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Cultural conglomeration

of Music and Dance at NIT is over and yet not quite so, writes Prathibha Parameswaran

Photo: M. Moorthy

ENTHRALLING Fun `n' frolic all the way

Four days of fun and thrill are over. `Thandav', `Thirkan and `Threatrix' are memories now. The guitar strings have retreated to an eerie silence. Yet, students of the National Institute of Technology, are unable to get over their annual cultural and literary event, Festember.

An event dubbed `Shruthilaya' kick-started the fanfare where classical music buffs had their fill of soul-stirring music and also warmed up to face their adversaries in the days to come. Evenings helped to unwind with `Tarangini'.

Guys tucked themselves behind the wired nets while the girls unabashedly vented their zeal perching themselves on the front rows. Good performers were cheered and the bad ones not spared. PSG Tech walked away with the top prize for their admirable rendition of an old Ilayaraja tune and the popular `Ra ra..' from Chandramukhi.

ASG College and PSNA had to be satisfied with the second and third positions. The crowd burst in to rapture and shook the Barn with screams and shouts soon as the college music team climbed on stage to give a host performance.

Packed schedule

Along with the onstage glitzy shows, were the classrooms and galleries of NIT, where the nerds and litterateurs converged for events of their interest. Tamil Mandram, the college Tamil club put up the `Kavithai,' `Rousu' Kanna Rousu' and `Thirai Saaral,' events among others, which never lacked patronage.

`Yaar pakkam' and `NIT Knockout' were good enough for the brilliant and garrulous to show their talent. The Hindi-speaking crowd had the "Jhankaar" session to sway to Bollywood music.

Hindi-enthusiasts even brush up their basics at the `Mazaa Aa Gaya.'

The wind soon blew westwards as performers passionately plucked their guitar strings mesmerising the crowd with Pink Floyd and Guns n' Roses numbers during the `Metal Throat' event.

NIT, Calicut walked away with the top honour. Yet another competitive round was the `Power Cut,' an acoustic guitar competition, which enraptured the metal freaks. As the racy beats of the drums mingled with the heartbeats, loud cheers greeted the best teams and participants.

`Thandav' and `Thirkan' the eastern and western choreography events later vied for audience attention for the rest of the evening as the crowd swayed to the lingering tunes. In the midst of all this musical action, there was another group gathered in an air-conditioned hall on a raised platform. This was the `Theatrix'— nothing too dramatic about it though.

The few teams that registered chose to bank on comedy and suspense to woo the audience. Though the hosts got the better of the guests with their play `Playing Along', Bangalore-based R.V. College of Engineering bagged the first prize for their play `The Problem'.

Enchanting chief guest

Collage, Soap sculpting, Thumbelina (thumb drawing) and T. Shirt designing were all a part of this fun-filled flurry of activities. The finale had a great icing with playback singer Anoorada Sriram lending her husky voice to the event.

If `Ishq bina...' from Taal and the fast paced `Aa rang de, dupatta mera...' exalted the crowd to a rapturous state, `Appadi podu...' from Ghilli and her super hit song `Karupputhan enakku pidicha colour...' from the film `Vettri kodi kattu' set them on a foot tapping mode.

The Government Arts College, Kumbakonam, had an extra reason to celebrate, as they bagged the Ilayaraja Cup from the NIT Director, P. Subramanian for their overall performance.

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