Panjab University Rose Festival starts with song, dance & selfies

CHANDIGARH: The annual Rose Festival started at Prof R C Paul Rose Garden at Panjab University. Officiating vice-chancellor Prof Renu Vig inaugurated the festival on Friday and urged students and Tricity residents to visit the campus to see the beautiful flowers.

The fest is being organised by PU's horticulture department. Various competitions were held on Friday in which students from various schools and colleges across the Tricity presented multiple floral arrangements like bonsai, cactus and roses.

Various amusement rides and food stalls have also been put up in the varsity campus to enthrall the audience. Students flocked the campus rose garden to watch various cultural performances by folk artists. For many, it was a beautiful day to bask in the sun or lie near the fountain.

People crowded around the butterfly-themed insignia to take selfies. Live-size fish and water tap illustrations depicted the importance of saving the environment.

Enactus, the student-led NGO club of the varsity set up a stall where they were selling handmade cloth sanitary napkins and ceramic utensils made by women from underprivileged sections.

PU student chapter of American Association of Petroleum Geologists had put up several paleontological artefacts including a millions-year old dinosaur egg. Here, many student volunteers from the geology department apprised the visitors about the history of these artefacts.

Freako Fresh, a city based start-up had also put up a stall selling drinks made of mango and ruby red, an Assamese wildberry. Just next to it, a wildlife photography exhibition displayed amazing art work with rather funny captions.

In the evening, many students broke out in bhangra and gidda to the tunes of folk music and dhol. A "Haasya kavi sammelan" was also organised late in the evening, in which Punjab transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar presided over as the chief guest.