One of the most awaited annual college events of Goa is back! The ninth edition of ‘Waves’, the annual national cultural festival organised by Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus will be held from November 6 to 8, 2015 at the institute’s campus. In the past, BITS has invited renowned artists like Indian Ocean, Parikrama, DJ Suketu and Kailash Kher, but this year, the organisers promise that the affair will be grander. Manas Vaidya, a Third Year dual degree student studying MSc in Biological Sciences and BE in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, is the Waves Convener, whose job is to ensure the smooth organisation of the event. “The event is a national event which welcomes the student community from across the country. Last year, we received a footfall of nearly 30,000 to 40,000 students and this year we are expecting a bigger crowd,” says Manas, who is doing a great job of being on top of things despite his busy schedule. The organising committee consists of innovative and creative students who start working on the details months in advance. “We got together by April end and in our break we worked on the schedule, approached the artistes and got the events planned. Then when we returned in August, we knew where we were heading. The event is open to colleges across India and the entrance to the live acts are open to all,” explains Manas. This year, the three-day Waves 2015 has a plethora of events based around its theme ‘Escape Reality’. The performing acts will include Voctronica, India’s premier acapella group, aKING, a melodic rock band from South Africa that will be performing for the first time in India, and popular Bollywood composers Salim-Suleiman. “As this is the first time that the international band will be performing in India, many students are showing great interest, as witnessing such performances at a college festival is a rare occurrence,” says Manas. The Big 3 events of the festival are ‘Natyanjali’, the group dance event, ‘FashP’, the fashion parade, and ‘Mr and Ms Waves’, the ultimate test of being the crowd favourite. “Natyanjali sees coordinated body movements from some of the best dance troupes in the country. Many professional dance troupes have already registered for this competition,” adds Manas. The Big 3 are always memorable for the jam-packed auditorium with lots of clapping and cheering. Other interesting events include ‘Portraiture’ where participants make a sketch of a live model using bare essentials, and ‘Shutter Island’ where participants have to first click a photo inside the campus and then paint it in an impressionistic manner. “For photography, filmmaking or videography, we have three exciting events – ‘Montage’, ‘Mezzotint’ and ‘Time Lapse’. ‘Reverse Flash’ is a unique event where participants have to shoot a film of up to 20 minutes in a reverse narrative,” explains Manas. ‘Waves Open Quiz’, ‘JAM’ ( Just A Minute), ‘Wordgames’ and ‘Poetry Slam’ are also part of the festival. The dance events are ‘Sizzle’, ‘Dhinchak’ and ‘Jumele’, which have a variety of theme-based rounds. The special events include ‘Contention - the Waves Debate Championship’, ‘Wallstreet Fete’, the finance and management event, ‘Ratatouille’, the cooking competition, and the ultimate ‘Rubik’s Cube Challenge’. The dramatics events include ‘Rangmanch’, ‘NukkadNatak’ and ‘Skime’. ‘Jukebox’ is the solo singing event while ‘Solonote’ requires participants to showcase their skills in any musical instrument of their choice. ‘Alaap’ is the Indian classical vocal competition, where contestants can sing in either the Hindustani or the Carnatic style. “We will also be organising ‘Moot Court’ as we have done in the past three years,” concludes Manas, hoping to see more college participation from Goa.