Madrigal'15 Dyal Singh College(M)

The English Department of Dyal Singh College(M), recently had its very first English Literary Festival, Madrigal 2015 on the 12-13th March in the college auditorium. Madrigal is the name taken from 14th century which originated in Northern Italy and it is a form of vocal chamber music. The title sponsor for Madrigal 2015 was, K.K. LEE, KHAN MARKET. 

Day-1 (Highlights) The colourful and lively decorations in the auditorium and foyer gave way to the positive vibes that set the mood for the day. The Chief Guest for the festival, Dr. Anannya Dasgupta who is best known for her poetry and her blog Daily Riyaaz recited few of her poems. The poems had a touch of reality with a poem on 'Delhi Metro' and one,  'Ode to Delhi's driver'. The audience enjoyed the poetry reading very much by the chief guest, and the budding poets in the audience surely got to learn a lot from her. The anchor, Vasudha rightly said; 'Poetry was a way of life.' 

Next came, a performance by the Space Theatre Group, that consisted of five women artists who made the audience realise the power that everyone had in themselves. From every little expression the women gave on stage, to the every word they uttered, there was a lot that connected to the heart and made one think about life and the artist in everyone. Someone correctly said, 'a child in oneself should be kept alive even when one grows up, and is not referred to as child any longer. That childhood was all about free expression and so should a mature person be able to bring out of himself/herself, that hidden child. Theatre was about that form of free expression.'

The first day had upcoming next, two competitive events that brought the participants from different colleges to compete in debate and Ad-Mad competition. The twist in the Ad-Mad was that, this time the respected teams had to advertise for a given product and in this manner convince the audience to NOT buy the same product. Hence, it was also called the 'Reverse Ad-Mad'. 

The other cultural event for the day was the Ballet performance by the students of the English Department. The name of the Ballet was, 'Gusto-Era's-on feet!' In the ballet, the students danced and acted on the tones of the era's of literature. Starting with the Pyramus and Thisbe, to The Wife of Bath, Twelfth Night, Rover, Pride and Prejudice to the present age, 2 States; the ballet was another gem to the day! 

The day ended with students posing for pictures at the PhotoBooth set up in the foyer area. There was excitement and cheer in the atmosphere where everyone cherished the success of the first day of the festival. Drishti, who had a stall for her chocolate brand named ChocOoze greeted everyone with handmade chocolates. This was a day of great learning, for the students of the English Department and for the participants at Madrigal 2015.

Day-2 (Highlights)

The second day of the festival started with the play, The Silent Echo which was about the story of a boy named Dinesh, who had no other choice than studying English Literature in college, whereas he wanted to study Commerce in college. Coming from a Hindi medium school in a remote village, he comes to Delhi University and the play shows his struggle with the course which he had got to study. Motivating and honest, this story is of a boy who comes with dreams and gives his heart out to achieve those dreams. This play was scripted and directed by Guneev Puri and Pallavi Priyamvada. The audience loved it and the applause said it all. 

Another play was performed by the first year students of the department of English. The play Dead Poet's Society was an adaptation of the film by the same name. Dead Poet's Society is about a girl with a keen interest in literature, but tired of her life, burdened by the science forced by her parents and sent to a school named Welton's Academy, where a Teacher changes her whole life. John Keating a new literature teacher who inspired students to feel poetry and understand the depth of literature not relying on the scientific way of studying literature and the story takes upon twists and turns even death of the loved ones which affects this girl to the core. It is a tale of long suppressed language, fighting the prevailing mentality that excels the science and engineering.

In addition there were four competitive events, like Quiz, which had a great participation and which turned out to be one of the most interactive sessions of the festival; the other event being SpellopAEdia which was the Spelling Bee competition. Thirty students participated in this event alone. In the competitive event came the Treasure Hunt and the search was worth it. As the winners received exciting gift hampers from, The Reader's Club of Delhi (R.C.D.) They also gave internship to the winner of another event called the 'Creative Inks' which was the Creative writing competition. With such prizes, the participants seemed very much involved and cheerful. 

The entire program was concluded in the auditorium with the prize distribution ceremony, where the winner of the Nano Tale competition was also announced. The teachers in-charge for the festival, Mr. Sachin Narayanan and Mr. Anshuman Singh spoke to the participants and had interesting speech regarding the Nano tale competition. After the prize distribution ceremony, everyone left the auditorium to unite yet again in the college ground where the North Eastern Wing of the college had organised a special Manipuri event called "Thabal Chongba"where the only rule was to move one's feet to the rhythm of the beat. Interestingly, the teachers and students formed a circle and music was played as everyone danced to the centuries old tradition of the Manipuris. This was also, first of its kind event in the college. After an hour of dance and celebrations, the event was an energy booster and it marked the success of the English Literary Festival, 'Madrigal'. Hopefully, it will continue the next year as well and its trend shall form in the English Department of Dyal Singh College(Morning) in the years to come. 

Written by,

Gagandeep Singh Vaid
Dyal Singh College