‘ROOTS’ is the annual academic-cultural festival, where Ceptians showcase their creativity, spontaneity, talent, taste and thirst for knowledge. But to put it more simply, it is the time when the students of different schools of CEPT University get to work and learn together through activities which may not be seemingly or directly related to their fields of building, structure and space design. For them, there are no such activities that don’t excite; just those that excite a little less or a little more. For them, cultural and academic indulgences, beyond those that they do in their everyday lives here, open up new perspectives.
The pattern is such that they have various academic or cultural workshops during the day, where they get physically and mentally involved in something that tests our limits as fresh, learning beings. The exhaustion and exhilaration of the day gets taken out during the evenings, as they sway and tune into the music, dance and participate in the performances that follow.
So, Roots 13 was a four day program which was kick-started 2 two evenings earlier. Ceptians started with the Treasure Hunt at the SA RAMP on the evening of 5th February 2013. The teams worked on riddle based clues about CEPT campus. Students ran in every direction with their clues, teams and flashlights, exploring each and every corner of CEPT, in search of THAT which would lead them to their next clue! With this curiosity and the most innocent level of interaction, the festival saw its dawn this year.
On the evening of 6th February 2013, was the Students’ performance. It was an eye opener for the rest of us of the talented musicians, dancers, comedians that they had within and among them. The performances were enthralling and the audience was left in awe of their acquaintances across campus who were so talented and they never knew it!
From the morning of 7th February 2013, Roots 2013 began ‘officially’. From nine in the morning to five in the evening, there were engaged in FOUR thrilling workshops!
Madcycle – where students figured what it takes to really create a cycle, the various crazy cycles across the world, a one on one study of a customized carry-me cycle, to end up sketching and designing their OWN mad cycles in mixed groups across schools. On board, they had to experienced SA and SID alumni respectively, Bhanu Pratap Sharma and Vijay Sharma, who were more enthusiastic than the students themselves for they have been dedicated to such activity since they were students at CEPT.
Rube Goldberg’s Machine –Invented by the cartoonist Rube Goldberg, this machine performs really simple tasks, like opening a toothpaste tube, through a chain of complex, indirect actions, that simply end up performing the simple task as forces transfer. The mixed groups had to do exactly this in their own different ways. The machine had to be made up of objects and items they would find in their everyday life. The workshop was coordinated by Shehzad Irani, SBST Alumni, who has always been interested in unconventional machines and structures of this kind! The ones in the workshop had fun figuring the machines out, perfecting and timing the process to get the final reactions such as painting a canvas, blowing out air bubbles, switching on the media player in laptop, etc.
Sufi Music –One of the two cultural workshops they decided and they would love to be a part of this festival! CEPT was delighted to have with them a group of five Sufi musicians from Bikaner, who lovingly sat with the student musicians in the SA Basement for four days, teaching them theories and ragas of Sufi music, on a Tabla and a Harmonium. They taught and they sang for them. Above all, their humility, despite their unique, beautiful kala, overwhelmed the students. Their throats strained but hearts soared with the music! It touched the students that these great musicians came all the way to be a part of our celebrations and learning, they gifted the group with a small painting as a gesture of gratitude.
Kalaripayattu – The second, outstanding cultural workshop that challenged them physically but pushed them to limits of their own that they were astonished to know! Kalaripayattu is an ancient martial art from Kerala. It is the mother of all martial arts in the world, which is so rare today because when the British came, they banned it in India. Ceptians were blessed that a Kalari group from Adishakti in Auroville obliged by coming to be our respected mentors for four whole days in the SID Double Height. The students learnt the Body movements and Empty hands techniques. The fact that students got together, day after day, despite the excruciating pain which is evidence of how much they loved it.
Both, the Sufi and the Kalari workshops culminated in astounding demonstrations and performances by the students and the gurus. It was touching to see the innocent attempt of the students to showcase whatever little they could learn in these few hours, interwoven with the expert demonstrations of gurus of both the kalas, screaming aloud of their tapasya of these arts for entire lifetimes.
On the evening of 7th February 2013, Metamorphosis, the rock band battle, was on in the SID Plaza. This is where upcoming rock bands get the platform to perform and showcase their musical ability, composition style and charisma to the audience and also win prize money of Rs. 10,000. The same band gets to open for the rock show the following evening. ‘Counter Act’ stole the show, leaving five other bands behind.
Rock shows at CEPT are where bands are re-born. Grasshopper Greens was no different. A five member band of friends, in their forties, with kids, they left much said - you can do whatever you like, age, profession and responsibilities can be overcome and once on stage all those things don’t matter. What matters is that you have a great time. They made them sway, groove and move to progressive music. Happily, for them, CEPT foreign exchange students and the crowd moved towards the stage mouthing Tamil words.
The 10th of February 2013 was the grand finale of the fest! With students taking the very last learning lessons of their session and bidding farewell to their gurus and mentors, who they grew so fond of in these few days. The mad cycles were ‘madder’ than ever, the Rube Goldberg machines, modest yet very well articulated. They had a very dear, surprising guest in the afternoon – Piyush Mishra, poet, lyricist, singer, composer, actor and theatre personality with us at the South Lawns in the afternoon. He spoke and sang of theatre, society, love, freedom, India and life at large. He sang songs as the students screamed in demand! He won our hearts, not that we had not expected he wouldn’t.
There is no way that ROOTS can end without the Mela and Naatakbazi! The Mela saw students set up stalls to sell small and big, handcrafted or precisely assembled items they made, snacks and games they organized. Seeing the smiles on their faces, one is assured that they ‘profit’ far more than just money through this. At nine thirty in the night Double Blind, the play began! It is always a CEPT Theatre Group endeavour, a beautifully and cleverly enacted entertaining play, complete with strong sets, lights, sound effects, action, guns, pantomime and a climax! The performances left the audience proud of their team of friends on stage, and the actors ‘goosebumped’ at having put up a show, so much larger than life!
As the play ended, the curtain came down on Roots’13. They never knew they could have had so much fun in four days!
This time CEPT cultural festival wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for the insistence, work, planning and combined effort and spirit of the student bodies of SA, SBST, SID and SP – a big round of applause to them and to their spirit.
