Feature

Malhar Mania!

Rabeya Rowshin & Samia Tamrin Ahmed

Malhar, meaning a raga in classical music, is India's 2nd largest college festival, celebrated its 30th year this year. It is arranged by St. Xavier's college where the song “Aditi” of the movie Jaane tu ya janey na was shot. The participants come from different institutions throughout India and this year there were more than 60 colleges from India with 2 international institutions joining Malhar for the very first time, Lahore School of Management Sciences and University of Dhaka. This added aspect had attracted more media attention towards Malhar this time. The main sponsor TATA Indicom along with several other co-sponsors and partners financed the huge event.

The arrangement for this program begins every year around April and continued from or the following four months until it was inaugurated on 15th August and ended by the following day on 16th. There were so many things to settle, the participants list, visa formalities, etc. We reached Mumbai on 14th of August with a team comprised of four students from the Economics department of DU, - Samir Ashraf and Abir A. Chowdhury from the 4th year and Rabeya Rowshin and Samia Tamrin Ahmed from the 2nd year. It was truly remarkable that the entire event was handled by the students without any faculty involvement. The management was composed of 19 departments, namely assistance, security, administration, PR, literary arts, workshops inc. etc.

The theme for 2008 Malhar was Street Sprit, and street art, dance and culture was widely highlighted by many of the fun events. The street dance was one of the most popular events drawing the most number of audience. Malhar is a festival that includes wide range of cultural events that were categorized under literary arts, fine arts, workshops inc., ETC, raga, Indian performing arts and few others. Besides it arranged for fine arts exhibition, book exhibition, Malhar museum, Amateur night (a concert), Yes we Cannes! (a short film making competition which had Kunal Kohli and Tara Sharma as judges) and many other intriguing events. All these categories had variety of events, such as, literary arts included creative writing to word games, fine arts included wall painting to shoe design and etc had an interesting event for outstation students named Food For Thought. We involved ourselves in several events of literary arts that were in fact enjoyable; few events like the word game and Quo Lateral events were actually tricky, requiring intricate brainwork. The workshops of Art Appreciation showed the techniques of graffiti, Pimp My Stride expressed the impression enhancement tactics and Brandtastic was all about branding products. For the fitness freaks, there was the Malkhamb workshop as well as Tai Chi training. Basically, there was something for everyone. Those who did not participate could hang around and watch any event, be them the salsa swings, Qawwali or shadow theatre!

Throughout the event, security was strictly maintained and the total event was well administered. We really appreciate the firm sincerity of the organizers that was vivid right through the event. The enthusiasm of participants to give their best and working together with students over there during workshops was really an experience to cherish.

Journey to Mumbai….
It is easy enough to visit Mumbai, takes less than a day if you fly. Yet we ventured out the long way- by road! After the overnight bus ride to Kolkata, it was a matter of catching the train to Mumbai, which takes more than 30 hours to reach. In fact, in the week we went for Malhar, about 4 nights were spent on the trains itself. I had no clue how my time would pass, but it was alright, with my friends in the compartment, munching on snacks and enjoying the scenery. We had a map of India and we traced all the stations we crossed along our way. The route we passed in each journey from Kolkata to Mumbai covers Bangladesh three times! It was interesting watching how the arid regions gave way to hills along the way. There were teams going to Malhar on our very sleeper coach, and we talked to some of them.

Upon reaching Mumbai, it was Surprising to see that the team from Xavier College was there to greet us at 5 am at the station. They settled a place for us to stay and took us to visit their campus in the morning.

Thanks to our friends in Mumbai, we got to see some of the popular tourist spots- the Gateway of India, Colaba, Hazi Ali Mazaar. The excursion to the Mazaar was a great experience, as we had to check the timing of the tide for the day. A small walkway leads there from Worli and in high tide the water engulfs this piece of land. The rain and the sea water combined made us sodden on our way back. At Colaba we tried a variety of Indian food, got a taste of India! Some of us went for movies too. We could not stay long in the city, and missed a trip to the Film City our friends wanted to show us. Walking on the roads of the city with the sweetest friends was a memory to cherish, staying out to see the city till 11 pm was an adventure.

Noteworthy observations
There were several other things that caught our eyes as we wandered around the metro, Mumbai. All the main streets had traffic contacts and other traffic details displayed beside the road and people sincerely followed traffic rules that kept accident rate low despite high speed of vehicles. Roadsides contained signs of no loitering and no spitting along with a significant amount of fine. Most importantly, people followed rules genuinely. Interestingly, as it was my first trip outside Bangladesh, when a beggar approached me on a train station to Mumbai, I realized for the very first time the negative image that reflects on a tourist's mind when the same incident happens with a tourist in my country. There is so much to learn in order to improve our city, for example, from the local trains running through the metro Mumbai meets transportation needs of millions. We frequent our neighbouring country so often, so why do we spend so much time shopping instead of recognizing the facts that lie behind India's advancements?

Funny Sports Quotes

"And now, excuse me while I interrupt myself." Murray Walker

"Watch the time -it gives you an indication of how fast they are running." Ron Pickering

"Batistuta gets most of his goals with the ball" Ian St John

"Adams is stretching himself, looking for Seaman" Brian Moore

"That would have been a goal if the goalkeeper hadn't saved it." Kevin Keegan, ex-England manager and player

"What will you do when you leave football, Jack -- will you stay in football?" Stuart Hall, interviewing Jack Charlton, Radio 5 Live

"Certain people are for me and certain people are pro me." Terry Venables, ex-England manager

"My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7." David Beckham

"I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing." Ade Akinbiyi

"I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona." Mark Draper

"I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock." Barry Venison, ITV

""I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat." Ron Atkinson

"Without being too harsh on David, he cost us the match." Ian Wright, ITV

"The good news for Nigeria is that they're two-nil down very early in the game." Kevin Keegan