"Literature is art that tells a story with words, and painting is art that tells a story with pictures." - James Elkins
Invictus 2023 kicked off with literary events with an amazing line up starting Day 1 itself. The Literary committee organized Extempore, Switch Up and Face Painting. Whether it be an artist, a writer or a public speaking enthusiast, there was an event for everyone.
While the first prize for Extempore went to JNMC Belgaum, the artists of BM Patil were awarded the first prize for face painting, which they shared with the team JNMC Belgaum. Switch up, a unique art event based on teamwork, was won by our very own team, KMC Manipal!
Day 2 began with Turncoat, with a display on internal dilemmas brought out to the world. The day started with some heavy brain utilization, as the on-the-spot thinking and logical plausibility of the participants were tested in turncoat.
The day 3 of Invictus started off with ‘Best Out of Waste’ – a marvelous endeavour to minimize wastage and optimize artistry. 5 teams of participants got together to create several ‘decorative wall hangings’ as per the theme announced. The event was judged by a KMC alumni, who, most notably, founded Artefact. The winning positions were bagged by SSIMC & RC, followed by JNMC and then by BM Patil Medical College.
Day 4, on the literary front, saw the battle of arguments began with the Debate, won by JNMC, Belgaum followed by KMC, Manipal and then MS Ramaiah.
Soon after the wrath of arguments, minds were boggled and challenged in The General Quiz saw a mix of participation and the winners were as follows:
1st place – Shushant (MIT), Soumya(MIT), Dr Joseph Thomas (KMC)
2nd place – Mr. Rajdeep Dasgupta, Dr. Ashish Rao and Mr.Ankit
3rd place – Dr. Arjun (KMC Manipal), Mr. Sanjay (open) and Mr Vikas (open)
Day 5 was a bit different. Music, Entertainment, Art and Literature, rightly abbreviated as Melas Quiz, was one of the highlights of the day.
The participants flocked in a group of three to ace the quiz and ensnare the coveted spots, irrespective of the college they belonged to, as it was an open category. It was a medley of laughter, quiet thinking and intense whispering of the answer to one’s partner.
The first place was bagged by Sushant, Soumya and MV Srujan. The second spot went to Dr Arjun, Shakti and Sanjay and the second runner-up was Taran Bhardwaj, Aseem Anand and Shreayas Lakhotia.
Running for a relay race is itself a task. But what if it is introduced to writing? Relay Writing was one such fun event and the other highlight literary event for day 5. Participants, in a group of three, made a dash against time with one plot. The first writer wrote a story on the first prompt, and the second writer continued the story from the last line. The last writer compiled it and made the necessary edits, albeit without changing the theme of the entire story. The time allocated to the first two writers was 25 minutes. The last writer got 30 minutes to consolidate the story.
In this maddening rush of the relay, the first spot goes to JNMC, followed by KMC, Manipal, who clinched second place. FMMC bagged third place.
The first event on Day 6 in literary segment was the Theme Quiz. With 14 teams participating, the prelims started off with a lot of ambition and vigour. Eight teams then moved on under the Quiz Master for the final round. Going with the fest theme, questions were picked up from comics and characters around the world.
Continuing after a short break, the next event of the day was ‘Just A Minute’ or JAM. Dr Radhini Chowdhary carried the bout with confidence as the JAM Master. The first position was bagged by Nanditha from PSG, followed by KIMS Blr and then FMMC.
To make our evenings more humorous, we had the ‘Farzi Mushaira’, where participants came up with brilliant satirical poems. It was full of laughter and ridicule and the judges; Dr Chandani Gupta and Dr Ashwini Kumar had a hard time deciding the winners. Vishnu Kant from KMC took home the first prize, closely followed by Syed Mukhtar Abbas from SSIMS and Garima Gupta, again from KMC.
The day 7th of Invictus began with a Treasure Hunt . There were eight hints scattered on and around campus. The participants spent their morning decrypting and answering riddles, codes and patterns that guided them to the next location. The first three teams to reach the final destination, which was the amphitheatre, were SSIMS&RC, KSHEMA and SSIMS&RC.
Following it was ‘Potpourri‘. After a competitive and vigorous prelims round of trivia and 20 questions between the teams, only five proceeded to the finals round. The spirits remained high as the participants tried deciphering the images depicted by their teammates in a lively round of Pictionary, followed by a round of Charades. All had a fun time, with Team Ananas from KMC Manipal grabbing the first position. KMC Manipal and KIMS Bangalore bagged the second position and KMC Manipal bagged the third position as well.
The sunny afternoon was the time of ‘Open Mic‘. Participants came through with their astonishing performances comprising of vocals, instrumentals, narrations and a lot more. It was an informal event with students having fun bonding, enjoying and exposing themselves to the talents of fellow participants.
The last and final day of Invictus began with cartoonists and writers coming together for ‘Comic Strip Making’. The participants were given 90 minutes to curate an original sequence of events and sketch them out. They were judged on clarity of theme, creativity, skills, and overall appeal. Dr. Gahan S Jois from KMC Manipal won the judges heart and stood first. Second position was bagged by Rishita Rastogi from KMC Manipal again and third position was bagged by Aditi Johri from KSHEMA.
Next and last on the agenda was ‘Hindi and English Poetry’ events. The topics were announced on the event groups on spot and the participants had 45 minutes to prepare an original piece of poetry. It was beautiful listening to the various takes by different people. After a tough competition, the first position in English poetry was bagged by Roxanne Kanga (JNMC), second position went to Koka Bhumihar (SSIMS&RC) and third to Aditi and Ayu (both from KSHEMA). Winners of the Hindi Poetry were Gulshan Kumar Gaurav from BM Patil, Rishit from KMC Mangalore and Garima Shukla from KMC Manipal.