Arguably one of the city’s biggest intercollegiate festivals, Malhar breaks away from convention, this year. Wayne D’Cruz finds out how.
It’s the time of the year when colleges all across Mumbai prepare for their intercollegiate festivals to play host to students who come from different parts of the city and country. After being in existence for more than thirty years, Malhar continues to remain a much sought-after college festival in the city. This year, the festival carves a unique niche for itself, given its multifarious dimensions.
While in recent years Malhar has come to be associated with propagating social causes, the organising committee is taking things a notch higher this time around. In a bid to extend the Malhar experience beyond the student community, members of the workforce spent a day singing, dancing and interacting with the elderly at Assissi Bhavan, an old age home in Goregaon while on another day, they organised a day of fun and games for the children of Seva Niketan at St Xavier’s College. The cause of education also saw organisers paint a wall at the Lady Vissanji Academy in Andheri to promulgate education for all with particular emphasis on the girl child. The annual beach cleaning drive, Chaka Chak, a regular feature of the festival saw several students from various colleges do their bit at Dadar Chowpatty on a Sunday morning. In its second edition, The Yard Sale took place at St Michael’s Church, Bandra, proceeds of which went to Sneha Sagar Society. Issued in Pupil Interest is an event that calls for participants to design alphabet and number charts akin to the ones used in kindergarten classes. The winning entries will be printed as charts for underprivileged children.
The Conclave, one of Malhar’s recent additions, has an impressive line-up of speakers that includes names like
Dr Ramachandra Guha, Devdutt Pattanaik, Siddharth Varadarajan and Dr Sumantra Bose among others. This year, it also has an interactive session by Anil Srinivasan that is part-talk and part-musical performance! A creative writing relay event aptly called Bhaag Kafka Bhaag, a 90s-themed game show that takes you back to the good old days, a DJ event which gives up and coming talent a console and audience and a shadow dance event that lets only silhouettes do the talking are but a few of the new among the myriad events of the festival. If you bumped into their volunteers last week as they broke into a flash mob simultaneously in two different parts of the city and found yourself stunned by their vivacity, well now you at least know why. It is all about celebrating the different, this Malhar!
Malhar At A Glance
The Conclave –
August 15
Events and Workshops –
August 16-17
St Xavier’s College,
Mahapalika Marg, Fort
Things to watch out for: Indian Democracy’s Midlife Crisis – Keynote Address by Dr Ramachandra Guha, workshops on coffee tasting, forensics and dream analysis, the cinema-themed LA lounge and handmade goodies at the Souvenirs stall
For the complete schedule and free e-passes, visit www.malharfest.org
