Music, dance, standup comedy and plays rocked the maiden cultural extravaganza of IIM Visakhapatnam, ‘Samaarambh 17’ on Saturday. The various competitions that marked the fest saw participation from over 40 colleges across the country, including entries from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research and IIM – Sirmaur.
While the fest was a celebration of various talents, the months leading to it provided a great learning curve for the students, which they amassing experiences they would label as ‘wonderful memories’ after they graduate. From facilitating and enhancing networking skills to helping students get better at man-management and organisational skills, the students gathered several practical experiences during the fest.
Besides being actively involved in its behind-the-scene activity with his team for three months before the fest, Sai Aditya, cultural secretary of the fest and member, Student Affairs Council, said the maiden fest provided a great learning and networking opportunity for the students. “The events like the rock band show had very specific requirements. The fest being held right after Sankranti, it was a big challenge for us to get the equipments. We all good together to come up with solutions and made the show a success,” said Aditya, who hails from Hyderabad. For the first annual cultural extravanganza, the mentor institute IIM-Bangalore provided support.
‘Samaarambh 17’ also brought to the fore many latent talents of the budding management professionals. A stunning capture of the Himalayan range by Abhishek Goel, second year student of IIM – Visakhapatnam, won the first prize in the online photography event, ‘Lenspot’ that saw an overwhelming response from colleges across the country. “This was my first prize in a photography competition. I am an amateur photographer and love capturing nature during my travels. This particular picture was shot at the Manali-Rohtang Pass stretch,” said Abhishek. For the dance group of P. Abhinay from Avanthi College of Engineering, this was their fourth win in a college fest in the city. “We performed a mixed bag of Bollywood, hip-hop and locking,” said Abhinay, popular B-Boying group from the city who have performed across cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata. The team from ‘K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research’ won the Pause ‘n’ Play short film competition.
Later in the evening, standup comedian Shridhar Venkataramana, IIM Bengaluru graduate, stepped up the mood with his great sense of humour. Having performed over 50 shows across cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune and Mumbai, the young talented standup comedian was a good inspiration for many youngsters in the city who aspire to make it big in the booming standup comedy circuit of the country.
The highlight of the programme was the show of Kolkata based rock band ‘Underground Authority’ that held the audience spell-bound by their musical performance.
