In festive mood: Gauhati University

April 26: It took the department of communication and journalism, Gauhati University, 40 long years to get into a festive mood. And now, when it decided to celebrate its past achievements and chalk out plans for the future, the department has almost gone overboard to make the event a grand one.

Established in 1967, communication and journalism is the university’s one of the oldest departments.

The department will organise its first-ever campus media carnival, christened “Communika ’07, Abbreviating Distance in a Flash”, on the university campus on May 10 and 11. The two-day event will feature a variety of media-related programmes and competitions.

“We have left no stone unturned to make it a memorable event,” said Dipak Bargayary, executive head of the department.

However, the major attraction of the carnival would be Symbiosis, an alumni meet. “It will be a meeting arena of the old students of the department, holding significant positions in various establishments,” said Bargayary.

The other signature events of the carnival will be a slogan writing competition titled Goebbels’ Idea, a quiz contest christened Media Quotient, a traditional ramp walk named NE’s Crème de la crème, a news writing competition called Scoop and Montage, a documentary movie screening session.

“We have specially designed the entire carnival and colourful events as an attempt to add more colour and vigour to the entire occasion,” said event manager Debasish.

The carnival will provide a golden opportunity for aspiring journalists and the who’s who of the media world to interact with each other. This will open many doors of opportunity to the budding journalists of the department, Debasish said.

“The world of media is growing fast and the interaction with the veterans will immensely help the students to get a feel of the current scenario in the field,” said Bargayary.

On the occasion, the department will also release its journal Pratyakha, an initiative of the students to express their innovative ideas through words, photographs and sketches.

The department is also planning to invite students of different colleges in the region to the festival. “On the sidelines of the celebration, we will also organise a brainstorming session to discuss ways and means to provide the best education to our students. We will invite some of the most celebrated names in the media world to be our guest faculties,” said a faculty member of the department.

“I am eagerly waiting for the carnival. We all have worked hard for the event. We want to see it becoming a success,” said Upasana, a student of the department.