Masti time at IP & Venkateswara

it was gung-ho time at the indraparastha college as the college students union hosted its annual cultural festival 'shruti 2001'. inaugural programme included a 'kavi sammelan' followed by inter-college 'antakshari' competition hosted by tv personality abhinav 'nanhe' chaturvedi. the first evening of the fest witnessed - arjun raina performing shakespeare in kathakali style, which he preferred to called ''khelkali'; and shovana narayan enthralling the audience by a mesmerising kathak performance.the second day comprised a lively jam session and several inter-college competitions in the morning while the evening witnessed dramatics society's annual production, 'mahasweta devi se darta hai kaun?' - a play on denotified tribes, based on the works of mahasweta devi, dakshin bajrange, faiz ahmed faiz and dhumil. the concluding day had an inter-college skit competition where the host team won the first prize. the final event of 'shruti 2001' was the western music evening, where two music group 'envision' and 'tantricz' enthralled the audience with pulsating numbers. the college also observed its 'college day' on november 26. veena maitra, director general, defence of 1961 batch was invited as a distinguished alumni to deliver a talk. maitra encouraged the girls to get involved in social work. students union president sabina sachdeva was declared as the best all round student of the year whereas, general secretary of the union, prerana khetrapal received the title of most versatile student. close on the heels, the sri venkateswara college also hosted its three-day annual cultural festival 'nexus 2001'. lok sabha speaker g m c balayogi inaugurated the fest. the function followed a cultural programme and an inter-college choreography competition on the first day. the highlight of the second day was ghazal night, where noted singer pankaj udhas lured the audience with his popular composition. the ghazal event has become a major fixture of 'nexus', which has already had ghulam ali and talat aziz performing in the past two years. the ugc chairman hari gautam was among the 3,000-strong audience, which attended the musical evening this year. the festival concluded with punjabi pop singer sukhbir captivating 20,000 students at the college ground. staff advisor to the students union, r k jain remarked, ''the students had made preparation for the past one month to make 'nexus 2001' a grand success. this year we had 24 inter-college competitions distributing rs 85,000 worth of cash prizes. indeed, we have improved on our past performances and made the event memorable.''