Participants perform a folk dance from Purulia at the finals of Umang 08 at Kala Mandir; (above) participants at the Total Makeover contest. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

What: Umang 08, a five-day fest organised by The Bhawanipur Education Society College in association with t2, from November 23 to 27. The theme this year was recycling, with a tagline of ‘Evolution with Revolution’. The first four days of the competition were dedicated to prelims, held mainly on the college grounds. Day five, with eight events, was conducted at Kala Mandir.

Thanda Event: Would be The Total Makeover. Blame it on delayed schedules. However, the makeover participants had oodles of fun: they got their hair cut, styled and coloured at A.N. John, pedicures, manicures and facials at Toppers, and a massage at EyeCatchers — all for free!

Fundoo Event: Was the finals of the Hindi One-Act Play. The host college entertained with a complex plot of a criminal who pleads insanity to escape conviction and is sent to a mental asylum. He finds a kindred soul, also a pretender, and confesses his crime. In the end, it turns out that all the asylum inmates are undercover cops!

Law students from Calcutta University impressed with a heartwarming message about being grateful to your parents.

Mr and Mrs Umang constituted rounds where students showed off their talents and faced questions from judges. In the guy’s section, Akshay Kapoor of Bhawanipur won third place by acting out a soliloquy where he threatened to slit people’s throats. Piyush Sethi, also from Bhawanipur, danced an impromptu jig to Beedi with a shawl as a prop. A St Xavier’s College student, an obvious Salman Khan fan, danced, took off his jacket, and threw a rose to a judge along to the tune of Oh oh jaane jaana!

Divinia Jackson of St Xavier’s College secured third place with a rather divine rendition of Knocking On Heaven’s Door, while Manju Kalwani from Bhawanipur played the tabla — dressed for the occasion in a teensy weensy cocktail dress. Another girl from Bhawanipur went on stage to paint a picture — a black and white one, in line with the fest’s theme — in two minutes.

The One That Rocked: Was definitely the folk dance competition. Bhawanipur rocked, danced, jumped, turned cartwheels and ultimately went into a trance to a Marathi folk dance that depicted goddess Amba vanquishing evil. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College performed a high-energy Bhangra in full Punjabi regalia with women in patiala salwars and plaits with a parandi. Department of law students from CU did a Santhal performance, while a second team from Bhawanipur performed a Purulia-based folk dance, replete with dancers in impressive headgear and idol masks dancing to Om Jai Jagdish.

Sign Off: The popular Bhawanipur prom night has been kept on hold till December this year. So there’s more fun to be had!

Which is your favourite college fest in town? Tell t2@abpmail.com