WHAT’S IN A NAME? LET TALENT SPEAK!

The Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) conducted a talent hunt event on 3rd September, 2021. The event was named “What’s in a Name? Let Talent Speak!” and was organised by LYCEUM, the postgraduate students’ association. The talent hunt included competitions in the categories of music, dance, art, and public speaking. A week before the event, the students of Master of Arts in International Studies, belonging to the first and second years, were divided into four houses - Inclusive Ingenuity, Coffee Club, Axis Powers 2.0, and House of Strange. The students were informed that their respective houses would obtain points on the basis of participation and victory of its members. The event began with the live art competition – ‘Utopiart.’ The participants were instructed to create art pieces on the theme of ‘A Utopian World’ within the time frame of an hour. The event was judged by Ms. Sanjana Krishnan and Ms. Nivedita Dhawan. The next event was the Dance Competition- ‘Feel the Beat’, which allowed participants to display their talent in classical and film or folk dance styles. The participants for ‘Feel the Beat’ were judged by Mr. Midhun Mathew and Ms. Navya Akka George. All participants garnered an energetic response from the audience for their elegant and graceful performances. This was followed by the Music Competition- ‘Symphony’, judged by Mr. Rishi Mukherjee and Ms. VVS Padmaja. There were a total of sixteen enthusiastic participants for Symphony from both 1MAIS and 3MAIS who showcased their vocal talent across a wide range of musical genres with their soothing and soulful performances. During a small break before the final event, an interactive segment was conducted by Kasvi Batra of 3MAIS wherein she engaged the audience with some rapid fire questions. The final contest was an extempore event, ‘Talkology’ which was judged by Ms. Surya Shivprasad and Mr. Rafael. Through this event, all participants demonstrated their talent in humourous and analytical topics. With a short preparation time, many participants displayed spontaneity and creativity in their speeches. At the end of each competition the judges provided essential feedback. Thus, as the title goes, the hunt for talent in MAIS was successful under the leadership of the coordinators of LYCEUM, Alan Homes and Vanshika Sharma, and the hard work of their team members, and Judith Blessy, the emcee of the event who streamlined the whole program without any glitches that one could face in an online event.