PGDAV’s hybrid fest plays a safer bet!

Delhi University’s PGDAV College recently organised its annual cultural fest, Aaghaz ’22, in a hybrid mode, to avoid crowd mismanagement. A string of events, both offline and online, were organised that received a massive response from students across the varsity.

Fest season can now be declared official in Delhi University, with back to back events keeping students engaged in fun times! From competing against each other with full prep to flaunting the best attires, youngsters were spotted doing it all to make the most of the time at the recently held annual cultural fest, Aaghaz ’22, at Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (PGDAV) College.

PGDAV’s street play society, Rudra, organised the competition, Shor, where social issues became the primary focus of most performances. (Photo: Dhruv Sethi/HT)

The persistent concern, due to Covid-19 situation, made the college choose a hybrid mode for the fest, to avoid mass gathering. The josh was, however, not impacted even a wee bit as each event saw participation in full force. “The footfall was, in fact, more than what we expected,” says Amishi Chandra, a second-year student and vice president of the students’ union in the college. “Even without a DJ night, which is quite a popular way to attract late evening gatherings, many students crowded our college gates to indulge in the celebrations since we had the fest after two years! A string of events, both offline and online, were organised and received massive response,” he adds.

College fest is incomplete without posing and pouting to capture the memorable moments with friends. (Photo: Dhruv Sethi/HT)

The enthusiasm was palpable in most of the competitions ranging from Dark Room Improvisation by the film and photography society, Iris, to slam poetry competition by the poetry and creative writing society, Qaafiya. Shor, the street play event organised by Rudra, the street play society of PGDAV, took over the second day by storm. Around 10 teams participated in it, and explored a plethora of social issues including marital rape and ever growing human greed, through their well-rehearsed acts.

“I’m glad that the fest happened even if it wasn’t on a grand scale,” says Mayank Grover, a final-year student, who coordinated the rap competition. He adds, “The sound systems are of the same level that were used in our first year, but the stage is being missed for sure. The entries for the competition this year have been at par with what we witnessed in our first year.”

Around 10 teams participated in the street play competition, Shor. (Photo: Dhruv Sethi/HT)

Sharing a similar sentiment, Rajat Jaiswal, a first-year student of Economics (Hons), who is part of Iris, says, “I found the whole process so exciting. We had registrations from across Delhi, and the sort of exposure one gets working with different people is nothing short of great! Also, the idea of having a dark room with limited elements challenges ones creativity,” shares Jaiswal, who is looking forward to explore the fest scenario across DU.

After a gap of a few days, the two-day fest witnessed an online finale that had Niraj Chaudhary — lead singer of the Chandigarh-based band 6 Nerves Collective — perform live on the online streaming platform that was earlier shared for the online competitions. And this alongside other factors made some students feel a missing vibe due to the selection of a hybrid mode of fest. “This is not the real DU experience that I was expecting,” says Pratham Chopra, second-year student of B Com (Prog) at Dyal Singh College. This was the first fest that Chopra attended this season, after missing out his own college’s annual event, and opines, “I didn’t find anything interesting at PGDAV’s fest. There are competitions happening but I’m not participating in any mainly because aise hybrid fest mein woh apna pan nahi hai. Par Covid ke chalte itna bhi kiya toh woh bhi achha hai!”

Author tweets @AngelaPaljor

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