Visages 2010 focus on ‘Indian cultures’

my report on visages (st joseph college's cultural fest) that never got published the way i wanted it to cause i suck :(

Assignment deadlines, internals and the various pressures of college life were the last things on the minds of the students attending visages, the two day college cultural festival held on February 13 and 14. Over thirty colleges participated, show casing their talents in the twenty three events that made up the mammoth festival.


Karnataka Sahitya Academy award winner and well-known literary critic, T.P Ashok inaugurated the event. He said, “Culture means different forms of life. It is a very large world and people have different ways of life, various food habits and culture. We can’t say certain cultures are superior or certain kinds of culture are inferior.”

“Today St Joseph’s College has given the youth an opportunity to represent the different cultures of India, making this ‘Visages’ a cultural festival with a difference,” explained Dr Farial Shaik, the cultural co-coordinator.


Twelve events and several ice breaker sessions kept the participants occupied on the first day. Advertising campaign, western acoustics and laugh out loud were the most popular events of the day.

Advertising campaign challenged the participants to inform the audience about an important social issue without making it overly serious and devoid of humour. Issues like trafficking of women, transgender rights, etc were some of the issues raised by the participants. The team from St Joseph’s College won with their portrayal of the ‘forceful trafficking of women’.

Western acoustic was the name of the event, but participants performed a cappella versions of the western songs they chose. “Good old acoustics is any day better than a cappella, but sadly all the participants sang a cappella,” said Dr Berin Lukas the judge of the event. The girls from Mount Carmel College (MCC) won the event performing popular western songs like Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Laugh out loud was both the last and most popular event of the day leaving the audience, ‘laughing out loud!’ The skit on ‘Pintu Mohan's life’, enacted by the team from St John’s medical college took home the first prize. Pintu Mohan is a fictional character created to parody people who are forced into studying medicine.


The last day of visages had eleven events and some more ice breaker sessions that made it just as interesting as day one. Western Solo, Songs of India, Personality and Dance of India were the events that received the maximum responses.

Western solo gave an opportunity to musically talented individuals to showcase their voice as well as their skill in an instrument of their choice. Steven Fernandes from St John’s Medical College won the event with his rendition of Bob Dylan’s famous number ‘blowing in the wind’. “I was actually supposed to sing a different song with my electric guitar but since it was not allowed I sang this song. I would like to thank the Josephites who ran around to find me an acoustic guitar.”

Songs of India called upon participants to perform regional songs which depicted the culture of India. Thatwa, a band from Christ University left the audience in awe with their harmonious blend of Indian classical vocals with western music. One performance was clearly not enough for the audience as they screamed, ‘once more!’ Manoj T P the vocalist of the band said, “We wanted to depict the culture of India in post modern times. Our Philosophy is to defeat negative western influences like capitalism using western ideas itself and that’s why we mixed Indian classical and rock music.”

However, it was the group from SJC that won first place with their rendition of a Manipuri song which also received much cheer.

The final Event of visages was dance of India, where the participating groups were required to depict Indian culture using the art of dance. Various regional dance forms like ‘tapang’ (street dance), Karnatic folk dances, etc, were performed by the participating colleges. St John’s College of nursing won the event, performing a Tamil Nadu folk dance.

“Visages was good as there were many new events which I never saw in other colleges. I also learn t new criteria of judging talent,” said Rosemary, a participant from St John’s College of Nursing.

Apart from the various regular events, ice breaker sessions like antakshari, Prof Xavier Prasad’s (department of social work) dance moves, etc added more life and enthusiasm to visages. Stalls offering food, mehindi, games, etc also catered to the needs of the participants. DJs Marshall and Vivian were at the heart of the festival’s success with their apt selection of music and clever one liners.

