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| Director Prof. M. Ramachandran Inaugurating Jashn 2010 | Classical Dance by BITS Students at the inauguration of Jashn 2010 | The Director Circulation of Khaleej Times Mr Mark Carrol addressing the gathering |
BITS, Pilani - Dubai , in association with ACER and Khaleej Times, celebrated its 10th year of existence with much fanfare by organising the UAE's largest inter-collegiate cultural fest - Jashn 2010 from March 21 - 26. The week long affair invited some of the top universities from all over the country to take part in an eclectic mix of events that included Public Speaking, Quizzing, Drama, Music, Dance and to top it all a Concert by India 's most famous rock band - Parikrama. The participating universities included MAHE - Manipal, Gulf Medical University , Heriot Watt University , Murdoch University , IITM, IMT, S.P. Jain University and Skyline University .
The whole fest had a carnival feel to it as the BITS campus was dotted with food and game stalls throughout the week, while there was a daily ACER sponsored raffle draw where the entrants had a chance of winning ACER Netbooks. However, the real attractions of Jashn were the competitive events, which acted as platforms on which all the participants got a chance to showcase their varied talents.
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| Winning Team of BITS Pilani and organizers of BQuizzed 2010 | Winner from BITS Pilani Dubai performing a song | Winning team from MAHE Manipal performing a group song |
Kicking off the fest was a day of literary and public speaking events, aptly named ‘Syzoti' - Old English for “a collection of literary events”. This consisted of four exciting events, each of them a drift from traditional and conventional public speaking formats. The first event was Masquerade which was a role play – cum oratorical interpretation event where the participants were required to assume the role of a revolutionary leader and hence deliver a rallying speech to their countrymen. This was followed by Backslide, which was a Turncoat Debate where the participants had to change their stance after every minute and a free-for-all Just A Minute where their only aim was to speak, with a complete disregard for what they spoke! There was also the ever popular NDTV inspired Big Fight event where the participants arranged themselves as panelists and debated and discussed issues of worldwide importance. The entire event was judged by some of the most prominent names in the public speaking clubs of Dubai, including Ms Jiji Zablan from Toastmasters, Mr Hussain and Ms Safiya, both from the Orators Forum.
The second day of Jashn saw quizzing take center stage with B'Quizzed, the country's oldest and grandest quiz event, being held for the fifth year running. There were the usual high caliber of questions and the accompanying bounty of eye-catching prizes both for the participants and audience alike that mark the event out as the best in the UAE. The format for this edition was tweaked slightly by the quizmaster Piyush Singh, but it did not prevent the participants from thoroughly enjoying the quiz. Overall it consisted of a thirty minute written elimination round from which the top six teams went into the Finals where they had to face 8 grueling rounds of quizzing to eventually decide the Winners.
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| Team 1 from BITS Pilani Dubai | Winning Duet Dance team from Harriot Watt | Duet Dance from BITS Dubai students |
The fest moved into a lighter mood from the third day onwards with the drama, music and dance events taking place. On the third day, ‘Paribhasha' the drama club organized ‘Impulse', which was an impromptu dramatics competition where participating teams' on-the-spot improvisation abilities and other theatrical skills were tested over the course of three rounds. These included ‘Wring Zap', which required the participants to distort the original message of a video clip and fit in their own dialogues; ‘Emote the music', where the objective was to have the teams emote a song in a very melodramatic fashion using their acting skills and ‘Pantomime', that had the teams battling it out by using only gestures and emotions to act on a theme given to them. The entire event provided great fun for the judges and audience alike. This mirth continued well into the evening with ‘tRebel' – The music Club's Solo and Ensemble Singing events taking place. These included both Eastern and Western categories and the crowd was treated to some superb renditions of famous Bollywood and International numbers and they were more than generous to hand out standing ovations.
There was more “drama” on the fourth day (albeit of the more serous kind) as ‘Paribhasha' held Proscenium – a conventional theatrical event where the participating colleges performed 20 minute plays in front of an esteemed jury consisting of Mr. Kaushik Saha and Mr. Kalyan Chakravarty, two well known theatre personalities. The plays were all impeccably put out with a great mix of humor and drama backed by some terrific acting.
The penultimate day of Jashn saw the remaining events being shifted to the specially constructed stage on the BITS grounds and the idea proved to be a hit with the audience who flocked to it in their hundreds. The Group Dance events were the first to take place here during the evening. These were preceded by a couple of special musical performances, first by Vasco Ivanov who delighted the crowd with his energetic mix of impromptu musical compositions. Of special mention were his ensemble performances with members of the BITS music club and even members from the audience!
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| Performance by Bulgrian musician Mr Vasco Ivanov with BITS Dubai student |
Performance by Sidhartha Mohan | Performance by Rock Band Parikrama |
Following him was Siddharth Mohan, of the Art of Living fame who wowed the crowd with his soulful performances of famous Bollywood songs. By the time he ended he had the entire audiences humming along with him and had set the scene nicely for the Group Dances. These were in both Eastern and Western categories and required the participants to showcase their choreography and coordination skills against the best colleges from around the UAE.
However, Jashn 2010 saved its best for last with the extremely popular Battle of the Bands competition bringing the competitive events to a close. There were six bands on show and the ensuing ear-splitting music really brought the assembled crowd alive! And then there was Parikrama. The greatest of all Indian rock bands had been invited specially from India to headline the last day of Jashn 2010, and an eager crowd of over 1500 students watched them put on a fantastic rock show. Performing a mix of headbang-worthy original compositions and classics from such artists as Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden, Parikrama completely blew the crowd away with their astounding music and showmanship. Nitin, the lead vocalist was totally taken in by the love and support of the assembled crowd as well and mentioned so a number of times. Rounding off their performance with AC/DC's ever popular ‘Highway to Hell', they literally left the audience begging for more and ensured that the wait for Jashn 2011 could not be any more infuriating!
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| Runners up of the Battle of the Bands from MAHE Manipal | First Raffle draw by the Director Prof. M. Ramachandran | Crowd cheering the Rock Band Parikrama |
