The arts students of BMS College for Women conducted Kalajyothi, a fest to present their talents recently. Students of all the three years, pursuing humanities, put up various stalls across the college.
Dressed in a traditional Langa Davani, the students were seen preparing for the day-long fest. While some stalls had traditional Karnataka cuisine prepared by the students, some others had hand-made jewellery, also designed and made by them.The students had woken up early in the morning to prepare the dishes.
"I have made obattu, which is a sweet dish, and rawa unde. I was very excited about the festival. My mother also helped me with the preparations. The items are priced moderately and I hope I am able to sell all of them," says Tulasi , a second-year student of humanities.
The chief guests of the event — theatre and film artiste Suchendra Prasad, film and television actress Vatsala Mohan and actor Duniya Vijay — were welcomed in a traditional style. Dollu Kunika artistes were also called in especially for the programme.
Delicacies like gala gala (a sweet dish), puriundi, paddu idli, ragi roti with ulikalu chutney etc were also in the offing.
For those with the sweet tooth, there were hot jalebis and 'China Grass' (a sweet). The best part of the event was that all these dishes were home-made and affordable.
A group of students interested in jewellery-making had also put up a stall, including one for terracotta jewellery.
"Five of us are very interested in jewellery-making. Since this fest has been organised by Arts' students, we thought we should put them up for sale. We went to the market, got the materials and started making them a day before. It is a team effort and we had a lot of fun. Though small, it is a good way to see the response of other students," says Chaitra, a student.
Along with these, there were also book stalls managed by the students.
The cultural programme began soon after the inaugural session and the students presented many traditional dance numbers from various parts of the country.