The following is a report on Vasantham ’11,A program organized by ‘Srishti’ - ‘The literary club of Amrita’. Vasantham ’11 was a four day celebration marking the occasion of the harvest festival, Pongal.
The first day, January 7th marked the start of the program. The theme of the day was AGARAM.
Day 1: AGARAM- 7/Jan/2011 4:30 PM- 6:30 PM
On the first day, an array of competitions were held at the main ground and the M.Tech classrooms. The competitions included Treasure Hunt, ClayArticle Painting, Poem writing and Short story writing. Treasure hunt and clay article painting had high turnout and it marked a fun filled day.
The second day, January the 8th, was the day of traditional celebrations, named THAI PONGAL
Day 2: THAI PONGAL-8/Jan/2011 4:30 PM-6:30 PM
The second day of celebrations was held in the main ground in a fenced off area. The main attraction of the day was traditional Pongal made by the students, in a clay pot. The best 5 poems of the previous day and all the painted clay lamps were put on display and the audience were requested to vote for the best of the pick. Other great crowd pullers were the Kolam Competition and the stalls selling village-style condiments. There were also a bunch of B.Tech students singing folk songs in the background. The other attraction was a ring throwing game which was a roaring success.
The third day, January the 10th , was the day on which a movie was screened at a completely occupiedAmriteshwari Hall.
Day 3: THIRAI VIZHA- 10/Jan/2011 4:30 PM- 7:00 PM
Screening of the movie ‘MADHRASAPATINAM’ was greeted with much enthusiasm and the day was a grand success.
The final day of the program, January the 11th, marked the closure of the four day fest.
Day 4: VASANTHAM11/Jan/2011 4:30 PM- 7:00 PM
The program was started with a small prayer and the lighting of the lamp by the Chief warden Mr. Ranganathan. This was followed by the cultural programs of the day. First up Folk songs by girls and a captivating instrumental – mridhangam by one of the first years. This was followed up by was the on-Stage debate involving both staff and students equally dispersed on either sides with Dr. Murali Rangarajan as the impartial judge. The topic of the day was ‘ulagamayam aavathal mozhigal valarkinranava, thaeikindranava'. The classical dance from 'aandal thirupaavai- 4th paasuram'by a third year student was greatly appreciated by the audience. The prizes for all the competitions were then distributed by the chief guest. The day was concluded with a vote of thanks by the Srishti coordinators.
We hereby convey our heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Harini Jayaraman, the faculties of the English department and the Department of student welfare for their contributions towards making the program a grand success.
Society for Poetree is a new forum for poets launched by Srishti. This is a report about their first ever meeting.
The inception of the Society for Poetree was conducted on the 27th of October, 2010. The Society of Poetree was set up under the umbrella of Srishti, the literary club of the Amrita School of Engineering. It was established as a forum for sharing contemporary poetry, written by the students of Amrita. Mukund P Rao of 3rd year, Chemical Engineering, is the student in charge of Society. The first meeting was held under the auspices of Dr. Harini Jayaraman, the Head of the English Department.
The meeting was attended by a total eighteen poets. Eleven poets shared works in English, two presented poems in Malayalam, three poets rendered poems in Tamil and there was one recitation each in Hindi and Hindustani.
The event was conducted in the form of a stand up session wherein each poet took turns at presenting their works on stage. Niranjan Raghavan, a first year student presented an interesting array of poetry, showcasing works in three different genres of poetry namely fantasy, love and mystery. Atulya Varma, a third year Chemical Engineering student presented a ballad, which she sung out in Malayalam describing Radha’s love for Lord Krishna. A poem in Tamil, presented by Madhusudan S. explored the emotions of prisoners on a death parole and was heart wrenching to listen to. Anand Kumar, a third year student presented a poem titled ‘Burnt’ which dealt with the emotions of losing a loved one. Arun Sundar’s poem described a conversation between an injured soldier and a young boy. It put into words the irony that a soldier, once so strong, had been castigated to his death bed due to a small hole in his heart.
The evening presented an opportunity for the young poets to present their works to the world and feel confident in doing so. The meeting concluded with a pledge to continue this new tradition of poetry reading in the next semester too.
PS: Mukund has his own blog on blogspot. Please check the blogroll to go to his site and read his poems.
