Utsav-2011 creates waves of performances

By Vivek Cornelio
Pictures by Faizan Patel
Bellevision Media Network

Manipal, 13 April 2011: Manipal University is celebrating its week long annual college festival “ UTSAV-2011”. It is being held at the KMC Greens near the Tiger Circle.

 

The week-long “Utsav-2011” festival brought forth the talents of the participants and greatly entertained the audience. 

 

On the first day, this year’s events held the interest of all those present in the Counseling Hall of the  college building, as it showcased unconventional music by students of the university. It was a fusion of classical and non-classical instruments which resulted in unexpected music and originality in technique.

 

A fusion of  the sitar and  the drums,  a performance with two ‘dhols’  being played by one person simultaneously, an amalgamation of ‘tabla’ and guitar and beat boxing accompanying an electric guitar solo were the highlights of the event on the first day

 

‘Cultural parade’ attracted a good crowd, a colourful performance from each constituent college of Manipal University (MU) was based on themes such as Bollywood, Dasavatar, women, marriage and  the environment. Keerthi Latha M Pai, Associate Dean of Manipal College of Dental Sciences (MCODS), Manipal, said, “Most of the themes were more or less the same like the past years, though each year we get to see a new theme, I liked the avatar theme. The enthusiasm just gets better, I enjoy coming every evening to watch these shows.” The parade presented a diversity of cultures across India and Asia as whole, alongside with theological and social subjects.

 

 

At the end of first day,  KMC, Manipal was leading with 28 points, MCODS had tied in second place with Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) with 24 points each and followed closely by KMC, Mangalore with 22 points.

 

On the second day, literary events like debate, extempore and quiz, and musical events such as Indian classical and semi-classical vocals were organized. “It’s too good, the competition is very tough. It is also very surprising to see the good facilities provided to the participants.” said Bhanu Chitra, a first year student from the Department of Statistics, who took part in semi-classical vocals.

 

While Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal College of Dental Sciences (MCODS) and Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) waltz their way through “Utsav-2011” events with extensive participation from a large talent pool, Manipal University Teaching Department (MUTD) with just 25 participants in solo events,  produced the same competitive spirit.

 

Six departments under MUTD, Philosophy and Humanities, Statistics, Centre for Atomic and Molecular Physics (CAMP), Commerce, Geopolitics and International Relations, joined together to take part in “Utsav-2011” for the first time.

 

The chief guest for the day Dr K. Ramnarayan, Vice Chancellor, MU, gave away the prizes to the winners of Instrumental non-classical solo, Cultural Parade, Indian Non classical light vocals (solo and group),debate, extempore and quiz.

 

There was sparse attendance for classical dance solo, but the crowd swelled for the non-classical dance solo becoming a strong mass for the ever-popular Indian non-classical group dance.

 

At the end of day two, KMC maintained its lead with 86 points, followed by Manipal College of Dental Science (MCODS) Mangalore with 50 points, and MCODS Manipal and MIT tied in third place with 46 points each.