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A democratic discussion
Behaviour that would otherwise be considered vicious was right in place for the group discussion competition - Gabfest. The discussion initially began on the subject, India a soft state but was later changed to the sensitive All the major religions of the world have got it wrong. Finding the first topic too political, the ten participants were more comfortable with the second subject and their performance drastically improved. Carefully observing each contestant the entire time was judge Mujtaba Lokhandwala, who closed the session with some much appreciated feedback. Instructing the students, he said, "Try not to be like politicians who speak a lot without saying anything". Offering constructive criticism to participants, he added "Many of you weren't listening as you were busy preparing your next point and some of you spoke without adding any value". But overall, he was appreciative of the participants, "They all performed very well and it was a difficult competition to judge".
Brain twister
It was a nail biting session as six teams fought it out for the title of Brain Sync, the quiz competition at Idea Verve '08. Having scored over 81 other teams that appeared for the written elimination, each of the finalists was there to prove their mettle. Challenging one another were teams from AIT, VIT, DY PATIL, VCIC and MAE .
The quizmaster, Puneet Kothari, a senior member of Express Youth Forum, presided over the contest. The questions covered a wide range of fields from sports to music to art, television and even popular culture. It was amusing to watch contestants often making wild guesses, when the questions befuddled them. For instance, the question What event is likely to take place in Goa on the date 08/08/08? drew responses like a Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert and a James Bond movie premier', none being close to the actual answer, 'the Woodstock concert'.
In the end, VCIC were declared the winners with VIT as the first runners-up and a draw between AIT & MAE for the third position. Winner Mayukh Guha Thakunte of VCIC says, "I've been a childhood quizzer and its good to be back. That apart, as a new institute, this win means a lot to us".
Runner up Aditya Kulkarni of VIT commented upon the unpredictability of the competition," This year the competition was very close and we had no idea who would win. Just one question could make a big difference".
Summing up the overall performance this year, event manager Ankit Shah said, "The teams didn't score as well as they usually do because this year we decided to raise the bar a little and made a compilation of fairly difficult questions". And it was these difficult questions that added the thrill element to it.
Dance like a winner
The competition that attracted the most number of crowds at Idea Verve 2008 was undoubtedly Nupoor. The night was filled with the energy of the students from various colleges in Pune. Judging the show since the last four years, Murad, a professional choreographer, said that the show was fantastic and was much impressed by the dancing act that the participants showcased. He was certainly not the only one who was smitten by the charm of the twenty piquant finalists. The audience swayed and cheered them on. The students from MAE College, Alandi took home the first prize after garnering a huge approbation from the crowd. Mahim Neema, a triumphant member of the winning group said, "We had practised with the intention of winning." The winning college now has twenty points added to its overall scores.
Lively extravaganza
It would be an injustice to call Elaan - the Idea Verve '08 rock rumpus - a rock contest. A 'rock show' or 'rock concert' is a truer description of the incredible event that happened Saturday morning at S P College grounds. The euphoria of the event was so widespread that even passers by within the radius of a half a mile were automatically attracted to the venue. And the performers, they were otherworldly! Someone not watching the competition and just listening to the tracks would not have, even in his wild dreams, guessed that the performers were tyros from college and not established rock bands!
From a pool of such talented, supercharged participants, judges Stan Thomas, Littu Varghese and Koko struggled really hard to shortlist seven finalists. "Looking at the performances I must say that the level has gone high this time. The attitude and the confidence that the participants are showcasing is excellent!" said Koko.
An active Express Youth Forum member and event manager for Elaan, Anurag Varghese, was seen running around, managing the crowd and coordinating the performances.
The participants' side was an unusual site at Elaan. Where most of the performers at any ordinary contest would be tensed and praying, Elaan green rooms were oozing with zing and aplomb. And then the same confidence was enjoyably manifest on the stage. Mihir Raje, Vineet Jadhav, Dinesh Bhalerao and Anand Paithankar of SAE College set the stage on fire with their performances like Lose yourself and Snakes of the Christ, a track originally by Danzig and went on to grab the first position at Elaan. The team to take the second position was VIT. We played Ocean's Avenue by Yellow cards along with a couple of OSTs- that is original sound tracks," was team VIT. MAE Alandi secured the third position with their electrifying performance.
Some won, some lost. Nevertheless, the audiences at Elaan had a blast…a real blast.
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