Astra, a show of flair and finesse
City schools were engaged in a hot and healthy battle with a series of innovative and interesting contests at the inter-school cultural fest of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram
Astra’, the two-day inter-school cultural fest of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Kilpauk, that began on November 4, witnessed a number of city schools battle it out in a series of innovative and interesting contests that captured the imagination of the gung-ho participants, the relentless downpour notwithstanding.
While day one began with treasure hunts where students scouted for clues, designed magazine covers and proved their deft footwork in classical dance competitions. the final day of the event was a musical mélange. The Sarva Dharma Maitre Hall at Bhavan’s resonated with foot tapping music thanks to DJ Ashok Bajaj while the light music events ‘Survival of the Wittiest’ and ‘Block and Tackle’ set the tempo for the day.
Casting a spell on quiz enthusiasts, quiz master Siddhanth Rao tested the wizardry quotient of the participants at the crowd-favourite Harry Potter quiz. Adding to the excitement on day two, the penultimate event ‘Fuse-N-Dance’ had the audience dancing to the tunes along with the participants.
The special performance by Aditya and BBB, members of the band ‘Hip-hop Tamizha’ and judges for the ‘Rap It Up’ event, had the crowd grooving to some heavy beats. The dynamic duo belted out songs interspersed with their talk on the different styles in hip-hop.
The show-stopper event ‘Final Frontier’ subjected the finalists to a series of tests that ranged from marketing products, hosting a ‘dial-up’ show to narrating the lamest jokes, to test their overall skills.
The star-studded Astra reached its fitting finale on November 5 with playback singer Karthik, an alumnus of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, distributing prizes to the students of PS Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, that clinched the overall trophy, and Kaustubh Narendran of PSBB, KK Nagar, who bagged the overall individual championship.
Describing his experience at Astra, Kaustubh exclaimed, “It was a close fight. Astra has been a great experience all the way and the crowd was amazing.”
It was all about teamwork for the student coordinators who played a pivotal role in making the event a grand success. “There was a lot of rain on both days but that didn’t break our spirits. We were strong and determined and have successfully organised it,” said Ronak, a Class 11 student and one of the coordinators of Astra.