Participants at the cultural fest in Jamshdepur. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 23: Students in the steel city have packed away their books and are busy brushing up their artistic skills. And for once their parents are not complaining.

The much-awaited inter-school cultural fest, Rhapsody 2003, kicked off at DBMS English School today.

Eighteen schools are participating in the three-day festival, which has been organised by the DBMS English School’s cultural group, Jyoti Club.

“The highlights of the festival will be ad spoof, miming and creative writing, all of which have been introduced for the first time in the fest,” said Rita Chandra, moderator of Jyoti Club.

“We have taken adequate security measures this year. We have also laid down strict rules for entry to the festival,” she added.

The festival began with the eastern solo competition. This was followed by an the spoof, in which students were asked to advertise abstract subjects. The mock advertisements left the audience in splits.

Thirteen teams participated in the Western music event, which was a hit with the students, who danced and swayed to the music. The teams belted out one peppy number after another and the audience lapped it up.

In the comic dance category, which was the last event of the day, the students were given funny themes on which they were asked to dance. Even in the miming contest, the participants were given humourous topics like “consider yourself a lunatic who has to walk the ramp”. The presentation by the students led to a laugh riot.

The creative writing topic “If...”, left the participants scratching their heads. However, all the contestants came up with innovative compositions.

The organisers hope that the second and final day of the festival will showcase the talent of the participants. “I loved every minute of the festival today. All the events were brilliant. I just can’t wait for tomorrow,” said Rachna Gupta, a participant.

Sources said as entry has been restricted, several students are going out of their way to procure passes to the festival.

“I am dying to go to Rhapsody 2003. My cousin is a student of DBMS English School. But since this year, entries have been restricted. She cannot help me with the passes. I have asked a friend of mine to get me a pass. I hope he gets it,” said Sunit Agrawal, a student