INAUGRAL FUNCTION

 Date : 7^th October 2005

On 7^th October 2005, ARYA, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s cultural forum was inaugurated by                   Dr. N. Gopalakrishnan, scientist, CSIR and founder director of the Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage (IISH), Trivandrum.

Prof. Joshi C. Haran, Mechanical Engg. Dept., introduced the Chief Guest to the audience.

Dr. Gopalakrishnan enthralled the audience with his inspiring lecture, witty remarks, lively humour and mellifluous Sanskrit. He highlighted the achievements of the Indian Diaspora in the fields of science, technology and culture & spirituality.

Dr. Gopalakrishnan congratulated the students for coming up with such a cultural theme for their activities and explained the significance of the name ‘Arya’ from Indian classics like the Mahabharata. He said the word Arya refers to a noble and cultured individual and has nothing to do with race, language or other divisive barriers.

Around 500 students and staff participated in the inaugural function.

Desi Nites 

Dates : 25-26^th October 2005

Arya, the students culture club at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham conducted a two-day exclusive evening program included a wide variety of performances and presentations highlighting different aspects of Indian History, culture and Heritage.

 Mr. & Mrs. Ramesh Nichani, leading members of the Sindhi community in Coimbatore were the chief guest for the event. Prof. Asudani of the Maths Dept. welcomed them and the Sindhi couple made an evocative presentation on the history and culture of the sindhi community. The office bearers of the culture club were also sworn-in through an Indianised swearing-in ceremony. The chief guest applied ‘Kumkum’     ( tilak ) on the foreheads of the office bearers as their names were called out.

 A panel discussion on ‘Looking beyond the IT boom and BPO’ involving faculty and the students simultaneously in a lively discussion and debate on stage was one of the key highlights of the event.  

Reviews of thought provoking books and films supported by multimedia presentations, a short skit in Malayalam portraying Hindu-Muslim unity during the freedom struggle and a patriotic song in chorus were also staged.

 The programme ended with a mind boggling Jugal Bandi by Akshay Kamath and team, which kept the audience, spellbound till the last minute.

Antaragni

Date : 7^th  Feb,06

This was one of the most enriching events for the student fraternity. The event was marked by an inspiring speech about Bharatiya culture by Honourable Chief Operating Officer of  Amrita Vishwa  Vidyapeetham. Prof. N. Ramnathan, faculty-incharge of the club expressed similar views about Bharatiya culture.    He also outlined the nature of activities that  the club will be taking on in future.

 It was then the turn of Mr. Anto Verghese ( Member, Netaji foundation, Chennai ) to reveal many interesting facts about the life of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. He also talked about the mysteries concerned with Netaji’s death.

A group dance on a patriotic song (in tamil) enthralled the audience . 

A jugal bandi , performed by Akshay Kamath, Pratheek and Sanjeev mesmerized the crowd.

 A documentary “ Ancient India’s contribution to Scince and Technology” was also screened which clearly underlined the scientific temper, inherently present in the Indian society. It was a thought provoking documentary which was  appreciated by the audience.

Rang De Basanti 

Dates :- 18^th and 19^th april,06

In 1930’s ‘Mera rang de basanti chola…’ epitomized the Indian freedom struggle and now “Rang De Basanti”, a movie par excellence, has rekindled that dimming spark of patriotism, particularly in the young strata of the society.

This event was titled so because its focus was on the contemporary Indian cinema and its impact on the society. We thank Mr. Deepak Gupta from  Amrita School of Business who anchored one of the liveliest debate in the history of the institute. The topic was “ Is contemporary Indian cinema shaping Indian society in a proper way?”.

Jairam, Shakti Shankar and Roshan Yohanan took part in the debate. 

A skit , Chanakya – a statesman, was staged which revealed the importance of chanakya’s role in uniting the provinces aginst the army of Alexander and overthrowing the Greek rule , around 327 B.C. by defeating Phillipus ( a general of Alexander ).

 A presentation on the rich cultural heritage of Rajasthan was made by Jeenendra Jain (2^nd year IT). The presentation was an informative one and at the same time a number of photographs made it lively.

 The event ended on a lighter note with the movie review of “Rang De Basanti”. Despite of a technical snag, the presentation was well received. Clips from the movie made the review more captivative.   

 India’s first ever animated movie – HANUMAN was screened on 19^th april. The movie was a big success and the audience praised the efforts of ARYA in conducting such events which are just the right blend of entertainment and information.