After back-to-back performances by popular singers late into Friday night, it was time to take it a little slow on day three of ‘Riviera 2012', the ongoing cultural festival at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).
The need to conserve energy to head bang on the VIT grounds later in the day when SuidAkra, a melodic death metal band from Germany performs was the only explanation to the slow tempo on campus on Saturday.
As music enthusiasts gathered together to listen to melodious tracks as part of ‘Raaga Reggae', a little further away, ‘Shade your wear' was in progress. Groups of three students crouched around a white t-shirt to paint a cartoon character and write out a funny slogan. “We are working on our slogan,” said K.N.S. Pradeeptha from KSRM College of Engineering, Kadapa, pointing to the picture of Mickey and Minnie mouse on the t-shirt. “This is the first time we are visiting VIT and it has been really exciting,” she added, echoing the thoughts of her teammates.
With little or no time to say a few words, and with constant interjections such as ‘pause', ‘speech defect', ‘complete waste of time', being yelled out, the finals of the JAM session was in full swing.
As event coordinator, Ramakrishnan, kept a close watch on manual buzzers – palms hitting the bench, he was also quick to give and take away points for disconnects pertaining to the topic.
VIT's Fine Arts Club had come up with yet another fun activity when they decided to fuse art and photography. So Akshaya Roopa and Balakumar from Saastra University, not only had to draw Bugs Bunny coming out of a hole in the ground, but also had to place the painting against an appropriate background and take a photograph of it. “We were trying to depict urbanisation and pollution to show how urbanisation is eating into nature,” said Akshaya, while explaining the photo of a motorbike whizzing past the bunny's head.
Several other self-contained events such as Short Film Making, Radio Jockey and Body Art went on during the day without making much racket. The duo, S. Gautham Adithya from Anna University and R. Aravind from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, formed a mixed team to win the quiz finals which had several rounds, including an Amul Ad Theme Round and one to identify artist Ali Jabbar's minimalist posters of famous people.
But as far as popular events go, the Legends of the Hidden Temple, modelled on the popular Nickelodeon show by the same name, had a constant stream of visitors eager to unravel the mysteries of the hidden temple.
Except in this case, the temple was constructed out of upturned chairs and tables, set to dull light and eerie music. “We have set up some tasks that have to be performed within 5 to 6 minutes. The aim is to cross the obstacles and get a hold of the artefact,” said event coordinator, Abhinav Shukla.
The Hindu is the media partner for Riviera 2012.
