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A chance to enjoy some good rock music

Staff Reporter

The annual cultural festival gives JIPMER students a much-needed break

ANNUAL FESTIVAL: Students performing a light music show at SPANDAN 2005 on the JIPMER campus in Pondicherry. — Photo: By Special Arrangement

PONDICHERRY: SPANDAN, annual festival is back.

The event got off on Tuesday and till Saturday the JIPMER campus would be vibrant throughout the days and the nights.

On Tuesday--under watchful eyes of "Malakyte," the mascot for the event, SPANDAN got off with a light music competition.

The Inspector-General of Police, P.R. Meena, formally declared open the festival.

Teams from around 50 colleges will battle it out in events like sketching, painting, quiz, dumb charades and rangoli.

Face painting

"This year ten more colleges have joined the participation. Face painting was introduced for the first time", said Mohamed Mahroof P, president of the students' association, JIPMER.

Fashion show

The fashion show on September 2 and the western music competition on the concluding day would be the most watched out events.

In the past festivals, the fight was always between colleges from Bangalore and Chennai in cultural events competition.

"Most of the time we are on top in literary and debating events" says a student from JIPMER.

Though the festival is decades old, it is yet to get more sponsors like for other cultural festivals of premier institutions like IIT-Madras. "So we miss a big showdown that's usually part of cultural festivals," says another student. JIPMER spends around Rs 7.4 lakhs on the event. Old timers in Pondicherry who used to follow the festival says the rock show's which was integral to SPANDAN till early 90's used to attract a large crowd. "For us it was a chance to listen to some good rock," says another student adding "there are no complaints as such shows also have its own drawbacks. It gives room for troublemakers."

Rock or no rock, SPANDAN is an occasion to celebrate.

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