Infectious energy on display

Vaudeville, the inter-collegiate fest hosted by the CMR Institute of Management Studies (CMRIMS) at its Banaswadi campus, not only attracted a large number of participants but spectators as well.

There were lots of students from several City colleges who came to witness the fun.
There were not less than 35 colleges participating in as many as 50-odd events, both on and off the stage.

The day-long fest had a mime competition, street dance, cooking without fire, face-painting, quiz, theme dance, ‘mock rock’, a fashion show, a DJ night and ‘Battle of the Bands’.

The solo and group dance events attracted the maximum number of participants.
The campus was packed towards the end of the evening with practically no space to move. Students were seen sitting on the stairway and atop buildings to catch a glimpse of the show.

The faculty of the college helped the students ensure the fest was a success. K C Ramamurthy, chairman of CMR Group of Institutions, was present among the crowd.

He says, “We always strive to give the students the best of both academics and cultural activities. We encourage our students to not only organise fests but also participate in them.”

Suja Bennet, principal of CMRIMS, points out, “This is the first time that CMRIMS is organising Vaudeville and it will be an annual feature. The students and the faculty have been on their toes for the last few weeks to put together the fest. We are overwhelmed by the response we’ve received.”

The students were an excited lot and say that the fest had many well-planned events.    There were students dancing on and off stage and the crowd cheered for almost all the participating teams, thus enlivening the atmosphere.

Syed Rufaid Qadri, a second-semester journalism student of CMR, is from Kashmir and this was his first fest in the college.    “While the music is the same, there’s a huge cultural difference between my city and Bangalore. There’s so much energy in the fest. That’s something we don’t have back home,” he says.

Rakesh, a commerce student of Indian Academy, says, “We participated as a team in the lazy dance category but we didn’t have any time to practise. When we heard of the fest, we just wanted to participate. Winning or losing is secondary.”

Divya Rao, a final-year student of Mount Carmel College, adds, “There were so many events and I made sure I participated in as many as I could. I had lots of fun just being around.”

The Bigg Boss Season 6 runner-up, Imam Siddique, was the guest of honour at the valedictory function and the students were excited to have such a dramatic personality among them.

The hooting and cheering grew louder when Imam addressed the gathering. “I am delighted to come back to a City that’s so warm and welcoming,” he says.

Finally, Kristu Jayanti College won the overall championship trophy.