Like a cool breeze offering respite from the midday sun, Arohan 2013 gave NITIEians a reason to cheer for 3 days full of cultural festivities as hundreds ascended the 96 steps onto the NITIE Lawns for the first Inter B-school Cultural Festival of NITIE, organized by the Cultural Team, to see and enjoy the dance, music, drama and other stage shows which make up the cultural fabric of the glorious institute.
Held on the sprawling lawns of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, the three-day festival is now billed as the largest cultural celebration in the college, featuring a plethora of colourful celebrations delighting everyone who was a part of the festival.
Numerous performers took the center stage to entertain the NITIE family; a hilarious musical drama, standup comedy acts, a dazzling fashion parade, foot-stomping dances and a rocking band show, on the Arohan Freshers Night on the 18th October. Chief Guest for the evening, veteran actor Ms. Asha Sharma graced the occasion with her presence and praised NITIE's green campus and congratulated the institute on completing 50 glorious years. Prof. Karuna Jain, the Director of NITIE welcomed Ms. Asha Sharma with the Golden Jubilee Memento.
The same NITIE lawn’s stage metamorphosed into a battleground on the 19th and 20th October as the Inter B-school cultural fest took off. The informal events tested the creative quotient of the participants as the canvas became a graffiti art wall in Doodle, the graffiti making competition, and collages on different social issues took life through pictures in Mosaic, the collage making competition. Harshada Pophali and Pramod Nair of NITIE walked away with the winner’s cheque in both the events while Nupur Kumar and Ratika Kapoor of NITIE clinched the runners up position in both events. The afternoon saw some wonderful street plays as Nukkad Natak brought forward critical societal evils like child marriage, kidnapping, rape and killing. Parivartan from NITIE won the judges' hearts and walked away as winners while Nautankibaaz from SIESCOMS won the runners up award.
A war of bands was held in NITIE for the first time since its inception. Metal, Indie Rock and Progressive rock bands from NMIMS, Xaviers', D Y Patil, etc. fought it out on stage for the title of the best band, which eventually went to Wired Anxiety from Xaviers'. The crowd was on its feet for the whole duration of the show. We also had a soulful guest cum judge performance by GIMA awards nominee band, the De Nitish Pires Band. Their Indie rock music saw the crowd singing along and waving their hands at every song by DNPB.
October 20th began with singing and dance prelims in the morning, accompanied by Chalchitra, the short movie making competition. IIM Indore walked away with top honours with their movie on Women Empowerment. Saptarshi, Yesheshvi and Ankit won the second prize in this event for their incredible story on overcoming fear. That same evening saw fireworks of cultural performances as Nrityotsav (dance) and Surkshetra (Singing) grand finale welcomed new stars into their musical journey. Beat Breakers from Chinai College and Disco Dancers from NITIE walked away with top honours in Nrityotsav while Puneet Kapoor from NMIMS and Mayur Patel from Chinai College bagged the top two positions in Surkshetra.
Overall the cultural festival was a huge success with the NITIE masses. The faculties, students as well as staff sang high praises about the festival. Arohan 2013 was presented by 93.5 RedFm and was partenered by Zoot! In association with MTV.
Arohan 2013 was a weekend to remember for the NITIEians.