60% of my article was cut... life is sooooooo unfair.... but after reading i think u guys will agree with the editors decision :P


hope u guys are well... drink loads of water and sleep well :)



In dedication to my phone

I sit here
empty bowl in hand
tattered clothes
I am a bum
impoverished without you
and as dutiful legs pass
I reminisce
better days with you
I dream…

and now I am

A Knight in gleaming steel
from the fables
and you my princess
locked away
dragons and dungeons
slay and crossed
I set u free
I am once more with you

And I dream
and now I am

A samurai knee deep in honour
from black n white days
and you, my lady love
protecting your honour
blood and corpses
annihilated foes
so your head is high always
I am once more with you

I dream
and now I am

A masked vigilante in dark costume
from the world that can be saved
and you the perfect damsel in distress
to your rescue
beating the corrupt and wicked
killing your villains
to remove the grime from ur life
I am once more with you

I dream
and now I am

An intrepid explorer filled with adventure
from where men live for themselves
and you a rare flower
obstacles and hurdles
conquered
half dead now alive
in your radiance my strength
I am once more with you

I dream
and now I am

A star set in magic
from the celluloid universe
and you my reason for song
revel and swing
bright lights and heavy beats
holding hands across seven seas in minutes
we shine brighter than heaven
I am once more with you

And now…
I sit here
empty bowl in hand
tattered clothes
I am a bum
impoverished without you

Dedicated to my phone and __ who took her away from me cause she refused to stop singing….

If only I was stronger we would still be together….










Humanity...

We give out roses
in full bloom bouquets
when what we really need
is love more than roses

we give out roses,
to make tomorrow better
but how can we look at tomorrow
when yesterday still haunts today?

we give out roses
in the hope
the thorns will get them good
we scream as blood and chaos reigns
the pious pray
the weak cry
the intelligent turn blind
and everyone calls for a saviour
we look to the heavens and call for a saviour
but we all fail to see our saviour
who is here

our saviour and destructor alike
Born to us
from sin
from divine
It holds the key
to so much
to so little

our benefactor
our malefactor
with iron hands
with flesh heart
It makes the world revolve
and revolves around the world

It fights with one hand
cleaving the world
and with the other
healing the gashes

In our human form
we fuel its malfeasance
boisterous laughter
we are devils

In our human form
we extend our hands shielding wounded
righteous action
we are gods

our saviour
our destructor
when will we see
right in front of our eyes
we still call out to the heavens
when who can help us is here
when who can destroy us is here

We give out roses
in full bloom bouquets
when what we really need
is love more than roses

How to hold up ur pants... the SID way!



Step – 1

Wear a pair of stretchable jeans (the one with lyrca) that has an extra two inches to spare.


The extra two inches comes in handy when there is unforeseen development in the mid region!




Step – 2

Wear a useless belt manufactured by a reputed company to hold your dignity in place! (right)

Especially when you have other belts that do their job! (bottom)

The belt was useful at one point but for whatever reason the buckle decided to retire. The belt now tries its best to keep things in place but slowly gives up when it gains the confidence of the user. The slow motion tactic employed by the belt leaves the user unaware of the impending dangers ahead and hits him at the most inopportune times; like then the user is in a crowed space or surrounded with friends (worse if the friends are from the opposite sex).

Step – 3

Find an understanding female friend or classmate that makes use of small metallic contraptions to hold their lovely flowing locks in place.

Step – 4

Ask her for that metallic contraption (also known as a hair clip). Take two just in case! (only one hair pin remains the other one fell off!)

WARNING: Awkward conversation ahead!

Step – 5

Use the hair clips to fasten the belt as shown in the pic.

DONE!

Hopefully it won’t fall off (it worked for me!). My friend was kind enough to give me two hairpins but one of them fell off. Thankfully the other one held!

When the day was done i deduced that the hairpins were like friends, some say good bye when things get tough and others stick on even in the face of inevitable downfall!

This post is dedicated to the friend that gave me her hair clip. Thank you, you saved my iszat (dignity)! :-)

OH and the belt is not all that useless, it looks nice on Sonu :)


All this talk about pants reminds me of this youtube video :)




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Peace!

