A touch of creativity

Cultura 2011, the fest conducted at the CMRIT, offered students a perfect platform to showcase their skills, other than academics. More than 15 colleges participated in over 30 events held over two days. The events were structured in such a manner that it incorporated a lot of cultural events. There were those related to business, IT, and some which served as perfect brain teasers.

Western and Indian music and dance were quite popular with the students. That slot registered the maximum number of participants. Face painting was also a craze with the students.

With nature as its theme, face painting had students portray nature in all its various forms. Conservation was the crux of most of the paintings. Pavitha, a final year student of CMRIT, chose to portray the tsunami that destroyed Japan.  She says, “We have portrayed the effect of natural disasters on the earth. The face is calm with greenery and the neck will have a volcano waiting to explode. And what would happen when it erupts, that’s what I intend to show here.”

Divya G, second year student of telecommunications at PESIT, chose to show the effect of what would happen when water merges with greenery. Vidhi, a second year MCA student from Acharya Institute of Management, said she thoroughly enjoyed the fest.

“Events like these not only give you the much needed exposure but also helps you rate yourself on where you stand in the competitive arena,” she says.

As part of the social awareness campaign, a group of students from the Electronics branch of CMRIT got to together to popularise and promote the ‘prolife’ campaign. They chose to explore the theme of abortion, “every life has value and it’s not fair to destroy a life even before it is conceived,” reasons Mathew.

The students made a man and a woman from scrap paper and a coffin was kept next to it.  “The man uses a woman and the waste (the child) is thrown into the garbage bin (here the coffin). It’s sheer slaughtering of life and that has to stop,” observes Mathew.
Ira and her team urged a group of students to talk about and campaign for a particular cause. “The students spoke about various issues such as garbage disposal and littering and how technology has affected relationships,” explains Ira.

Thomas Varghese and Shivalika Shyanath, both students of Industrial Engineering and Management at M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, said they had practiced long and hard for the fest.

“It’s great. The events have been structured to challenge us mentally and intellectually. The atmosphere is competitive and you are inspired to perform your best,” says Thomas.   Mad ads, fashion show, ‘antakshari’, jam, personality, street play and the rock concert were a few of the other things that excited students just as much.

Prerana and Sushmitha, both class 10 students of CMR National Public School, were the only school students participating in  the fest.

About their concept for the ‘rangoli’ competition, Prerana said, “We’ve shown two hands crossing each other. On one side is India and on the other side is Pakistan. There’s a small piece (read peace) missing in between the two hands. This shows the need for the two countries to come together.”