English Society Report 10-11

After a rather unusual year,ZEST decided to come back with a bang.The society organised its first ever inter-college literary event on the 15th March,2011.The theme for the literary event was "Who Is Afraid of Ides of March?" We at the Department of English, DDUC explored, enquired, contested and in effect reinvented the depiction of "Ides of March" as a metaphor of death, conspiracy, betrayal, loss and all that is evil and dark in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. We instead eulogised Julius Caesar’s Gung Ho! attitude to life, and his death defying declaration ‘Caesar shall go’! So on this Ides of March, i.e 15th of March 2011, we celebrated life, spring, fruition and all our events revolved around this theme.
What follows are the reports of various interesting events ZEST organised on the day.

INAUGURAL CEREMONY

"Who is afraid of Ides Of March?" The time to question the soothsayer's prediction, almost coincided with the time of our prediction of holding the first ever Literary Event by the Dept. Of English, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.And to nobody's surprise, the day fell on the Ides of March (15th March, 2011).The confirmation regarding the theme of our day long literary event was immediately followed by our decision of holding day long literary event, rather than a Literary Festival. The time of our revelation was 9:30 in the morning of 15th of March. The day began with an inaugural ceremony hosted by the Dr. Jayini Adhyapak (Teacher-in-charge), Dr, Anubha Mukherjee Sen and the President of the English Society, Kanika Chawla. The speech by the president included the answers to questions such as:

• What is Zest?
• What does Zest stand for?
• What does 'Ides of March' mean? and
• Why an event and not a festival?

A band performance by the college music band was lined up next. They explained, elaborated and presented the theme in their own musical way. This was followed by a dance performance by the dance group of English Honours, keeping in mind the theme of the event. Both these performances drew tremendous applause from the audience. Dr. S.K.Garg, the principal of our college and also the Chief Patron of our Society was requested to give a speech in order to motivate and praise the efforts of the faculty and the students .After his speech, Ankita Bajaj of Eng(hons.)final year made a power point presentation, which made it easier for the audience to understand the gist of 'The Ides Of March' along with what Zest stands for. The inaugural ceremony ended on a positive note with a speech from Dr. Anubha and Dr. Jayini which emphasized on the importance of Fruition and Spring in one's life.The audience and participants were then informed about the venues and timings of the various events.

EVENTS

1. LITQUIZ
   

Event heads-Anisha Kumari and Arun Arora (3rd year)
Volunteers- Prerna and Divya(1st year),Anagha,Parul and Chetan (2nd year),Sapna and Vibhuti (3rd year)

15th March is a very significant date in Roman calendar and it was on this date that the first ever inter-college literary event “who is afraid of ides of march?” was organized by ZEST, the English society of DDUC. The first event in the course of a host of events organized on this occasion, was the Literature Quiz or LitQuiz as we call it. This event saw participation from Janki Devi Memorial College and LaxmiBai College apart from two teams of the host college. Participation was opened for English Honours students only with a maximum of two members per team.

With rounds like Popular Talk (based on popular fiction), Photo-Folly (visual round where the participants had to recognize the author behind the distorted figure), Unraveling The Mystery (had questions from the vast and various paradigms of literature) and Dodge The Bullet (rapid fire round based on the texts prescribed in Delhi University), it is safe to say that the quiz was different and unique from other quizzes held in various colleges.

The team from Janki Devi Memorial College got first prize which included a certificate of merit and a cash prize of Rs 1000 and the team from Deen Dayal Upadhaya College got second prize which also included a certificate of merit and a cash prize of Rs 500.

The event was a nice opportunity for all the students involved to enhance their knowledge and learn some little known facts about authors who have shaped thought processes over the years. Organizing the quiz the way we did was an immensely gratifying feeling for the entire team and a great learning experience.

2.LIGHTS,CAMERA,SCORE

Event heads: Sahil Anand and Ankita Bajaj
Volunteers: Pallavi, Rashi, Sapna and Sushant
Judges: Dr. Anubha Mukherjee, Dr. Nirmalya Samanta and Dr. Pramesh Ratnakar

Since ‘Who is Afraid of Ides of March’ was our theme, the main objective of our event was to celebrate through cinema and negate all the negative elements through the medium of fun. The planning of the event was the most interesting part as we not only had fun but also worked hard.

This event was happening for the first time in Delhi University college festivals or literary interactions and this was a huge motivating factor. Unfortunately, one our judges, Dr. Nirmalya Samanta, could not join us but the great support from our internal professors kept us going.

