Raga of youth
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`Ragam '05' strikes a chord with students.
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In step with the rhythm of the festival.
BILLED AS one of the best inter-collegiate cultural festivals in India, `Ragam '05,' a cultural festival held at the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C), symbolised the festive spirit and gave hundreds of participants a fabulous opportunity to exhibit their talent and win grand prizes.
For four days, from February 16, NIT-C hosted more than 3,000 students from 100 colleges across the country and a 2,000-strong home crowd.
Spread across five venues - named Mirage, Ordered Chaos, Sphinx, Event Horizon and Echoes - and with 50 events and prize money of more than Rs.1 lakh, this year's Ragam was "bigger and better than ever" said organisers of the cultural extravaganza.
Ragam turned out to be more than just a festival of dance, music, colours and festive frenzy, but "an entirely different experience by itself," said Arun Philip, a sixth semester student at NIT-C.
Mirage has three halls - Aryabhatta, Bhaskara and Chanakya. Those venues witnesseda mind-boggling array of events, from quizzes to highly-competitive debates, Antakshari and dumb-charades. Speakers had to prove their point in JAMs and extempores. Personalities ranging from Saddam Hussain to Sania Mirza were amazingly brought to life as participants faced the Mock-Press.
Testing grounds
There were testing grounds for most performing arts such as mime, monoact, tableau, rangoli and light music. Rangoli brought to life Raja Ravi Verma's painting `Damayanti and the Swan,' which went on to win the first prize in that event.
There was an `Informals stage,' also known as the `Twilight Zone,' where fun prevailed and it was at the heart of the campus. Potpourri, which was a mixture of several interesting rounds, Movie-spoof, where rib-tickling comedy was attained by careful mixing of scenes and dialogues of various movies, and Ad-Venture, where participants had to market products in the most convincing yet witty manner were some of the off-beat events that were held at that venue.
Mega venue
The mega-venue of this Ragam, a special stage and gallery built to seat around 5,000 people, was packed on all days, with the biggest events such as the Eastern and Western orchestras, fashion show, group dance and the shows by playback singer M.G. Sreekumar and Motherjane, a rock band, staged there.
The keenly contested orchestras brought great music to life. The fashion show showcased the best in designs possible, with themes varying from underwater to the retro 70s. Eleven teams vied for top honours in group dance, which included both modern-day and classical music.
The biggest event of the festival was the show by M.G. Sreekumar, as he held the audience spellbound.
Motherjane played some of their best numbers from their album, which is currently featuring on 14 radio stations across the United States and seven in Mexico, and had the crowds swaying to their tunes.
The winners
The final winners were the home team - the NITCians with 450 points. St. Joseph Devagiri won the Best Outstation Team award with 114 points, while NITK-Suratkal and College of Engineering, Thiruvannathapuram, tied for the fourth place.
Ragam concluded on February 19 with a fashion show. Srikanth, a student from NITK-Suratkal, said: "If there was something I have waited for, it was `Ragam '05.' And if there is something I am waiting for , it is definitely Ragam '06. Ragam is not just a fest - this is life."
DEEPAK H
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