MALHAR FEVER!!
I attended the second day of Malhaar on 15th August ’07. There was a lot of energy all over the place and there were throngs of students pouring into the huge sprawling campus of the college. There was also a long unending queue of students outside the college gates, waiting to be let in. The atmosphere was charged and a cacophony of noises filled the air; all the loud music and the people around screaming with or without microphones amplifying their voices- but somehow it all was in sync and not a sound-byte felt out of place. 
Like I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of activity going on and fortunately I was handed a site map with the list of events for the day to help me plan out which events I wanted to attend. Also, the organizers of the event were kind enough to have one of the volunteers escort me all day long till I left later in the evening. I saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of talented people during the time I was there. 
I attended a hair-styling workshop called ‘Hair me out’. This was conducted by a salon called Bharat and Dorris. I had a brief chat with a young amiable guy Suraj who is the son of Bharat and Dorris (the couple who own the chain of salons). I tried my hand at using hot tongs/a curling iron to make soft curls on this girl I met there. At the end of it she was happy with how her hair looked and I was happier because I finally learnt how to maneuver the apparatus with ease!
Moving on, I attended this event called ‘Project Runway’; and like the name being synonymous with the hit reality show, I was real excited to be a part of this Fashion Designing competition. Although, it did get over within a few minutes of my getting there and I was totally clueless about who won it n et al. However, I did get to chat with a few of the designers who were showcasing their creations. One thing that I figured from the scary looking costumes was that the theme that they had to work on was Monster Inc.
I then attended an event called ‘Center Stage’, which was a solo-singing event. I was seated next to the girl with a very amazing voice who won third place in the competition. The judges of the event were Luke Kenny, Suzanne D’Mello and Nandu Bhende. Two of the judges being well known singers themselves, enthralled the audience with very good renditions of songs of their choice. I am sure Mr. Bhende left all the women in the audience (including me) when he sang Annie’s Song.
The next event taking place in the first quadrangle was ‘Crossfade’; a music mixing event where two of the finalist DJs spun some great tracks and entertained the crowd there. They were both real good at their stuff but I guess the best man won. This was 30 minutes of great music and loads of fun. 
I went on to witness the most pivotal event of the whole festival ‘Mr. and Ms. Malhaar’. There were some very talented individuals who had made it to the final few after almost fifteen qualifying rounds. The guy who won Mr. Malhaar was clearly a winner from the time he started his act. A lot more interesting performances followed in the talent round with singing, dancing, spoofs and comic acts. There was a brief Q n A round that followed after which the winners were crowned and they sure did win a lot of goodies there. The list of prizes was real long with more than thirty odd items in it.
I had a chance to visit the Fine Arts exhibition, which was an interesting outlook on different human emotions all displayed as one took a walk through a dark tunnel. Each emotion depicted the different shades of human nature through the eyes of the various artists who created it. I bought a few books at the book exhibition called ‘Books, Lines and Thinkers’. There was a ‘LA Lounge’ next to the book expo which was more of a place to chill for the volunteers and visitors alike.
I guess they left the best for last on purpose because the UV Light dance competition called ‘La Fiesta Liguera’ was quite unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. This showcase of dance is extremely difficult, complicated and well coordinated with the people working behind the scenes as if invisible being as important as the dancers who are visible. It was a riot of colours and some very creatively put together performances with great dancers. In short, it was nothing but a test of how close one can get to perfection while being immensely creative at the same time.
‘The Malhaar string theory’, a very self explanatory Band Event was the perfect finale to the two day long fest. It was judged by Luke Kenny, and the very famous and incredibly talented bassist-guitarist duo Gino Banks and Sheldon. The bands competing in this event were exceedingly first-rate and left the crowds screaming for more. There was a surprise performance at the end by the in-house Xaviers band and the judges graced the stage and gave a spell-binding performance as well. I did decide to leave earlier than the rest of the crowd while the results of the competition were being announced to avoid the rush on the way out, but for me this was one of the best times I have had in a place full of people (being the kind who gets increasingly uncomfortable in large crowds!).
I took back with me a lot of contact details of most of the talented people I came across (and also a lot of freebies being given out there); but more importantly I took back with me memories that will last me a lifetime!
.............Story covered by Reetu Palan
............ Pictures by me!
