LLR hall opened its Soc-Cult account with a silver winning performance from the two pianists Hari Cherupalli and Siddharth Vashishtha, with Hari winning an individual silver as well for his rendition of songs from Saathiya and Lage Raho Munnabhai. His performance was aptly described by the judges as – perfect presentation and confident piano skills.

The bronze position was shared by RP’s Rohit Narurkar– whose Luka Chuppi was undoubtedly the best flute performance of the night, and Patel’s Sudarshan Saranathan. Sudarshan’s mridangam alone, was enough to secure the bronze medal for Patel hall. Patel’s other performance of the night was by Srikanth Nayak, who too produced a commendable rendition of Luka Chuppi. But they were all outplayed by Kaushik, who stringed the night’s best Luka Chuppi and Shankar Mahadevan’s Breathless, into one magical gold-winning performance.

Gold: Nehru hall
Silver: Patel hall
Bronze: MS hall

The Scholars’ Avenue congratulates all the winners.
Athletics Day 1 results:

5000m:
1st-Azad
2nd-Nehru
3rd-MS
4th-Azad

Hammer Throw:
1st-RP
2nd-Patel
3rd-Patel
4th-LLR

High Jump:
1st-Nehru
2nd-Patel
3rd-HJB
4th-LLR

110m Hurdles:
1st-RP
2nd-Nehru
3rd-Patel
4th-LLR

Long Jump:
1st-Nehru
2nd-MS
3rd-RP

Discus Throw:
1st-MS
2nd-Patel
3rd-Nehru
4th-Patel

800m:
1st-MS
2nd-HJB
3rd-Nehru
4th-Azad

400*4m:
1st-Patel
2nd-Nehru
3rd-RP
4th-MS

Points Tally(including 6.6km):
Nehru-32
Patel-26
MS-21
RP-17
Azad-17

Gold: LLR Hall
Silver: HJB Hall
Bronze: Nehru Hall

LLR
LLR’s Atoot cement was the gold winning ad campaign this year. Their flash video ad highlighted the emotional connect between cement and its customer, while their print ad was a funny take on insects being able to distinguish their cement from the rest. They made a 3-d billboard showing a domino made of cement stopping a chain of dominos falling behind. Their innovative ad was a mobile application, triggered by QR codes on their print and billboard advertisements, which would display offers and deals on their cement at the customers’ fingertips. Overall their campaign was cohesive, but some questions like, Would an animated advertisement appeal to the actual customers? or Would their innovative idea work in a country with very low smartphone penetration?, remain unanswered.

HJB
Dark horses HJB introduced Adwait cement, the moniker inspired by ‘Adwitiya’ meaning second to none in Sanskrit. The entire campaign revolved under the brand’s almost mythical strength. With “Building a stronger India” as their tagline, they tried to play to Indian sentiments too. The print ad showed a drilling machine, its drill bit severely bent in an attempt to put up a portrait on an Adwait cement-ed wall. The billboard mocked a Kung fu exponent trying to break a concrete slab, constructed with the same cement. While the video spot attempted to capture some of childhood’s magic, it received mixed reactions from the audience. The radio ad impressed all with its spotless execution and innovative plot of a gang of robbers surrendering themselves as they were unable to break though walls anymore. All this, coupled with a convincing pitch propelled HJB to the second spot in the competition.

Nehru
Fortius cement, named after the Greek word for strength was the bronze winning ad campaign presented by Nehru hall. The video ad was a humorous depiction of corrupt practices employed by cement contractors. Rohit Chotai’s tremendous acting in the video managed to tickle the funny bone, evoking a positive response from the audience. The radio ad was a parody of the over-the-top portrayal of news in Indian news channels, while dealing with the issue of corruption once again. The much appreciated print ad was an obituary notice for cracks in walls. The billboard was met with some criticism by the judges for its inappropriateness which reflected poorly on Nehru’s score-sheet. The innovative campaign used stickers of cracks on public spaces like footpaths, steps and walls, to promote their cement. What the campaign lacked was cohesion – there was no underlying theme to the campaign, and the usage of a foreign word as the brand name drew some flak from the judges.

RK
RK hall’s entry, Alcedo cement, named after an exotic volcano from the Galapagos islands, stood fourth in the competition, narrowly missing out to Nehru hall by 6 points. Their entire ad campaign revolved around their tagline – ‘Choose wisely’. Their video ad was a reversed tape of a Lego structure being destroyed by an almighty blow of a sledgehammer, with the intent of trying to show that nothing is safe from damage. Their print ad and billboard captured moments before impending structural disasters, to convince the customer to ‘Choose wisely’ when it comes to cement. For their innovative campaign, they converted public safety notices into ad spots by adding their tagline to them. Of course, Kaustubh Khare’s pitch-perfect presentation impressed the judges and definitely helped their cause. Overall, it was highly consistent, albeit mildly sermonizing, and felt more like a public awareness campaign than an actual advertisement campaign.

The video Ads(Click on the playlist button to see all video ads):

If doors could talk, the one at Raman Auditorium would have been saying that on the evening of the 21^st.  With the Western Vocals Inter-Hall Competition underway, it was the place to be at that evening.

The competition saw the halls put forward their best songsters to show who the boss is when it comes to entertainment, and they didn’t disappoint one bit. With keyboards, drums, electric and acoustic guitars as accompaniments, the vocalists in many cases found the right backing to complement their singing quite well. Of note, Hridya Ravimohan of SN became a one-woman-band for her first song, playing the keyboard and the bass drum while simultaneously singing with amazing control.

The night folded with the announcement of the results, which had Moromjyotee Sonowal of Nehru placed first, followed by Aaron David Mendonca of Azad at second place, and a tie for third place between Kumaresh Sardar of Azad and Pranoy Chaudhuri of MS. In the overall standings, it was gold for Azad, silver for Nehru, and MS completing the podium.

The Scholars’ Avenue congratulates the winners, noting that it’s on nights like this, when you get to witness four continuous hours of near perfect musical renditions that you truly begin to sense the enormous talent packed within the walls of our campus.

The restaurant was designed such that an LCD screen pops out the moment a customer pulls the chair. The order is given on the screen using a keypad and relayed to the chef, who conveys back the estimated delivery time. Once ready, the waiter bot places a tray containing the food and drinks on the table using a line following module to guide itself along.

A message is relayed to the ‘trash can’ robot as soon as the customer leaves his chair, which clears the table using a centrally located trap-door.

See how the different modules were integrated in the demo run (embedded video)

Playlist:
Breathless – Shankar Mahadevan
Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah – Jodhaa Akbar
Mora Saiyan – Fuzon
Medley(RD Burman): Neele Neele Ambar Par, Zindagi ek Safar, Bachna Ae Haseeno.
Scottish – Mrigya

Playlist:
Apni Zulfein – Taj Mahal
Mora Saiyan – Fuzon
Kholo Kholo Darwaze – Taare Zameen Par
Ye Jawani – Jawani Diwani
Maa Reva – Indian Ocean

Playlist:
1) Spirit of Rangeela
2) Kandisa – Indian Ocean
3) Aadu Pambe – Avial
4) Chan Chan – Water
5) Medley : Badan pe Sitare; Ina Meena Dika; Aao Twist Karein!!