A bird’s eye view
Years spent on the college campus are evergreen and the most cherished ones in everyone’s life. While college students undergo a rigorous regime filled with academic pursuits, a host of co-curricular activities, and a handful of extra-curricular activities. A festival like Sathgamaya proved to be just the perfect get-away from their tough routines allowing them to de-stress and yet learn a lot from the fun.
Sathgamaya means to transform oneself from ignorance to truth. Sathgamaya a state-level multi fiesta, was a brand new, a grand new festival that traversed over two days with a series of a wide range of talks, workshops, competitions, and pure entertainment. This year, the fest was designed to give a 360-degree makeover, making it three times bigger, better, and bolder!
The event was conceived so as to enable students to put into practice all the skills that they have learned in their academic programs as well as showcase their innate artistic and technical abilities to the fullest. It included interactive talk sessions with industry experts, workshops ranging from make-up to virtual reality, activities from food & craft stalls to spot competitions, rhythmic entertainment in the evening, art installations & exhibitions, carnival and much more.
Over 800 students from different colleges of Karnataka participated in Sathgamaya 2020, A state-level multi-fest, organized by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham from March 3-4, 2020.
On March 3, the fest was inaugurated by Dr.Balakrishnan Shankar, Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Quoting Steve Jobs in his inaugural address Dr. Shankar cautioned “You should not leave any dots(opportunity) un-connected”. Everyone has dreams and everyone tries to make them come true. In the process of pursuing a dream, one may have to face many difficulties, but one should never give up, he added.
Voice to the Youth, a special lecture was arranged on the occasion on “Channelizing Youth for Nation Building” which was delivered by Dr. M R Seetharam, President, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) Mysuru. He said channelizing the youth energy to constructive nation-building is the need of the time or else it will become a destructive force as we can see in the present. He advised the youth who are mostly engaged with their cell phones “Don’t be stuck to your mobile, instead you should be mobile physically and intellectually”. Redefining 4G in his own way, he observed that youth should be – goal-oriented, seek appropriate guidance, grind themselves and stay grounded throughout.
Workshops ranging from Robotics, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship, UI/UX to Pottery, Makeup & Nail Art attracted over 350 participants from all over Karnataka. Students won attractive cash prizes in gaming and other competitions such as Hackathon, Roadeez, Web Development, Digital Treasure Hunt, Revengers(LAN gaming) Marvel Trivia Quiz, Best Entrepreneur, Business Quiz, Pinch of Punishment, Science Treasure Hunt, Science Model and Collage making, Bollywood Quiz, TikTok, Photography, Theatre, Story Telling, Poetry, Literary quiz, Bhagavad Gita Recitation, Solo Singing, Solo Instrumental and Cricket competitions.
The Science Park with several working models, quizzes, games and other experiments allowed the visitors to explore the wondrous world of Science. Carnival with its food stalls, fun-filled games and Paint Ball were the major highlights of the fest. Evenings were made colorful and joyful with a fashion show, dance & music competition and mesmerizing performance by the Naik and the Jois Project music band.
“Sathgamaya Fest at Amrita has been a true never before experience. Lazer Maze, Astro-physics, Rubik’s cubes chromatic games, magic squares coupled with mouth-watering Faloodas, Kulki Sharbath, Churmuri & Chats, South Indian special etc was both food for thought and tummy”, expressed one of the participants.
Renowned Actor and Founder of Natana School of Theatre Arts, Shri. Mandya Ramesh distributed the prizes to winners at Valedictory Function held at Open Air Theatre, Manasagangothri. Mysore Institute of Commerce and Arts (MICA) won the overall championship. The fest witnessed the presence of over 3000 footfalls.
In his valedictory address Shri. Mandya Ramesh mentioned that academics need to be supported with co-curricular activities. Participation in such events helps to inculcate moral values and ideals required for balancing their emotional quotient sidelong with the intelligence quotient. He urged the participants to follow their passion and pursue it seriously.
The bigger picture
Carnival was one of the most popular events and an eye-catcher of Sathgamaya 2020, which was organized by the departments of Visual Communication and Management & Commerce. Carnival served as a platform for students of various departments to hone their entrepreneurial skills. Around 14 stalls were set up by students to sell delicious & hygienically prepared food and beverages.
PUBG chats, Hottebaka – traditional Karnataka food, Andhra Chaat Special, were among the food served at the stall. Authentic delicacies uncommon to the local palettes like the Kulukki Sherbat that went up in the air and a few other specialties like Puliogare in donne (Tamarind rice), Obbattu & Holige, Kodubale, the twirling Peri Peri Fries, Traditional Lemon Rice, Mango lassi, Fruit-Mocktail Lush, Pista & Strawberry Faloodas, Salads sold with Katori Chaat, Fresh Juice, Ice-creams and Butter Milk, melted the taste-buds of many. It was nice seeing these young entrepreneurs resorting to different marketing strategies to attract the maximum crowd like flash sales, win & eat event-based marketing to make profit. Loud drum-crying coupled with word-of-mouth influence brought many footfalls into the stall-side.
While the moving crowd snacked on yummy munchies, around 20+ games captured the attention of students, parents and also the staff. Games like TestMyMemory, BallTheCup, TaxiDriver, holla-hoop, spot choreography, arm wrestling, and a few table games brought in a huge crowd to the center stage of the carnival. Jukebox was a hit, as many dedications were recorded.
Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar one of the esteemed guests of the fest was seen exchanging thoughts with the students. The carnival was an overall success and brought in a live essence to Sathgamaya 2020. Students turned entrepreneurs walked away with good returns.
