This year the theme of Cul-Ah! was Mardi Gras, and it had over 30 colleges participating.

The fun-filled fest, held last week, had many of the Carmelites sporting bewitching masks reminiscent of the movie, Om Shanti Om.

The fest began with excitement and alacrity. The whole campus was decorated and festooned with decorations, lights and stalls put up in colourful shamianas, giving the college a very dressed up and festive look. There were stalls for deciphering one’s personality by analysing one’s handwriting. There were also stalls of applying mehendi and tattoos, besides stalls selling tops, pants, terracotta jewellery, the works!

The competitions were varied and tested various skills and talent. Across the three days, the following events were scheduled at different time slots and held at  different venues: Indian music, western dance, JAM (Just a Minute), Indian dance, Bhavageete, Janapada, informal quiz, vegetable carving, hindi debate, dumb charades, suduko, Kachra Kala, crossword, antakshari, accessory designing and poetry recitation.

The indian music and western group dance won by Loyola College and Christ College won the relay writing.
All competitions were interesting and those which elicited a particularly good response were the ice breaker, the general quiz, the graphic novel designing, vegetable carving and the sudoku.

The seminar and film show on ‘Save the girl child’ was in keeping with the endeavours of ‘Vimochana’, the NGO to whom profits were granted. Popular songs from Bollywood were sung with musical accompaniment. Needless to say, the songs garnering the most applause were the ones from recent hits. Slain, the winners of Strawberry Fields held at National Law School and October Fest performed to a fantastic audience who kept asking for more.
All in all, it was truly a euphoric and exciting time for all the students. The winners for the fourth year in a row was the college CMS, St Joseph College came second and Christ College stood third.

Heera Nawaz