Honey Singh, The Gunday Star-Cast, Singers Papon, Arijit Singh, Neeraj Shridhar and many, many more such Bollywood entities swarmed into the national capital this spring. Why? You ask… well, isn’t it obvious? It’s that time of the year when Delhi University and various other colleges spend their big sponsorship amounts on entertaining students with these star-studded attractions solely to get a larger crowd to come attend their fests. Yes, that’s right, it’s the University Festival season again, beginning from end January and going on till mid-March. Sponsors, teachers, students, actors, singers, stampedes, excitement, turmoil, chaos (I won’t be surprised if someday a student or two becomes a foot mat for those thousand smelly feet. Eh!), cheers, food, sweat and a lot other irrelevant things are what make these fests so happening.
They have been a part and parcel of college life for a long while now and are probably the only time of the year most awaited by us students as it is a break from our monotonous time tables and daily routines (Don’t forget the free attendance!). The other day I started my fest-fever by visiting the official DU festival- Antardhwani- at north campus in the Stadium Complex, however, the muck and rain ruined most part of it. Stalls by every college and each department was put up, the vice-chancellor began his rounds, street plays got most of the attention and the sadly tattered flower show (courtesy: the down-pour) all in all didn’t portray a very joyous occasion.
Now, coming to individual college festivals. My college gang and I, oh so excitedly went on the 4th of Feb to get passes for the much talked about Arijit Singh concert (I mean can you blame us? Have you ever heard his voice?!) only to find out that despite a large number of busy-bodies, and I mean around a thousand students, lined up for the passes, the college suddenly declares that neither will the passes be sold nor will he be coming to perform due to a sudden common-cold attack! Like, Seriously?!? Anyway, moving on with a heavy heart we settled for another fest. This one was The Big, The Bad and The Ugly- CROSSROADS! The annual SRCC fest with a mind-boggling 3 Crore budget and 4-day extravaganza! Stall and sponsors by Samsung, Play Station, Red-Bull, Nestle et al, QD’s and Rico’s , favourite hang-outs for most DU students, didn’t fail to entertain, DJs and other fun events were going on all over the campus. The opening night was kicked-off by a superb performance by Shaan on the 6th of March, oh and did I mention the passes were worth a grand? No? Oh, if I’m mentioning that let me also mention that they were electronic passes. Yeah…hating your college? I feel you brother. So, till the 9th of March SRCC had its fest with big names swarming in.
Then let’s come to one of the other normal colleges of DU, like Maitreyi, called Rhapsody, which was a 2 day fest, with the usual street-play competition, dance-battles and a very sad sufi night. The only highlight was a performance by the Punjabi afamed singer Indeep Bakshi, whose song Saturday was the only one that rings a bell…oh well. However, the atmosphere all around, with loud music, dancing and just being there with your friends gives you such a rush that you forget all your worries for a while…
Ofcourse, not to forget the departmental fests of various colleges including guest lectures and treasure hunts were also held. These events were typically a sight to see, with departmental professors running around like headless chickens, not knowing which student to catch and whom to scream at, seniors hosting the fest sitting like royalty at the registration desks while the juniors had to work like slaves to get sponsors, send out invites, seek official permission , etc.., ah, good old days…
Now that the fest fever for this season is off, the exam fever is back-on, yay life. Anyway, so let me know how your experience of these crazy events was!