PPS: Anyone who has a literary-based not-so-personal blog can send the links to (srishti.amrita [at] gmail [dot] com) to have it appear on the blog roll ... Increases your blog traffic significantly :)
Thrice has the clarion call been sounded: and thrice has it been responded to...
Aitreya 2010- the largest confluence of literary talent in Amrita lit up the campus like never before on the third weekend of March. The much awaited intra university literary competition by Srishti, featuring the brightest and the best of what Amrita had to offer saw very active participation from the campuses of Ettimadai, Bangalore, Mysore, and Kochi. The entire set of competitions ranging from conventional declamations to the unconventional Persona (personality contest) had the participants vying for more than just the prizes- It was glory, both of self and one’s institution, which counted more in one’s hearts.The event started on the morning of the 20th March with the auspicious opening ceremony presided over by the chief guest Dr. M.P Chandrasekharan, Dean- Engineering. Dr. Chinnaswami, Professor, Students Welfare, and Dr. Ranganathan, Chief Warden were the Special Guests. With the formalities done and over with, the event got underway at the Amriteswari Hall, with the prelims of the various competitions. Saturday morning saw both the prelims and finals of “Intersection” (Crossword), with the competition being hijacked by a team from Bangalore who eventually ended up taking home the prize for the same. That was followed by the prelims for “War of the Wits” (debate) and the “Gladiator” (Persona) both proceeding simultaneously. The debate saw a team of two, one speaking for and the other speaking against a given argument. Four teams were selected from amongst more than fifty to participate in the finals scheduled for the next day. Persona event had the prelims in the form of a written test with the answers being adjudged on the basis of their creativity and wackiness. The session got its much needed respite in the form of the lunch break.
The afternoon had in its itinerary two competitions both of which had a considerable literary slant. “The Pulpit” (Declamation), the contest in which the participant had to impersonate any famous literary figure and deliver any lengthy dialogue or soliloquy, had people stepping into the shoes of characters ranging from the Venetian Portia to our very Abdul Kalam. At the end of the considerable use of lung power and a few comic scenes where the participants stared blank having forgotten their dialogues, the first and second prizes were bagged by Pavithra and Nikshep both from the Bangalore campus for their very realistic portrayal of Helen Keller and the protagonist of one of Ayn Rand's books.
The skit competition which followed the declamation saw four plays being put up for show. The plays being adaptations of various literary pieces, promised a high density display of talent. The participants didn’t disappoint as each play left the judges in a position more difficult than they were in before. The props, acting and dialogue delivery had the audience and the judges left at their wits’ end. The play that won the most accolades and also bagged the prize was ‘My Fair Lady’, from G.B Shaw's Pygmalion. Thus the first day of the competition drew to a satisfactory close.
The second day began with a great deal of expectation as it had in store the finals of all the competitions. The day began on an active note with the “Treasure Hunt” making sure that all the participants literally set a brisk pace for the rest of the day. The various teams, from the host campus and outside, had a fine brain teasing session in trying to get through the puzzles and making it to the various check points. Finally the team that made it through the gruelling session first was Nithya, Rishab, Mukund and Aishwarya.
If the treasure hunt kept the participants busy outside the Amriteshwari hall, the scene inside was just as intense. The ‘War of the Wits’(debate) finals saw the audience sit in rapt attention and witness the various arguments, which the participants let fly at each other. The topic - Should foreign varsities be allowed to set up their campuses in India?- had the participants fork out valid arguments for both sides of the motion. The two teams of four (one for and one against) made sure that each argument of the other side was made mince meat of, with logical rebuttals getting appreciative applauses from the crowd. Finally the team that stood out was the team that had very good coordination and team work among the participants- the team that spoke against the motion.
The debate then was followed by the Gladiator (Persona), a personality contest which had six participants try and outdo the others in various literary obstacle courses that were set for them. If the talent round saw the finalists show off their capabilities with the one playing the piano receiving a great applause, then the innovative product marketing saw them team up in groups of two with teamwork being the watch word. The last round, the stress interview with Mr. Prasanth Nair and Dr. Murali Rangarajan peeling through all layers of defence brought out the crème de la crème of the interviewees. The judges opined that Asher of Amrita Bangalore and Shivasubramanian of Ettimadai deserved the prize with their calm and cool demeanour seeing them through. With that the competition took a breather with a break for lunch.