The Inaugural Ceremony had just ended and we had only 30 minutes to arrange everything for our event at 11.30am.we put hand made charts and various posters of famous film stars and their quotes. We had one specific section for the Holocaust and Hitler posters titled “Never again.” Everything was ready by 11.25am. Ensuring a good participation in advance boosted our confidence. The event began at 11.30am. In the beginning, we had a technical hiccup but it was soon resolved. An immediate learning point- always have an expert around for technical support. Our first round- see a footage and answer a question- in full swing caught our participants’ attention. It had all- amusing, emotional, romantic, adventurous and witty elements in it. Then we came to round two- Dumb Charade. Participants were keenly involved with this round. Finally we entered into the last round- the basic film review round in which we showed two movie clips to the participants. Clip one was a scene from The Great Dictator and clip 2 was a scene from Chak De India. Almost everyone was well aware these movies which again ensured good interest from the participants. They were supposed to write a 100-150 words review on one of them.

Results were judged on the basis of these three rounds. A team from Ram Lal Anand College got the first prize and a team from Shivaji College won the second. Everyone tried hard. It was a very close competition. Finally, the event was brought to fruition at 1:00am.

3.JUST A MINUTE

As the name suggests, the event of JAM, was all about thinking on the toes and exhaling thoughts, all in a minute’s time! There were two rounds, the first one being the qualifying round. It was a theme based round, where all participants were asked to infuse their own logic and speak on the topic given to them. The final round was a situational round. Participants were asked to weave an interesting story on the situation given to them. All participants were judged on their basis of their content, creativity, clarity of thought and usage of language. The event was judged by Dr. Pragya of Jesus and Mary College and Dr. Sujata Sinha of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College. Several colleges enthusiastically participated like Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Daulat Ram College, Lakshmibai College, Janki Devi Memorial College, Kalindi College to name a few. The witty speakers kept everyone entertained. Our team worked under the guidance of our teacher Dr. Rohith, who helped us in making JAM a huge hit. Students from our own college gave tough competition to other colleges and won hands down. The first prize was won by Mohit Narula,a student of Computer Science (honours) and the second prize was won by Virat Vaid, a student of Bachelor Of Business Studies. Both the students are from DDUC. The themes used in the event were an amalgam of various genres, testing the humour, wit, knowledge and creativity of the participants. We can surmise that JAM was a success.
The team of Jam included: Harshleen Anand and Anagha Babu (2nd year) (event heads) And were accompanied by Bidyarani (1st year)

4.GRAFFITI COMPETITION

The graffiti competition organised as a part of the first annual literary event on the “Ides of March” was received well by the participants and audience alike. Since we were eulogising Caesar’s Gung-Ho attitude in life and reinventing the depiction of Ides of March, our theme for the graffiti was also based on the same theme- “celebration of life.”

The competition was not limited to the students of English Honours only and was open to students of all disciplines. The participants had to make the graffiti on any social issue of their choice provided that their graffiti showed a glimmer of hope and complied with the theme of the event.

There were ten teams in total, of which five were from the host college and five were from various colleges of Delhi University. The participants expressed their thoughts and opinions on issues ranging from honour killing to gender inequality through their graffiti. The teams had maximum of three participants and were provided with sheets to show their creative streak.

The competition was judged by Ms. Nisha Rana from Deen Dayal Upadhyay College and Ms. Pragya Deshmukh from Jesus And Mary College. Leena Mehta and Rashi Kukreja from English honours were adjudged the winners while Sameer Aggarwal from BBS won the second prize. Both the winners belong to the host college, Deen Dayal Upadhayaya College. The first prize was Rs 1500 and the second prize was Rs1000 alongwith with certificates.

5.FUN GAMES

Zest’s literary event ‘Who Is Afraid of Ides of March’, also witnessed some fun games along with its main events, which refreshed everyone. A team consisting of Vibhuti, Mansi, Shikha, Pallavi Chopra, Apoorva and Ruchi(3rd year) organized these games. Four interesting games were brought up by this team namely, GULP & WIN, APPLE OF THE DISCORD, LOVE THY NAME & TWIRL YO UR TONGUE.

• GULP & WIN: - in this game, the participants had to drink the bottle of thumbs up in one gulp and the one who finished first was the winner. This round was won by Ketan of the Physics department of DDUC.

