DU Inter-College Youth Festival: A jamboree of intellect and faculty of spirited minds

UJJAINI SHARMA

Taking pride in being an alumni of the district’s oldest premier institution, recognized as Dibrugarh Hanumanbux Surajmal Kanoi College, the news of holding a three-day Inter-College Youth Festival brought a sense of immense pleasure for me as for the first time the college was gearing up to hold a fest of cultural activities among students of 170 colleges affiliated under Dibrugarh University (DU).

The festival showcasing the flair and brilliance of diverse latent talents of students through cultural competitions on a single platform, witnessed the participation of almost 2,000 students from the districts of North Lakhimpur , Dhemaji Golaghat,Jorhat, Sibsagar, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh,  which kicked off on January 21 with a host of scheduled list of competition which was organized among the partakers to be held in miscellaneous groups.

The three-day multihued assemblage of cultural unification of young minds, who actively represented their respective colleges on assorted cataloged fiesta of musical, instrumental, drama, debating, recitation, folk and classical dance, quiz, photography, mime acts, collage presentations , installation, cartoon, alpa and construction of Bokar Model competitions, succeeded in exhibiting their inner talents with flair and brilliance. The Inter-College festival blossomed in delight for successfully staging 28 drama, which has been stated to be a testimony in the history of college festivals. A vibrant cultural parade that moved out from the college on the iugural day, crossed through the main exits of the town, exhibiting the rich heritage of our tradition and culture, and maged to attract the local populace.

A host of institutiol heads and invited guests attended the festival along with the Vice Chancellor of DU, Dr. Alak Kumar Buragohain who after iugurating the festival appreciated the planners’ efforts for organizing a unique event in the college confines itself amongst the learners of different colleges. Dr Buragohain even called out to the students’ community to cog them up for locking the artistic and linguistic legacy of our tradition, with a sense of deep responsibility.

The entire roll of competition were simultaneously held at the fixed venue halls during the three-day cultural and musical youth festival, while the concluding day fancy dress and chorus event was organized under the open stage , at the DHSK college premises. Notably, release of the festival souvenir by eminent litterateur and former president of Axam Xahitya Xabha, Dr. gen Saikia, was also one the noteworthy events of the three-day celebrations.

With the entire span of three days being transformed into a nucleus of artistic and cultural demonstration of wide-ranging aptitudes, a prize distribution ceremony for rewarding trophies of excellence to the best of the talents was held on the finishing day meeting of the Inter-College Youth Festival. The ceremonial honoring of winner participants, was graced by the coorditor of DU College Development Council, Dr Rupam Saikia, Principal of DHSK College, Dr Sasikanta Saikia, physician Dr Tankeshwar Bhuyan, artist Gautam Sarmah, Principal of Dibru College, Paresh Baruah, Principal of MDKG College, Dilip Bhuyan; Principal of DHSK Commerce College, Khanindra Mishra Bhagawati; Principal of  Sibsagar Commerce College, Soumar Jyoti Mahanta, jourlist Ikbal Ahmed, and secretary of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) Lurinjyoti Gogoi, apart from an august gathering of eminent guests.

At the prize giving event, the prize for the best singer position was clutched by Promi Dutta, from Jorhat’s Jaganth Boruah College, likewise the  trophy for the finest Music Group  was grabbed by the students of Sibsagar College. Accordingly, awards for the other categories, including Akankho at competition was given away where the first position award was secured by Sumpi Gogoi (Vasundhara Kutumbab), and  Bastav Saikia (Raging 85) clinched the second place.

Similarly , third place was secured by Bhaskarjyoti Bora(Bodhyobhumit Emuthi Jok) ; fourth position by Hridip Talukdar(Dhritorajyo)  and the fifth place by Bhoben Koch( Erabarit Goje Bon) respectively. While Rishabh Dutta, was awarded with the Nisukoni Bota as the best music composer.

Competition for the best Cultural procession was held too, as a distinctive feature of the Youth Festival, for which the finest procession award in first place was given to Sibsagar Girls’ College whilst the second and third position was secured by S.P.B. Girls’ College and P G Class correspondingly.  Awards for the fancy dress competition was also presented at the closing ceremony, where the student of North Lakhimpur College, Hari Prasad Goswami, in the first place, Gautam Pratim Saikia of Baho College, in the second place and Pankaj Gogoi, of Tingkhong College, for the third place were also presented with their awards.

Significantly, the organization of the Edu Fair, for the first time at the DU Inter College Youth Festival, attracted the students as the organizing committee had invited Mody University of Rajasthan, Subharti University of Bangalore and Ghousia College of Engineering of Kartaka, to give the students the opportunity to explore the possibilities of higher studies outside the State.

The curtains of the mega Dibrugarh University Inter-College Youth Carnival, which were brought down on January 23, eye witnessed the participation of a total of 961 competitors from the associated colleges under DU, and was termed to be a defining moment by the students. The students opined that they were delighted to be a part of the festival that turned to be informative too for exchanging their ideas and views on various levels of musical, cultural and literary assembly of events.

Notably, the organization of the Youth festival among the participating colleges paves the way for organization of similar other events for the youths where dissemition of thoughts and aptitudes could be accomplished for strengthening the career and persol escalation of the students.