They sure have talent

There was an outburst of creativity during the two-day fest titled, ‘CMR has Talent’ held on the CMR College campus in OMBR Layout in the City last weekend.

It was a clear case of unity in diversity and there was healthy competition among the students. The 12,000 odd students were there to make the best of the two days.


It was fun all the way sans any rivalry. Among the institutions that participated were — CMR National Public School, CMR High School, Ekya Schools, CMR Institute of Technology, CMR Law School, CMR Institute of Management Studies, CMR College of Education, CMR College of Nursing , CMR Centre for Media Studies, CMR Centre for Business Studies and CMR National Junior College.

There were 32 off stage and on stage events. More than 800 students participated in the off stage events while 200 students participated in the on stage events. There were unlimited entries for both the events. Screening these entries was a task in itself.

Day one kickstarted with an inaugural song by the CMR Montessori students. It was interesting to watch the tiny tots sing their heart out. This was followed by dance by the CMRIT students.

Among the off stage events on the first day were flower arrangement, face painting, fabric painting, hair style, nail art, cooking without fuel, best out of waste, bridal make-up and explore India. Students decked in traditional bridal makeover represented brides from different states of India.

There was one from Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Manipur... to mention a few, “This is the first time I am participating in the bridal makeover. It’s interesting to see myself as a bride. I was a little nervous at first but later I began to like the way I was dressed up,” said Neelam, a final year student at CMR Management. The on stage events had classical dancing, singing, western group dance, instrumental, mime, folk dance and culminated with the performance by a rock band.

“We have been practising for these events for the last one month. It’s rarely that CMR students get to participate during the fests that we host. This is our only chance to prove that we too, like most students from other colleges, have talent,” said Roshan, a first year law student. The battle of the bands saw students belt out some of their original compositions in addition to playing popular pieces.

Day two had more of the off stage events such as pencil sketching, collage, pot painting, mehendi design, cartooning, vegetable carving, clay modeling and rangoli (free style and traditional). The on stage events had skit, theme dance, quiz on world culture and duet singing.

“This is my first year in CMR and I have participated in almost all the events. It was almost like an ice-breaker session with the students from other CMR institutions. We also staged a play woven around conservation of environment. Our idea was to merge creativity with a solid message,” said Shalini, another student.   

Reshme Hegde Gopi, classical dancer and choreographer and managing trustee, Shankaraa Foundation was the chief guest at the valedictory. Chairman of the CMR Group, K C Ramamurthy said that the fest is a platform provided to the students within the group to showcase and hone their talents. CMR Institute of Management Studies won the overall championship trophy.