• APPLE OF THE DISCORD: - in this, two members from each team participated and they had to balance an apple between their forehead and had to follow the commands of the host. The team which was able to balance the apple for the maximum time was declared the winner. This round was won by Kusha and Nisha of the English department of DDUC.

• LOVE THY NAME: - this was a game of name exercise. It was a one on one competition wherein the participants had to glorify their name and had to make their name stand out. This was won by Nisha.

• TWIRL YOUR TONGUE: - It was a tongue twister round, wherein the participants were given a tongue twister and he/she had to repeat it ten times in a go without any pause. This round was won by Prachi Arora from the English Department of DDUC.

This event witnessed a large number of participants from various streams of our Colleges as well as other colleges. Each team performed their best as there were attractive prizes to be won which comprised of deodorants, chocolate, pens etc. The audience as well as the participants had great fun and these games were a huge success.

6.ON AIR

The second last event of the day was ‘On Air’, that is Radio Scripting. Soon after the Film quiz and Film Review competition got over, we were ready with our event. The judges for the event were Ms. Basudha Banerjee, who is a producer at AIR and Dr. Anand Saxena who teaches at the Dept. of Commerce at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College. Six teams participated in the event out of which three were from the host college, one of which was a non-competitive team. The three other teams were from Laxmi Bai College, Kalindi College and Deshbandhu College. All the teams were given a topic and 15 minutes to prepare at the end of which each team was called to perform their scripts as if they were live on radio. The performances were magnificent and appreciated by the judges and audience alike. The team from Kalindi College won the first prize and the team from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College came second. The winning teams won goodie bags sponsored by Radio Mirchi along with cash prizes and certificates.

7.SNAPSHOTS

“Snapshots” was a photography event which invited students from different colleges to show off their talent in photography. Our literary event, “Who is Afraid of Ides of March?” was about fighting the negativity and living life with zeal and enthusiasm. Keeping this in mind, we decided to keep the theme of our photography event as “Celebration of Life and Nuances of Spring.” Both the themes highlight why life is worth living and that one should never be afraid of the unpredictability of life, instead celebrate it.

We received about 21 entries from within our college as well as other colleges of Delhi University including colleges such as Indraprastha College for Women and Delhi College of Arts and Commerce. This competition brought together the minds of not only literature students but also students of other disciplines/courses.

The competition cum exhibition was appreciated by the guests as well as the students of various colleges and departments. It was even visited by Ms. Basudha Banerji (Producer at All India Radio), who appreciated the creativity and imagination of the students. She congratulated us for our initiative and innovation. All in all this event was a success.

8.PLAY-ACT

The day started with a bang. Everything was in place. Everybody was enthusiastic about the day. They were excited about their respective events. The ambience was full of positivity and joy.

The Last event of the day was PLAY-ACT, headed by Megha Sharma ,who was ably supported by Parul Chikara, Vishakha, Mayank, Ankur(1st year) and Bhavna(3rd year). It started at 2:30 pm in the Multi Purpose Room. The judges for the event were Dr.Pramesh Ratnakar from DDUC and NP Ashley from St.Stephens College. To engage the audience, we invited some of them to come and sing for us. The judges got so involved that Dr. Pramesh Ratnakar sang a beautiful number for us followed by our teacher Ms. Richa Shukla. Four teams registered but somehow only 2 were able to perform on popular texts from our syllabus. The judges judged on the elements of costume, dialogues, dance and song.

The first performance was given by Deen Dayal Upadhaya College on the play Dr. Faustus by CHRISTOPHER Marlowe .They adapted the play and improvised to link it up with present time. They were highly appreciated by the judges. Second team was Janki Devi Memorial College. They adapted Lysistrata by Aristophanes and depicted a modern version of a woman’s problems and her fight with the opposite gender for equality.

Though we were supposed to give only first prize but due to the high level of competition, the judges decided to give prizes to both the teams. Deen Dayal Upadhayaya College won the first prize Rs 2000 and a cash prize of Rs 1000 was given to Janki Devi Memorial College to encourage and appreciate their efforts. Both the teams were also awarded merit certificates.This was followed by a final declaration of winners in all the events.

CURTAINS

With this we came to an end of what was a very special day for all of us. A day which saw unprecedented amount of energy floating in the corridors of the English Department of DDUC, a day which saw the creative energies of the students joining hands to make the day a memorable experience for everyone involved, a day which proved that we are not afraid of the "Ides Of March" and are willing to celebrate life in all its colours.