BENGALURU: Shouts and hoots, stalls to hop in and out of, and colours and vibes are back on city campuses as college cultural fests have made a comeback in their offline avatar after a gap of two years.
At degree colleges, only the current third-years had experienced an inter-collegiate fest before. “The whole excitement is about having an offline event with thousands of students coming together. We are making new friends, bonding and celebrating,” said Sreshta Biswas, president of the students’ union of Mount Carmel College. The college said its fest, Cul-Ah, saw a footfall of 10,000 students. The fest, which ended on Thursday, was held with limited participants last year.
Shawn Michael, cultural secretary at St Joseph’s College of Commerce, said: “Participation for our fest ‘Dhwani’ increased drastically when compared to 2019. While the average number of participants was 10 in each event in 2019, it was 20-plus this time.”
“This is the time when we can make friends and build popularity among other college students. We identify our talents and weaknesses and get to work on those by watching others,” he added.
Sai Lakshmi M, cultural secretary, Jyoti Nivas College, said there is a lot of experience and exposure that cultural fests offer. “We missed them in the past two years. Even trends have changed over the past two years. While fashion walk was one of the most popular events earlier, this time beatboxing was a major attraction. Interestingly, many girls participated in the event, which is otherwise male-dominated. One of the winners was also a girl.”
Jyoti Nivas’ cultural festival was held on March 29 and 30 and based on the theme, ‘On the red carpet’.
Celebrities and social media influencers rocked campuses during the fests. Social media pages were abuzz to build up the hype while stalls were major attractions on the ground.
Om Vasmate, head of the student council of PES University, which is currently holding its campus fest, said: “The excitement is palpable. While we had 2,000 students participating in 2020, this year it is 4,000. Students were asked to come dressed as film actors. The campus was brimming with characters from the cinema world — from Sholay to RRR.”
The colleges have also made an attempt to put basic Covid-19 precautions in place. For instance, PES University said its disciplinary team has been renamed as the crowd management team.
Students said getting sponsors was easier this time for the fests and startups were ready to pitch in.
