The multicultural extravaganza witnessed the participation of more than 2800 students from 40 colleges across the state. The students participated in as many as 28 events, which brought out their latent talents in sports, academic and cultural activities.

The three-day festival had many interesting events apart from the regular features like face painting, drag race, ethical hacking, video games, fashion show, group dance and mime shows. One of the main attractions was the live performance by Benny Dayal, a Bollywood singer who also happens to be the favourite singer of A R Rahman.

Benny Dayal performed in front of an audience of thousands, comprising youngsters and received a strong support of the crowd. His power-packed concert had a lot to offer – Kannada, Tamil and Bollywood songs. He started with the song Dil Se as a tribute to his master A R Rahman. Later, he treated his audience to all his hits like Masakkali, ‘All Is Well’, Avyi Avyi Loot Gaya and Sheila Ki Jawaani.

“We were enraptured by his energetic performance. After listening to his soulful voice, I understood why Rahman adores him so much. Though he had agreed for an hour concert, after seeing the enthusiasm of the crowd he went on performing without sticking to the time slot,” said Chidanand, a student at Acharya Institute of Graduate Studies.

On all the three days, the students got to watch spectacular fashion shows and group dances apart from off stage events. On the last day, students from different colleges performed ethnic dances as well. Students of Garden City, Sapthagiri, T John, CMR and SIT Tumkur took part on all the three days.

“The uniqueness of ‘Acharya Habba’ is that it has something to offer to every student. Hence, no one feels left out as we conduct sports, literary, cultural and technical events for the benefit of students with various talents,” said Ram B Lama, a Bhutanese student at Acharya. The colourful festival concluded with fireworks which marked the end of the Acharya Habba 2011.