JOIN USThe cultural scene in Delhi gets lively in winter but what will soon be adding warmth to this chill is the enthusiasm of students of Delhi University colleges who have pulled up their socks to gather sponsorship and put up the best annual fest that they can, in respective colleges.
The race to grab the highest sponsors has begun as the fests get glamrous by the year. Especially for North Campus colleges, known for spending a lot on this annual affair. Whereas most college unions have set sights on huge funds, which will decide their course of fest, the girls’ colleges in North and South campus are keeping budgets humble and moved a step ahead in their planning.
Metrolife talks to student representatives to get a peek-a-boo into what is being planned by whom. Starting from the creme la creme of North, Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) to the off campus Gargi College, each one is trying to outdo the
other.
Most in the North Campus are planning to hold their fest in the month of February. While SRCC is targetting a budget of Rs 60-70 lakhs and will hold Crossroads around the third week of February, Hindu is also planning for similar dates but has a targeted budget of whopping One crore - obviously with considerable help from sponsors.
“We are trying to generate Rs 60-70 lakhs from sponsorship for which we are chasing our last year’s sponsors,” says Pratyush Rai, president, Hindu. “We are also trying to loop in DLF since it is out of the IPL, it may be interested in investing in college fests this year. A major part of the funds will go into conducting our four main events – fashion Show, DJ night, Rock Night and Pop Night and we are planning to get celebrities on all four days!”
Kirori Mal College is also planning to hold its fest on similar dates with a budget of around Rs 80 lakh. Rahul Yadav, KMC says, “We started planning for our fest just after our semester exams in the second week of December. At the moment we are focusing on funds and holding meetings.”
The planning is more concrete in girls colleges such as Miranda House and Gargi. With a modest budget of Rs 52 lakhs, Miranda will be holding its fest on 7-8th of February. Getting sponsorship this year is however, posing to be a major challenge. Madhumita Singh, student president, Miranda shares, “The sixth pay commission has shut down funding gates of companies. Since they are low on funds, they hardly have any to sponsor fests. It is becoming tough for us to gather funds.”
Still, there are plans to call RDB and the college is also planning to highlight the recent gang-rape incident. “Our theme this year is ‘Seher’ which to us indicates a ‘new beginning’ after our last year’s theme of ‘Apocalypse’ which was decided keeping in mind the predicted doomsday,” Madhumita adds.
Gargi College will hold its fest from 29-31 January. Simran Kaur, student PRO of Gargi informs, “Our fest will start with Lillete Dubey’s play and have a performance by singer KK. We are also planning to hold informal events such as the ‘spelling bee’ and new events such as ‘new musical sounds’ this year.”
Keep watching this space for more on fests in the coming season.