Brickbats and Bouquets
BRC Dissects Bigger, Better BOSM
B
OSM 2013, as predicted by a previous issue of this publication, was bigger,
better and Baxter than ever. The CoSSAc, in its endeavour to push for
further perfection, chaired the BOSM Review Committee on the evening of
Monday, the 19th of October, 2013, at the SAC amphitheatre. Here, representatives
of all sports teams, clubs and departments involved in organizing BOSM gave reports
and yielded to questions.
While most coordinators and captains declared a successful run or 'no issues', some
did bring up concerns and others were bombarded with a flurry of accusations.
Firewallz, for example, said that try as it might, it was unable to completely prohibit
vendors and unfriendly spectators from entering campus. Some others also
commented on the 'racist, sexist, rowdy crowd' that was seen on campus. PCr received
a decent amount of flak, from the tennis and swim teams among others, for failing to
draw more participants to the tournament. It was also blamed for bringing in more
participants than could be logistically handled, when it came to badminton. PCr
fielded all these complaints rather well, either justifying their work or stating corrective
measures that were already being taken.
As the evening wore on, the proceedings became more colourful. The Department of
Visual Media faced quite a lot of flak. PCr reported that DVM had failed to share the
participants' database with it, while the CoSSAc said that the DVM coordinator had
failed to be reachable on his phone during pre-fest work. The most serious issue that
was brought to the fore, however, was the playing of random videos during the
inauguration ceremony. The CoSSAc was very firm in its stance that DVM does not
have the autonomy to play fillers of its choice when an Oasis promo is found to be
faulty, especially when the Controls CoSSAcan was close at hand to offer help and
troubleshooting. BOSM Controls was, again, a department that had to face a flurry of
gunfire. Captains of quite a few teams complained about uneven prize-money
distribution and trophies of poor quality. The swim team captains voiced extremely
strong displeasure at being informed of important rules only half an hour before the
valedictory ceremony. The CoSSAc, whose opinion was vehemently voiced by Joint
Sports Secretary Parinitha Sadineni, pulled up Informalz for losing quite a few
footballs. It emphasized on the need to handle and return borrowed inventory with
great care.
There were almost as many bouquets thrown as there were brickbats, one was
happy to note. Rec-n-Acc was one department that received commendations on its
efficient work and helping hand from more than a few other departments and clubs.
A 4.2 lakh profit was declared for the fest, which has been promised to be used 'in the
best interests of the student body'. Swim team captain Shruti Rijhwani complimented
the CoSSAc for organizing the best BOSM we have seen in recent years and the
CoSSAc immediately reciprocated by thanking the student body for all its help. A
warm round of applause concluded the proceedings quite nicely.
Nothing like Theatre
Faculty Speak
A tête-à-tête with Professor Dinesh Yadav
M
élange is still fresh in our minds. At least, that is what Dinesh Yadav, Professor,
Department of Humanities and Languages hopes.
With a nostalgic gleam in his eyes, he recalls the inception of this idea. The
concept of a theatre festival germinated during February this year, nurtured by HDC and
nourished by Department of Humanities and Languages. It was to be incorporated into the
Golden Jubilee of this institute, but the idea didn’t get off the ground. Chances of
implementation seemed bleak as the SU showed scarce interest, akin to sponsors and other
departments and clubs. However, he and Dayesh Jaiswal (HDC Coordinator) refused to give
up. As Dinesh Yadav knew the performers personally, he could cut the cost by almost 50%.
Even then, SU stood firm on the stance that they would only help if they could collect a 1000
tickets before September. That must have stirred something in them, as they strategically
collected 1000 tickets in a day. By 5th September, they had sold out.
The event, he continues, catered mostly to BITSians. However, invites were sent to CEERI,
BIT, BKBIET and BPS. He admits he was apprehensive about the behavior of the audience,
but was pleasantly surprised by the decorum and decency maintained.
When asked about giving a cold shoulder to EDC and Mime Club, he responds by saying that
none of them approached him, and that was the basic criteria for motivation and enthusiasm.
The commitment and dedication required to keep such an unorthodox, unconventional event
alive needs to be self-inspired. On retrospection, he finds that involvement of more groups
would lead to more red tape and difficulty in passage of information. There’s also more scope
for mistakes. However, next semester, he plans to organize a play with HDC, EDC and Music
Club to mark the Golden Jubilee of BITS Pilani.
Another snag that he mentions is the rise in cost of travel and hospitality due to last-minute
changes. Spontaneous additions to the theatre crew and erratic time schedules of the actors
cost them around 50,000.
Although Dinesh Yadav seemed quite content with the way Mélange had turned out, he had a
lot to say when asked about improvements that were needed. Red tape and disinterest came
up for the umpteenth time. He also seemed quite sad with the complete lack of appreciation
(and audience) for the third play. He didn’t seem perturbed by the scanty attendance of
professors, and stressed that students were more important. Again, the management and
inspection system needed a lot more work.
Many people felt that if Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak had performed together, the audience
might have appreciated it more. On that, he says philosophically that a play caters to the
script, not the audience. According to him, the crux of the problem is the Auditorium. He
rants about the bad acoustics, sound and lighting, and the huge distance between the
spectators and the actors. These factors lead to the audience not feeling engaged. Apparently,
boredom is a disease, more contagious than a sneeze.
However, the main reason for the audience’s dissatisfaction, he muses, seems to be the
monotonic fascination with comedy. He explains the difference between stand-up comedy
and theatre, and the wide spectrum of emotions that need to be embraced to appreciate
theatre. He asserts that to appreciate something, your feelings need to fluctuate and undulate,
and it is in fact healthy to get bored for a while. He is optimistic that the audience will slowly
appreciate this and will develop a taste for theatre.
He leaves us with a glimpse of the variety of theatre, changing our perception of
entertainment as we know it. We leave him with our best wishes and a promise to attend the
festival the next time.
Members of the faculty give us their thoughts on Mélange
S
ixty five members of the faculty attended the first ever edition of Mélange,
the theatre festival of BITS Pilani. This included almost the entire
Department of Humanities and Languages as well as many teachers from
the other departments. We were able to meet up with a few members of the
faculty to find out their views on Mélange.
Champak Baran Das
”
It was a truly wonderful experience.
I’m not an expert on the technicality of theatre. But I really liked it . Especially
for a place like Pilani where you almost never get to see something like this.
Apart from a few minor faults, the overall management of the fest was
excellent. I would love to see something like this again.
“
Surekha Bhanot
It was a very good initiative. It gave you an
insight into what professional theatre really is. The first play was especially good. The
way just one actor was able to capture the attention of the audience for the entire
one and a half hours was simply brilliant! The second play had a very important
message, but it would have been much better if the language was a little refined. The
third play was just boring. I left in the first half. In the future, I would like to see plays
with a good message, like gender equality and respect for women. I feel if such
topics are well presented, people will definitely watch them, and hopefully learn
from them as well.
S.K. Choudhary
”
The second play had nothing special at
all. The third one was just boring. The only reason
I stayed was so that the organizers would not be insulted. I am happy with the
way students handled the fest. My only concern was that the third day affected
the general perspective of Mélange, and put a bad impression of it in people’s
minds.
Needless to say, Mélange was a success, and its positive impression on the
students and faculty alike will likely pave the way for Pilani to become a melting
pot of theatre culture in the near future.