat of Sonya Nakti, a belly-dancing-fire-spouting performer who, surprisingly, enthralled high amount of cheers from the tired audience even at three in the morning.
The Last day of Oasis was celebrated at the N2O Comedy Show with Biswa, Utsav Chakraborty and Daniel Fernandes who made the crowd roar with laughter till the point they could laugh no more, making everyone forget their worries. In the end, the beautiful Lantern festival made the sky gleam brightly from the farthest distance, with smiles spreading from one face to another thereby creating a perfect end to a perfect festival.
Therefore, it can be said with certainty that there were beautiful memories made for every person to take home during this extraordinary Oasis of ninety six hours.
List of Winners for the above mentioned competitions:-
AND MS. OASIS:-
Kushal and Ashmita
ANDHOLIKA:- Western Andholika- 1st -Male: Paritosh Pande from Vivekananda Insitute of Professional Studies, IP University. 1st– Female: Shradha Kapoor from Pearl Academy of Fashion
Eastern Andholika- 1st– Male: Lakshya Sachdeva from Vivekananda Insitute of Professional Studies, IP University 1st– Female: Harleen Kaur from Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce
TANDAV:- 1st– Priyanka from Lady Shri Ram College for Women 2nd – Shonan from Lady Shri Ram College for Women
PITCH PERFECT:- 1st– Miranda House: Aishwariya Kukrety, Anukriti Singh and Emily Ralte 2nd– Lady Shri Ram College for Women: Satwiki Adla, Anna, Faith and Bhavya
OASIS READING SESSION:- 1st– Prabhat Chaturvedi from Shri Venkateswara College 2nd– Kushal Jasoria from BITS Pilani
TARANG:- 1st– Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce: Rahul Bansal, Shubhankar Jain, Ekyum Singh, Harshit Kumar, Harleen Kaur, Harjinder Singh and Sidhanth Gupta 2nd– Sri Venkateswara College: Zaran Hashmi and Vibhor Sumon
APT TO ACT:- 1st– Sri Venkateswara College: Ananda, Sahir and Tanvika 2nd– Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College: Abhitanshu, Abhilash and Sanyam
METAMORPHOSIS:- 1st– Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology: Sarthak Malhotra, Suyash, Rajat, Mudhit and Dharamjay 2nd– St. Stephens’ College: Nirbhay Nitya Nanda and Rajiv Savio Herald
STREET DANCE:- 1st– College of Vocational Studies: Abheet, Puneet, Vikas, Gaurav, Divyanshu, Chetan, Raghav, Animesh, Rishabh, Yash and Aman 2nd– BITS Pilani: Vishal, Prabhatt, Kapil, Tanveesh, Prabhakar, Samarth, Palash, Srinivasan, Sourabh, Riddhi, Hitesh, Akarsh and Naman
One month into the semester and it’s time for BITS Pilani’s first fest of the session. The 30th edition of BITS Open Sports Meet or BOSM will take place from the 18th to 22nd September. This year BOSM will witnesses roughly 1500 outstation participants from IITs to Delhi University along with international participation from Sri Lanka and Dubai. With a professional show and new events lined up, the fest is set for a complete revamp this year. Here’s a look at the major new developments this time around:
The inauguration ceremony scheduled for the 18th will host Mrs. Premlata Agarwal, the oldest Indian woman to scale Mt. Everest as the chief guest with Mr. Joy Bhattacharya as the Guest of Honour for the occasion. There is also an inspirational talk scheduled by Mrs. Premlata on the 19th based on her lifetime achievements and the struggles she endured for the same. BOSM witnesses a professional show for the first time ever with “The F16s” , an electro indie band from Chennai coming down to Pilani as part of their new album launch. The event serves a twofold purpose-drawing in the general crowd and setting the tone for the other fests to come. Ignition, the LAN gaming event is also being reinstated this year with a lot of popular games and it promises to be a major crowd puller. A F1 simulator and football game screening are also on the itinerary. The usual and widely popular street football, box cricket and zorbing as well as Mountaineering and Adventure Club’s Spartan Dash are also seeing a renewal.
Among the sporting events, women’s football and an Indian sports zone which will include kabaddi and pitthoo are being introduced this year. In addition to this there are the regular events planned for this BOSM too, ranging from the BOSM sports quiz to photography and commentary competitions.
The organising committee (the CoSSAc) as well as the Sports Financial Committee is adopting a more liberal approach towards things. Plans are in place to enhance BOSM as both a sports fest as well as a BITSian one. The sports secretaries of the various hostels are being involved in streamlining the management process. Due to a surplus of funds, there is bound to be an increase in prize money and every participant will receive a goody bag. The BOSM app will be getting a brand new interface and matches are being prescheduled to afford the teams greater convenience.
BOSM promises to be much bigger and better this year. With the tireless effort being put in to make the sporting fest grander than ever before, there is definitely going to be a lot to look forward to.
DU Beat is the online media partner for this event.
