Euphoria rocks the crowd at Nicco Park on Tuesday. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

Anakhronos 2012, Techno India College’s two-day fest, held on February 13 and 14 in association with t2, was about stiff competition and a whole lot of fun. With the formal inauguration taken care of, Day 1 saw 23 bands face off for the Bandbox competition at Nicco Park, the chosen venue for the fest. The winner? A group called 10th Harmony. The runner-up was a band called Distorted Thought Patterns.

Music and lyrics were followed by moves and grooves at the much-awaited choreography competition, Dance Maniacs, where Iconic Gurus, the dance team from Heritage Institute of Engineering, emerged winners.

The highlight of the evening was a performance by Calcutta band Spunk of Channel V Launch Pad fame, which belted out edgy and hard-hitting versions of old and new Bollywood tracks like Urvashi and Sadda haq as well as popular originals like Pehla pyaar.

Day 2 was laced with a hint of nostalgia with final-year students gearing up for their last fest, as well as romance, as couples celebrated Valentine’s Day.

Students took part in a solo singing competition, which was followed by a performance by the home college band, Arcadians, and the prize distribution ceremony. The presence of actress Rituparna Sengupta for the launch of Jaya Hai, a book by Gautam Bhattacharya of Anandabazaar Patrika, added to the glam quotient of the day.

The evening turned electrifying when Palash Sen and his band of liveried men took the stage. “Techno India bhalo achho?” asked the Bengali boy and Euphoria frontman, adding, “This is our third time playing for you guys. We first played 10 years back and this time, we will rock harder!”

Starting off with the crowd-puller Rok sako toh, they moved on to favourites like Dhoom, Woh ho tum, Bhula tujhe and Soneya. For the lovebirds in the crowd they sang a medley of Pehla nasha and Ami chini go chini before going back to rock with Bollywood hits Lose control, Kya mujhe pyaar hai and Pichhle saat dino mein.

“I had a gala time these two days.... No matter which fest you attend, your own fest has a charm of its own. It is the best!” gushed Nishan Sarkar, a student of Techno India College.

Madhurima Chatterjee

 

 

A student gets to work creating something useful out of scrap for Junkyard Wars

Inquivesta 2012, organised by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (IISER-K) in association with The Telegraph, was all about innovation. And that is what made this three-day fest fun even without the usual fashion shows and band performances.

The science fest was held from February 10 to 12 on the IISER-K campus in Mohanpur, Nadia. It was a celebration of scientific creativity, where students chose to rescue theories from the confines of books and apply them to perform exciting — and often almost unbelievable — feats.

The fest took off on the evening of February 10 with a lecture by scientist Soumitra Sengupta. Day 2 started with CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) which promised to “unleash the Sherlock Holmes” in students. Participants were given life-like crime scenes, strewn with clues, forensic reports, murder weapons and witnesses for interrogation with which they had to solve the cases and nab the criminals. A visit to the crime scene revealed a room ravaged by burglars, a guy lying on the floor, bound and gagged, books and CDs strewn all around, the almirah wide open — exactly like a real crime scene.

Next on the cards was Thrust, a water rocketing event, where participants had to model a rocket which would use water as the propellant. They were given targets that tested both the range and accuracy of the rockets. Bottles of Sprite filled with nothing but water and powered by bicycle pumps “flew” to hit targets as far as 200 metres and more. The fiercely contested challenge was won by a team comprising Debanjan Das and Animesh Mishra from Kalyani Government Engineering College.

Junkyard Wars saw students putting together scrap material and trash to design machines.

Whether it was creating art by culturing bacteria for Art in a Culture or waging a scientific war in Chemical Isolation, Inquivesta was all about applying science basics in a creative manner.

There were events galore for those not into science too. Events like GNQ (a general quiz), L..S.T (a treasure hunt), Codathon (a programming contest), Photon (an online photography event) and Headshot (a gaming contest) brought in students from all academic spheres. Inquiz, a science quiz organised only for school students, sought to spark interest in science among them.

“Cultural fests have become common. A science fest like Inquivesta that was so innovative was a welcome change. If I get the chance, I will come back every year,” said Jeeyan Sanyal of St. Xavier’s College.