Bhubaneswar:Xavier University, Bhubaneswar (XUB) kick-started its first annual cultural-management fest, Xamboree, on October 4th 2018. The day was marked with enthusiasm and exuberance of participants and audience, truly justifying the 3 months of planning and efforts of the students. The day kicked off with Business Simulation events such as Gladiator, Chakravyuh, and Urbrainiac, the flagship mega events by the gaming committees of XUB. They are the simulation of real-world management scenarios which tests the best brains in the country to unravel their business acumen. The first event was the XUB MUN 2018, a simulation of proceedings of the United Nations, organized by SpeakUp – the Oratory Club of XUB, which saw a number of delegates representing various countries on the themes “United Colours of Change “ and “Current Scenario of Disarmament and International Security”. Soumya Mohapatra, Presiding Officer, DISEC and member of the executive board for the MUN encouraged the participants by asking them to “make mistakes, learn from them, and make the best of this opportunity”. It also saw the opening of X-Detectives, an event by International Relations Committee XUB where participants go in search for the hidden treasure in the campus!
SRC- the Social Responsibility Cell did not forget to spread love and joy among all. They set up a handicrafts stall in collaboration with NGO Anwesha to support handmade artefacts made by skilled craftsmen. The exquisite dokra art was appreciated by the faculty and students alike. The event saw the sale of most of the articles on the first day of the exhibition itself. Day 1 of Dhwani organized by X-Stage, a solo singing competition provided a platform for people who like to sing from their heart. Sarvesh a participant stated that, “It was a lifetime experience to perform live and hear the songs of various other talented participants.” Next in line was Runway Roll organized by X-Stage, XUB. The turnout for the event was overwhelming, with well-known institutes from across the country constituting the participating teams. The theme for the year was ‘Mis& Match’, followed by a second round of ‘Goth & Punk’, for Mr. and Ms. Xamboree. The performance of the teams left both, the judges as well as the crowd mesmerised. Silicon Institute of Technology was declared the winner for both the rounds. The first day of Xamboree concluded on a high note with the much awaited EDM Night by DJ Prinal. The audience grooved to the eclectic mix of EDM and Bollywood music.
Day 2 exhibited a number of business events, one such event was Samriddhi: A Social Action Plan Competition, organized by SRC – Social Responsibility Cell of XUB in collaboration with X-Seed XUB, which focused on providing feasible solutions to the existing grass-root problems in the society. The day began with Team Speak Up continuing with its flagship Model United Nations’ second day stint, wherein the two United Nations forums being simulated in XUB MUN, UNHRC and UNGA DISEC, went ahead to form draft resolutions and working papers for the upliftment of LGBTQ Community and adoption of complete disarmament across nations respectively. Nipunya Panda, International Press Chief commented, “I firmly believe that such platforms contribute in making an individual, more articulate in their expression and more structured in the way they view global issues”.
It was followed by Case – in – Point, a national level HR Case Study Challenge, organized by XIMAHR – The HR Association of Xavier School of Human Resource Management, which is an exploratory, problem-solving simulation, customised for budding management professionals that focus to test their research and analytical skills. Priya Kumar from Team Ignite stated “The entire event was set up to give us a great learning experience. The structure of the event was unique; competing with the great minds from elite B-Schools and emerging as a runner-up was an amazing feeling for us”. Next in line was Qureka, organised by Xquizzite, the quizzing society of XUB. Qureka is an open quiz, tailor-made for those who like to keep their grey cells well-fed with trivia about anything and everything under the sun. The quiz was immensely intriguing in nature. As quoted by Aditya Kulashri, an esteemed alumnus of XUB as well as the Quizmaster for the day, “It was grander than ever, as I was elated with the active participation and passion of the students towards Quizzing”.
