Lagori, of Coke Studio fame, took the stage on the last day of Tempest 2016, a five-day fest of the Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI), held in association with The Telegraph-YOU, from November 3. The folk-rock fusion band from Bangalore started the evening with its version of Dama dam mast qalandar amid loud applause. And the first song was enough to pull almost the entire crowd to the front of the stage, where they cheered and danced away. “It’s easier to play in front of a younger crowd as they are more receptive. There is no language barrier or genre barrier, and as long as a song is good, they enjoy it. The energy of a college crowd is awesome,” bass guitarist Shalini Mohan told t2 before setting the stage on fire.
Versagile, a Calcutta-based band, rocked the crowd with popular numbers like Ae dil hai mushkil, Dil ibadat, Kabira, Janam janam as well as original tracks. “The atmosphere was electrifying! We are a young band, so we could relate to the audience,” said vocalist Chirantan Banerjee .
On the sidelines of the fest, there were several sports events, like basketball, football, badminton, volleyball and table tennis.
Bot Ball was all about playing football with handmade robots and scoring as many goals as possible. This has been a must-event at the fest for the past 10 years!
“We always enjoy our college fest but this year was special because there were many new events like Kolkata’s Got Talent and Razzmatazz,” said Nirbhay Ganguly, a second-year student of MERI.
“This was my first college fest and I really enjoyed myself. I loved Versagile’s performance the most because I could sing and dance along,” said Akashleena, a first-year student of MERI.
Sweath Kiran Prasad (left), a first-year BCom student of Surendranath College, danced to Kaun tujhe from M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and took home a cash prize of Rs 4,000, while Sandeep Sharma (in red), a fourth-year student of the host college, impressed with his rendition of Kabira and the Game of Thrones theme music on the flute. ‘Kolkata’s Got Talent’ was one of the biggest crowd-pullers on the final day. From beatboxing to classical dance, this event drew many participants.
Text: Rupsha Bhadra
Pictures: Chanchal Ghosh and Koushik Saha