The afternoon session saw the last competition of the event- the ‘quizophrenia’. The brainstorming prelims saw teams of two trying to work out the answers for twenty questions put up on screen. The answers-some innovative, some expected and some more downright bizarre- were then evaluated to sieve out the top six teams who were to go on stage for the finals. The finals saw two teams from Bangalore and four from Coimbatore vying with each other to turn up trumps each. The competition also saw active participation of the audience with answers being put up by them making sure that the teams on stage stay on their toes. At the end of six rounds of gruelling questions two teams made it to the top. Nithin and Nisanth from Coimbatore bagged the first prize and Vignesh and Sai Kripa of the same campus took the second.
As the afternoon session advanced, the results for the off stage events “Parchment” (Ragmag), “Scittura”(Blurb writing), and “The Oscars” (Documentary Film Making) started coming. The prize for ‘Ragmag’ was shared between the School of Dentistry, Kochi and ASAS, Mysore. The half-burnt parchments with colourful cartoons and lively comments covering the events were testimony to their wonderful creativity. The prize for “Oscars” went to ASAS, Kochi for their informative and interesting documentary on the mangrove forests of Lakshadweep islands. The first and second prize for “Scittura” was bagged by Samuel of Bangalore and K. Gowtham of Ettimadai respectively.
The final proceeding of the day was the much awaited valedictory function of Aitreya which was presided over by Dr N.S. Pandian, Dean, PGProgrammes, Amrita University and Dr. Harini Jayaraman, Faculty Coordinator, Srishti. The tension kept rising as the prizes for each competition was announced in anticipation of the much awaited rolling trophy announcement. And when the final announcement did come through it turned out to be a rather anti climax as both Coimbatore and Bangalore were adjudged joint winners. However, with a spirit of sportsmanship and as a goodwill gesture from the host’s side, the trophy was given to the Bangalore contingent who received it with open arms to be kept on display for another year running.
Thus the curtains drew to a close on one of the most fun filled but professional display of talent and grandeur, with each member going away either as a winner or with the knowledge of having given his best to try and beat the rest.
It was a Sunday, and the local time at Amrita - 7:30 a.m. A bit early for most people, but here the air bustled with excitement and activity, with coordinators running hither thither to make things fall in place in time. For on this day, Amrita School of Engineering, Ettimadai, was to hold its first ever intra-university literary fest. Aptly named Aitreya ’09, the day reflected a confluence of poetry, prose and drama. Contestants from the Bangalore and Kochi Amrita campuses, along with those from ASE Ettimadai, were amongst those battling it out for the much coveted Aitreya championship. The event had last been conducted in the year 2007 on a local inter-collegiate scale, with PSG Tech. walking away with the rolling trophy.
The Dean of Engineering of the Ettimadai campus graced the inaugural ceremony. His address to the students primarily focused on encouraging hearty participation in fests such as Aitreya, as well as emphasizing on the need to ‘come forth’. Following this function, the events were doled out one by one to the eagerly awaiting participants. Contests like declamation, debate, quiz, crossword, treasure hunt, and persona had the contestants giving it their best, each one vying for the first prize. The declamation contest was an arena for students to enact out world-famous speeches, and soliloquies from famous literary works. The debate was indeed a ‘tussle of wits’ with the four finalist teams verbally battling it out onstage. ‘Quizophrenia’, the quiz programme, was a roaring success with the participants as well as the audience equally enjoying the various rounds of trivia. Although the crossword contest turned out to be a real challenge, the participants managed to crack the codes, displaying astonishing vocabulary skills. The treasure hunt had the participants decoding clue after clue, each team scrambling to be the first to unsheathe the final treasure. Persona had the contestants put through two entertaining rounds of Just-a-Minute, as well as a decisive round of stress interview. For an element of surprise, a blurb-writing contest was announced on the spot (the participants had been asked to read George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’ before coming, to this aid). The end of the day came with the valediction ceremony, and the Bangalore campus was adjudged the overall winner. When asked for feedback, most students from the other campuses seemed to be captivated by the beauty of the campus, not to mention enthralled by the standard of the competition. Kudos to all the teamwork that lead to this event being a stupendous success!
