Patna Women’s College freshers perform in the college auditorium on Thursday. Pictures by Jai Prakash

Patna, July 21: Newcomers in Patna Women’s College had a gala time today during a cultural extravaganza organised to celebrate freshers’ day on the institution campus.

First year students of BA, BSc, BCom and vocational courses took part in the celebrations which went on for an hour. As many as 101 newcomers performed in the cultural programme which started with a solo prayer Pyasa Hiran Jaise Dhoondhe… sung by Divya Prakash from English honours. The welcome dance was performed by Vaishnavi of BCom, followed by a solo dance on Jai Ho… from Slumdog Millionaire by Nimmi Sinha pursuing bachelor of mass communication.

Divya, the first performer at the event, said: “It was a wonderful feeling to perform on the college dais for the first time. The college is great. I had heard about its ambience from my seniors, now I am thrilled to be here. It is a very reputed institute where everyone follows discipline. I hope I have been able to entertain the audience with my performance today.” Divya added freshers’ day is important for newcomers as it helps them make an impression in front of seniors and teachers.

So, did Divya do something special to get into the good books of seniors? “Yes, I was very particular about what to wear for the programme as I knew whatever I would wear today would leave an impression on others for the next three years. Hence, I chose to wear a white salwar kameez. I was singing a bhajan and white went well with the mood of the song,” she said.

Soumya Chakraborty from English department and Durba Roy from BCom performed a dance on Rabindrasangeet Saawan Badre Gunj Ghata Ghata. Their Bengali sari — white base and red border — added to the beauty of their performance.

Mona from BCom weaved the magic of 70s with Lata Mangeshkar’s melodious number Naam gum jayega.

Soumya said: “It was really exciting to perform in front of so many people.” Chakraborty gave the credit of her flawless performance to her seniors. “The seniors helped us throughout the rehearsals. They gave us tips on costumes, postures and dance steps. To a great extent, they cleared the confusion and the nervousness in our mind,” she said.

Durba, who performed with Soumya, said: “We wanted to give our best on the stage as it was the first time we were introducing ourselves to the entire college.”

Among other performances were solo dance by Neetu Kumari and group dance by students of BBA department.

Sister Doris D’Souza, the principal of the college, said: “Around 128 students had come for selection for the freshers’ programme from various departments. Only 101 made it to today’s programme. From June 14 till today, we have taken admission of around 1,600 students in various streams. The 101 students who performed today should feel lucky that they were selected.”