Engineering colleges are always in the news. These colleges are stepping stones from where batches of students fly out for greater adventures each year. Most engineering colleges have a great balance between academics and life skills. Organizing the cultural fest in your college is always the first step you take into the real world.
In any field, competition has been known to give everyone an additional push forward in the right direction. However, competition also brings about a certain amount of rivalry between the competing sections. We see this all the time in sport. It just makes it that much more interesting when these rivals face off. Unfortunately, rivalry of this kind has slowly percolated into every walk of our life. We see this nowadays between fans of supposedly rival actors, politicians and the likes. Surprisingly, the capstone for this is laid in our heads from a very young age, right from our college days.
Inter college rivalries are nothing new. They have been happening forever, they are happening today and will continue forever. It is all thanks to this rivalry that colleges constantly try to one-up the fests organised by their counterparts. The organization tries to scale up with each passing year. The drama that takes place while organizing a fest is nothing short of a commercial Tollywood flick. However, what we are going to talk about today is the negative side of this 'Fest rivalry'. Yes, you read that right, FESTS! Behind all those fancy posters and glittery announcements is an undercurrent emotion of wanting to outdo someone, a rival college's fest perhaps.
There is always a game of one-upmanship that happens during these fests. Some play fair. Some, well they just want to win at all costs. Such is the case of the rivalry between Vasavi Engineering College & Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology. Both Colleges celebrated their respective college fests with great pomp and show recently. Each had put up a great lineup of attractions and campaigned aggressively for them. Perhaps, a little too aggressively. But first, let us tell you about these colleges for those of you who don't know.
CBIT is one of the most reputed colleges in the Telugu states. Their Annual event “Carpediem” is a big thing here. The grandeur with which this fest is organized is sure to give professionals a run for their money. They usually have an awesome lineup of famed musicians, Stand-up comedians, movie stars and renowned bands on the bill, justifying the tag “GOD of all campus events”.
On the other hand, Vasavi has been trying to pull one over their counterparts by bringing in a great mix of popular artists, local talent and a few of their onboard musicians. But, it might sound all healthy competition and funny banter, but that is not the case here.
This rivalry has been ongoing for over 10 years. At first glance, this might just appear as simple healthy banter between college students but the fight keeps getting uglier with each passing year. There have been several incidents of bullying the other side or impeding the process of obtaining event permissions. Apparently, this has even lead to fights and disruptions in event flows sometimes.
ChaiBisket had the privilege of being the media partner for both the colleges. And oh boy! We loved the way they both organised these events. However, we did notice certain things up close. Miscreants from CBIT attempted to bully Vasavi by scribbling graffiti on their college's board. No, this is not a scene from the movie SYE, this really happened.
CBIT has strongly condemned these acts with a post on their FB handle. The management of Vasavi college has taken a very strong stand on this issue. The damage however is done.
Both the fests ended on a high note and turned out to be every bit as awesome as was promised in their promotional campaign. These 'small' instances of vandalism will probably be forgotten in a few days. That is perhaps until the next case of rivalry surfaces. One thing I want to conclude with is that, these activities, however heroic they may seem at the moment, reflect poorly on their college. This could even make its mark felt on our state's reputation. Maybe things won't change overnight, but it could be the time to start bridging this gap.
Dear college students, just remember what is really important in life, Competition, not Hatred! Rivalry, not Enmity! Winning it right, not Winning! The experience, not the Prize! Love, not War!
