Students at their artistic best

Any festival on college campuses goes on to serve as a platform to showcase students’ talents and skills. And VIT University’s Riviera 2015 did just that.

On the third day of the international sports and cultural festival on Saturday, scores of students demonstrated their acting, cooking, quizzing skills and in fact, not to forget racing skills.

Students, members of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), made heads turn with their aero exhibits and race car. Rishab along with Rathin Jai, Geet, Hanut and Sanchit stood next to their aero models – Sailing Falcons, a prototype of a payload carrying cargo aircraft, and an acrobatic plane that performs stunts at the festival.

“We take part in SAE’s aero design competitions and last year, we were placed 10th worldwide. We have come up with a model of an acrobatic plane that has manoeuvring capabilities,” explained Geet.

The vroom of a race car was enough to pull the crowd as the university’s formula student car racing team showed them what it was meant to drive a race car.

Inside Chenna Reddy auditorium, students took to their seats as “Thalia and Melpomene”, the stage play contest, took off. Susan, event coordinator, said there were eight teams that got to perform for 40 minutes. “The teams are judged based on presentation, voice modulation, script and overall performance. The best actor, director and play are also chosen,” she said.

The students’ cooking skills were put to test at Masterchef. Sixty teams of two participants each went through a tasting session in the first round to find out the ingredients used.

“Of this, 16 teams moved to the second round of dough making. In the final round that had five to six teams, participants could cook anything based on the list of ingredients given,” said Divya Prakash Jain, event coordinator.

For those with quizzing skills, India Quiz was the place to be. Close to 45 teams battled it out in the prelims, following which eight teams made it to the finals. “We have three theme rounds – Amul cartoons, famous dishes and their States, connect about Delhi,” said Gautam of VIT Quiz Club.

Besides numerous volunteers, at least 500 students - organisers, managers and coordinators - worked for the festival, said Shikha and Gautam, committee coordinators, Events and Culturals.

The Hindu is the media partner for VIT Riviera 2015.