How often do you hear couplets being recited and adjudged on the basis of not just the recitation but their correct pronunciation, that too in a college fest?

It was at Jamia Millia Islamia’s inter-university cultural festival ‘Miraas 2014’ that the university revived the age-old tradition of bait-baazi in the form of a competition on the last day of its three-day annual fest. Interestingly, the teams were also named after the renowned poets. Bursting with enthusiasm the university was wrapped in the festive fervour over the last week.

The three-day festival ‘MIRAAS 2014’ was formally inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor, SM Sajid. The highlight of the inaugural event was the screening of
a movie created by Khalid Yusufzai, which had glimpses of MIRAAS-2013 and clips of interviews of present Vice Chancellor, SM Sajid, and former Vice Chancellor,
Najeeb Jung.

Day one was marked by an array of cultural programmes that included Indian vocal (Solo), Business Idea Competition, poetry composition and recitation (in Urdu, Hindi, and English), Indian vocal group (Case Study Competition), and Western vocal (solo and group). On the second day the Debate Club geared up for BOL – The National Trilingual Debate Competition in English, Urdu and Hindi languages. The topic for the debate was ‘This House believes that Social Media has brought about social change’. The three debates have collectively had the highest participation in the three-year history of the fest as 50 institutions from across the country including Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Lovely Professional University, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication (Bhopal), G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, and Indian Institute of Mass Communication participated in it.

 While a fiery session of debate kept the audience hooked in the auditorium, the afternoon hosted the Creative Writing Competition at the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The Mimicry Competition witnessed a laugh riot with students cheering the performers as the second day came to a close. The final day hosted events like Bait-baazi, Ad-Mad and Folk Dance competition before the annual valedictory and prize distribution session formally awarded the winners bringing the curtains down on the event till next year.