I still remember my hostel interview at Sophia College. When asked why I wanted to join a college that was so far away from home, I promptly replied, "I've heard about your cultural festival - Kaleidoscope! It seems really exciting! I would love to be a part of it."
This elicited a laugh from all the panelists. I suppose they had expected me to comment on the course I was applying for or the beautiful college campus. I don't know if it was because of my nervousness, but at that point, this just seemed the most appropriate answer.
When I look back now, I realise that I had absolutely no idea what Kaleidoscope was about at that time. My idea of a cultural festival was limited to what I had seen in school - a painting competition, a quiz, Just-a-minute(JAM) and 'Ad-zap'.
Being on the Kaleidoscope 'workforce' (organising committee) for two years, I now know that this is no ordinary college festival.
The five day festival is usually sponsored by some of the world's biggest names, including Google, Vodafone, and Coca-Cola. To make the dates of our festival known to the city, we partner with some of India's leading media houses - Times of India and Hindustan Times, for example.
In school we had a group of 25 students who would be in charge of organising the festival. Here at Sophia College, we have a workforce of around 500 dedicated girls, organised into 20 teams. Each team is involved with one aspect of Kaleidoscope, such as contacting colleges and sending out invites, marketing the festival, putting up banners, public relations, hospitality, budgeting and accounting, purchasing stationery and other requirements, design and decoration, sound and light technicals, photography, security, first aid, creating the events, organising workshops, and tallying the points obtained by each college.
We also have a number of food stalls on campus where college students are often seen forming a bee-line, waiting to bite into a burger or savour some Momos. Our Karaoke Cafe is a popular hangout. Here, you can literally 'sing your heart out' while students sit enjoying their short eats or bonding over a cup of coffee.There are stalls selling clothes and accessories too. At some stalls you can get your palm read or even get your nails painted.
Kaleidoscope offers a chance to participate in all sorts of events, ranging from LOL! (a stand-up comedy event) and Garage Band (where you get to make percussion instruments out of garage equipment) to the more conventional events like JAM and Electrocuted (a music band competition). For the art and design lovers, there are events like blog designing and making shoes out of waste material, among others.
The festival ends with a bang - at the After8 night. This is where a popular Indian band blows the audience away with their awesome music. In the past we've had Pentagram, Parikrama, Euphoria, Them Clones, and the like.
Kaleidoscope (or Kscope as it is fondly called) is truly an amazing experience, whether you are on the organising side or the participating one. I am eagerly awaiting Kaleidoscope 2011, which will be held between the 23rd and the 28th of August this year. See you there! :)