Along with this, Team IlluminatiX – the Media and PR Cell of XUB organized Xpress On Air – an RJ Hunt in association with Sarthak 91.9 FM, wherein participants from various colleges were required to stage a radio show, according to their own imagination. With an aim to maximize the number of opportunities to be a part of Xamboree’18, INFINX, the society of Business Finance students of XUB organized Ascend, a research-based competition that tested the financial astuteness of its participants wherein participants were expected to identify the most suitable asset, subject to the constraints provided. The winners for the day were Team Rank 1 from XUB and the runners-up were Team Wall Street from Jain University. Next in line, X-Lens, the Photography &Video-making Society of XUB organized Srishti, a short film-making competition, wherein the participants were given an opportunity to showcase their creativity and filming skills, behind the camera. The results for the competition are yet to be declared.
Spicmacay XUB Chapter also organized one of the most interesting events, Anukriti– the Face Painting Competition that saw the participants at their creative best. The gaming committees of XUB, Gladiator, Chakravyuh, and SkillCity organized their own business simulations that tested the business skills of the participants and their spontaneity to complex situations. The games were a simulation of both business and gaming acumen.
Dhwani, the musical extravaganza organized by X-Stage, XUB had its final round, which saw over 50 participants from across the country, singing their hearts out, in both Western and Indian vocal categories. Next in line, the second day witnessed one of the most awaited events of Xamboree – Sonix: The battle of Bands, adjudged by the God of Small Strings, Baiju Dharmajan. The event witnessed enthralling performances from various corners of Bhubaneswar and around, battling their hearts out. The second day of Xamboree concluded on a high note with the tunes of DJ Manish and his team. The night was filled with high octane adrenaline rush that riled the crowd up and orchestrated the thumping beats.
The third day, i.e. 6th October 2018, observed people’s enthusiasm and participation multiply triple fold. Viraasat, organised by the XUB Chapter of SPIC MACAY, a cultural event which provides a platform for people to showcase the talent and depict colours of Indian classical art forms like classical dance, singing and instrumentation, kick-started the final day of the fest with vibrant and melodious performances from participants. Next in line was Spardha, organised by RMAX – Rural Managers’ Association of Xavier School of Rural Management, was a social entrepreneurship competition where different teams give presentations and compete to win the best idea for rural sustainability. The day saw two committees of XUB collaborate, XIMAHR – The Human Resource Association of Xavier School of Human Resource Management and HabituX – The Urban Management and Governance Association, and conduct ProAct, where participants were evaluated in various rounds, wherein Round 1 was conducted online out of which 4 teams qualified followed by Round 2, i.e., ‘Break the Buzz’, which was a crossword puzzle based on simple management related words. Round 3 was ‘Block and Tackle’, where a participant was given any random topic and had to instantly speak, for or against, according to the judge’s consideration. Loaded with instantaneous humour, the speaker was evaluated based on their spontaneity, humour, content and of course audience response. The last round was ‘Act Manager’, where a scenario was provided to each team and it was to be enacted instantaneously.
Amidst all the Business simulations, X-stage – the cultural committee of XUB, conducted two events. First one was Tamasha, in which many teams showed their talent of projecting society’s dilemmas through their acting performances. The second of the two events was Foot Loose, an event dedicated to rhythm, movement and discipline with performers coming together to bring something novel, with the change in lyrics. With an aim to maximize the number of opportunities to be a part of Xamboree’18, LitSoc – The Literary Society of XUB organized Origami, whose second round, ‘Rulers of the Realms’ was a competition for constructing Micronations and making a wonderful and fascinating study of the same involving all the parameters that support a real-world economy.
With the first and second day ended on such a high note, the third did too. The organizing committee left no stone unturned, the fest ended how it started, with a bang. Packed grounds of the fest, the Celeb Night which was making ‘buzz’ all over, witnessed the country’s most famous rapper Badshah, along with singer Aastha Gill render magic with their amazing performance and the crowd grooving to the hits of ‘Kala chashma’ to ‘AbhiToh Party Shuru Hui Hai’.
All in all, the three days of the fest were marked with huge success with all the Business Competitions, Gaming, Cultural Events and the Celeb Night happening in the university that raised the bars of a Cultural-Management Fest.