In defence of “murder”

We had a human rights lecture in college. After which we had to write an assignment on any human rights issue. So this is what i wrote, decided to share it with ya....

Should a child be born into a world that does not want it? Can individuals be forced to care and love a child they did not want? The moral dimensions of abortion should be looked through this prism.

Most often pro-life movement activists over simplify the issue of abortion and equate it with murder. They say killing is wrong, and as abortion is termination of the foetus, it is wrong too. Which makes sense on some level I guess, but they fail to see the reason behind people going in for the procedure.

Most people agree that abortion should be granted on medical grounds (if the pregnancy affects the health of the expecting mother) and rape. Therefore I will move on to the more controversial reasons.

“Unwanted pregnancies” is by far the most hated and controversial term. A pregnancy is deemed as unwanted when the child’s health, physical or mental development is going to be abnormal or if it is a case of an accidental pregnancy. We can say that differently enabled people have the same right to life as us and selectively aborting foetuses for this reason is wrong. I agree whole heartily, but if the family does not want the child because they are ill equipped to fulfil their responsibilities, then it becomes morally wrong to deny the family an abortion. Accidental pregnancy is a different, it is an unplanned pregnancy. Abortions should be given in this case too as the person is not in a position to take care of the child. If it arises from outside marriage the child along with its mother will bear a social stigma for life. It may destroy the future of the mother and the child. When the child achieves a higher level of consciousness it will be put through an immeasurable amount of pain which can never, under any circumstance, lead to any good.

Some statistics:
The lowest abortion rate in the world is in Western Europe (12 per 1,000 women aged 15–44), 17 in Northern Europe and 21 in Northern America (Canada and the United States of America). The country with the lowest abortion rates is Belgium and the Netherlands with 7. Eastern Europe had the highest abortion rate 90, Asia is also has high abortion rates and other developing nations in general.

The places with the lowest abortion rates also have the most liberal laws when it comes to abortion. These countries also have better health care, sex education and rank among the highest in the human development index. Many countries in Eastern Europe are experiencing a decline in abortions after the relaxation of abortion laws, availability of better contraception and improvements in the education system. India and certain other countries like china have sex selective abortions which is a different issue that will take the devotion of another article so we will not be looking into that aspect.

The importance of a good environment to bring up our children cannot be overstated. The right environment determines the personality of the child. A bad environment will have negative effects on the development of the child. Can a person who does not want a child be capable of providing a good environment? Is it right to force a child on a person who does not want a child? Is it fair on the child?

Conceiving a child because of carelessness and miss judgement is one thing, but what happens when contraception fails? Where does the fault lye? It is a legitimate reason that is often over looked. Anti-abortionists say that people who are not ready to bear a child should not be having sex. The problem is we often forget or choose to deliberately overlook the fact that sex is as much for pleasure than recreation alone. We can never stop people from having sex for the purpose of pleasure. It is a natural instinct that we cannot get rid of. To bring about lower abortion rates we must tackle the root of the problem. We must bring in a more efficient education system, ensure the availability of contraceptives and bring about socio-economic development.

A lot of women who are unable to get abortions go in for crude methods of abortion like drinking turpentine, consulting various quacks, etc that only leads to the degradation of the woman’s health. What happens to the rights of women - Their right to life, health, dignity? Banning abortions does not in any way lower the abortion rates in anyways. A ban on abortions is not the solution to ensure lower abortion rates. Banning abortions is like putting on a blind fold and standing on the railways tracks in the way of an incoming train, with the illusion that, “if we can’t see it, it isn’t there!”


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The "interview"

The interview i spoke about in my last post -



Under "Ramdom updates 04110"

"Back to college … :-(

College started today. :(

Oh and guess that our audio practical assignment for today was… an interview of one of the group members!
guess what the topic of the interview is… come on… guess…. ABOUT BLOGGING AND MY BLOG!!! What the hell!!! My evil groupmates wanna embarrass me in front of the whole class! Will try to put it up if its possible!"

its so funny and stupid! :)

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