The fun time gala ends here (the Ragam Diaries 2010)

March 24-27th marked the annual cultural festival of our college, Ragam 2010.This year's Ragam included shows from KK, Naresh Iyer and a UK based Iron Maiden tribute band Higher on Maiden.

                 This is the third edition of Ragam, I'm attending and the penultimate one before I leave this place.  While the external participation was remarkably lower this time around, and the pro-shows (shows from professional performers) this year not be as glamorous as last year's line up (which included Benny Dayal, Shankar Mahadevan and a Pink Floyd tribute band Breathe the Floyd). Maybe comparison with the previous edition was one of the reasons why this edition of our college's cultural festival was bit relatively duller than expected. However with every Ragam comes memories that are reminiscent of college life, moments that are sure to make you nostalgic once you take a trip down the memory lane.

KK rocked the floor on day1 ending the night on a high with his personal best " Koi Kahe". Naresh Iyer's performance had something in it for everybody. He nearly covered all south Indian languages besides performing the usual bollywood hits. However stage acoustics were bit of a bother on day2 and the sound engineer and the routine sound checks took away a major chunk of time. Day 2 also featured choreo nite which set the dance floor for those who knew to rock the stage.

Day 3 was a head banger's paradise with the UK based higher on maiden taking the stage. This day also featured the fashion show, Couture Boulevard (which strangely, no one knew how to pronounce) Since our cultural festival essentially followed the same pattern over the years, the crowd attending the rock show can be widely classified into three

Head-bangers type-I: True metal heads, in this case true maiden fans, they know which song is being played, which album it comes from and all related stuff.

Head-bangers type-II: Pseudo metal heads, not true rock fans but they do want to appear cool in front of everybody, thus the head banging.

Non headbangers: People who watched from a distance away from the scene of action. A major section also included people who came for fashion show instead, just waiting for the rock band's gig  to get over.

Almost every night ended with the artists saying the unavoidable cliché that this was the best crowd ever. Of course we don't know if they actually meant it, but it has become a routine in stage shows of late.

The third day of Ragam ended with the fashion show. The number of  teams were relatively lesser this time, probably the timing was not right considering that most colleges had their university exams this time around.  With the college director doing the final honours, this edition of Ragam came to a close, adding more colourful memories of college life with it. I knew for a fact now that how much ever I criticise my college, one day I will end up missing it.