On the 3rd of March, over 64 students including 42 girls and 22 boys showcased their attire to the theme of Indo Western in the Fashion-Show. After two rounds of the audition, out of 87 students, 64 were chosen to stage the show. Girls dressed in Kanchipuram silk sarees and boys in Dhothi -Shalya, walked in panache presenting the ethnicity of traditional wear during Round 1. The corporate walk was postured to enlighten the college students to dress up to suit the corporate life. In the third round – Indo western, the boys and girls ambled with a complete combination of Indian & Western attire. The fourth round displayed the touch of royalty with girls dressed in grand lehengas, readymade sarees and designer wear gowns. Thanks to Nidhi boutique & sarees, The Badshah pride, Naturals salon & spa, Ayra spring diaries, Shivani bridal makeover for shouldering the event. An apt ambience was set on that evening as the sky drew dark, with decorative flashlights & LED displays turned on, with perfect rhythmic music, all timed to set the stage on fire as the ramp walkers strolled the ramp.
The best Entrepreneur event was coined to help the participants design and present a business plan, along with the marketing and promotional strategies.
Pinch of Punishment was conducted by the Department of Management & Commerce. The participants who failed to answer were given a pinch of punishment. Around 10 teams participated and entertained many spectators.
The brain-chaps were found busy, tapping on the buzzers and answering the mind-challenging questions in business and movies in the events on Business Quiz and Bollywood Quiz The event-organizers of the respective departments took good care to drill them out with various rounds of general MCQ, puzzle, Visuals and Audio to identify personalities, logos, taglines, movies, etc. The winners were acknowledged with prizes during the valedictory function. On the same lines, the event Marvel Trivia tested the knowledge on movies and pictures specifically on Marvel series.
The Literary Club of Amrita Mysuru campus, (Department of Languages) conducted four different literary events: Quizzical, story-telling, Bhagavad Geetha Recitation and Poetry Painting (Doodle). The quizzical was meant to be a literary quiz specifically based on Indian popular literature to literature-inspired movies. In the Poetry Painting (Doodle) event, a theme was provided to the participants- a group of two; a poet and a painter- to compose a poem and the same poem was to be represented through painting/doodles. Colorful drawings, doodles and sketches evolved as an outcome of the event.
As always, competitions proved to be the best way to build and boost confidence among students. To motivate the students in Bhagavad Gita studies, the Bhagavad Geeta chanting competition was conducted for the UG students of first-grade colleges.
Picture-story was yet another complementing event. Participants were asked to pick a picture and use it to build a story and narrate it in the language of their choice. Their posture, mannerism, narrative style and presence of mind was commendable.
The Department of Computer Science of Mysuru Campus had organized an event on Web designing, which tested many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The participants had to replicate a given design based on a specific theme and framework. The winner was declared based on the most interesting and creative idea and design.
Over thirteen teams, each team with four members participated enthusiastically in the Roadeez event. The event which involved both physical activity and mental ability had several challenging and exciting rounds.
Science Treasure Hunt and Digital Treasure Hunt provided for physical and virtual exploration.
The Science Park which included several experiments, working models and fun-based science activities/games was open to the public from March 3-5, 2020.
Spread across seven rooms, the science park comprised several astonishing arenas such as:
Physics zone: included several experiments and models developed by the students to help the visitors to visualize things that they cannot actually see. The models were exhibited as a thinking tool, to help form explanations and also aid understanding in such a way that it can used to explain further phenomena and to make predictions of future sustainable developments.
Chemistry zone: included several experiments that were performed which demonstrated the significance of several important concepts in organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. Demonstrations were performed which highlighted the application of various phenomena such as adsorption, diffusion, nucleation, capillary effect, catalysis, hydrophobic effect, etc. to solve real-life problems. In addition, activities such as molecular model building and a quiz based on chemistry were organized to arouse the interest of the students and make them more science-driven.
Drikashastra: included blooming optical technologies like hologram, infinite door, double slit experiment, bending of light through a laminar flow, diffraction and interference pattern and some other optical illusions using plain mirrors were demonstrated by the students. The visitors’ acquired a wide range of knowledge through these demonstrations.
Astrophysics Zone: The Zone comprised of handcrafted moon surface which included a working rover model, where the visitors got a hands-on opportunity to explore it. This zone also included models of PSLV rocket, geostationary satellite, space-time model. The students also built a selfie booth of an Astronaut for the visitors to have a picture memory.
Mathematics Zone: Included interesting work of facial mapping of the visitors using mathematical calculations, also the square root model and demonstration of Fibonacci series model. The zone also included the Kirigamy art which was created using geometrical patterns. The students organized a small math quiz event with exciting prizes.
Laser Maze: The students constructed an interesting maze that had an internal reflection of the laser beam and the participants had to solve and cross the maze without getting in contact with the beam on which the buzzer would beep. There were exciting prizes and vouchers to those who crossed the maze without having a penalty beep.
Big Fun theory: This Zone included multiple science fun games that attracted visitors. Games like Buzz wire challenge Crack the period, coin the bucket and many more. The participants got an opportunity to win exciting prizes.
Around 300 participants from various UG and PG streams set foot into the science park. Besides, winning the special appreciations of the Guest Dr.M. R Seethraman, SVYM Mysuru, the Science Park left the visitors astounding.
Post-script
Sathgamaya, the state level multi fest, shouldered by immense encouragement and effort by the Management, Principal, section heads, faculty coordinators, student coordinators, volunteers and the participants was truly unique experience for both participating students and the hosts. Trophies, cash prizes and participation certificates were awarded to the winners of various events, at the grand valedictory function held at the Open-air Theatre, Manasagangothri on March 4th, 2020. The students of MICA bagged the overall championship trophy. With a deep sigh of satisfaction and setting higher expectations for the next year, the curtains dropped down marking the success of Sathgamaya 2020.
