Anniversary

A Milestone Achievement

Sadat Rashid and Samira Siddique

It seems like yesterday when BRAC University (BRAC U) took its first steps into the higher education programme. Starting in the year 2000, BRAC University is now one of the most reputed private universities in Bangladesh. Ten long years have come and gone and it just seemed fit to embrace this milestone with a celebration that should be deemed to be truly awe-inspiring, thus the 10-year-Milestone Celebration, which took place on July 23, 2011.

The elephant was quite a surprise. Photo: Tahmi Ahmed

The event took place at the BRAC U's Mohakhali Campus starting from 10 am and continued till 9 pm. It started off with the opening ceremony where the Vice Chancellor, Dr Ainun Nishat, inaugurated the programme by breaking a hari (earthen pot) full of water in front of BRAC U's logo. This was followed by an award ceremony where the students presented the awards to the VC, Deans, Faculties, Registrar and other, for completing 10 years at the university. The VC and the faculty members also took their time to go down the memory lane and share their wonderful experiences.

BRACU Campus: filled with frenzied activities. Photo: Cyrus S Khan

Warfaze - the best for the last! Photo: Tahmi Ahmed

Possibly one of the most outlandish activities of the day was the rally that took place afterwards. The streets were engulfed with the colours of green and purple and the sheer excitement portrayed by the ever energetic students, the Band Party and the elephant. There were two rallies; one in the morning (with the present BRAC U students) and another in the evening (with the alumni members).

By 12:30 pm, the entire campus was alive with frenzied activities! There were snake charmers, monkey shows, balloon shooting, darts, throw-the-can, parrot card reading, ring throw and the Nagordola. Apart from these activities there were face paintings and Mehendi sessions to keep the excitement going, not to mention free and unlimited cotton candy, phuchka, chotpoti, jhalmuri, shingaras and Mountain Dews to go about. The theme of the celebration was 'Mela' which was quite obvious! The movie, The Last Air-Bender was also shown during the event which won a lot of viewers for the day.

At 3:15 pm, BRAC U hit the memory lane again but this time with the BRAC's Alumni Association where they shared theirmemories fromBRACU. Every one became nostalgic when the projector screen showed slideshows of the students' escapades. To take the event to a more humorous side, Naveed's Comedy Club came in with their wits and laughs to create a clamour. BRAC University's very own Drama Club staged a comical drama, Lal Chaad.

The long awaited Warfaze Concert (held at the Campus) kicked off at 7 pm taking everyone by storm. The keyboardist of Warfaze (Shams Monsur Goni, also a faculty of BRAC University's Architecture Department) interacted with the students to revive the energy. Great hits like Oshamajik, Joto Dure, Shomoye, Mone pore Tomake, kept the crowd at the edge of their seats. The band ended with Moharaaj and cleared the floor for the fireworks.

All safety precautions were maintained to ensure that the show was a success. All the volunteers deserve special thanks for their dedication, because without them it would not have been the exuberant festival that it was. It certainly made an impression on everyone, and most look forward to another day like this. The 10th year celebration was certainly a day to remember.