K writes to the workforce of Kaleidoscope 2015.

 Namaste, workforce!

For the last 30 years, you girls and your foremothers have churned out theme after theme of absolute creative ingenuity, but this one takes the mithai. The kurtas and jhumkaas, kya baat! Also, you have no idea how jelly folks are of my mega fabulous cycle rickshaw here in the universe of college fest mascots. Super convenient and eco-friendly, too.

The fest is a little more than four whole months away, but the kind of work you ladkis are doing makes me feel as proud as Karan Arjun's Maa upon their return. In spite of it being holiday time, and with most of you busy with internships or travel, the dedication with which teams are going about their duties is undeniably commendable. Jug jug jiyo, betiyaan.

I cannot wait for September, to manifest into your world of colourful paisley and cutting chai, and get my dancing Kolhapuris on. I'm dying to live all that you've got planned for those six days (haha, pun) and I know for sure, that it's going to be one hell of a mazedaar experience.

Because desi you rollin', they lovin'.

Signing off now. And remember to keep cool in this blistering, godforsaken weather by eating plenty of golas. My favourite is kala khatta, and yours?

Bahut sara pyaar and dulaar,
K.

Beta, Ye Kaleidoscope Kya Hai?

Yes, a kaleidoscope is that tube thing that we all used to make in school which shows you pretty patterns when you rotate one end while looking in from the others. But, the Kaleidoscope that we have here is much more than just pretty patterns. Kscope, as it is fondly called, is a phenomenon that occurs once a year on the campus of Sophia College in Mumbai. A massive melting pot of events, competitions, food, music and games cooked to perfection with just the right amount of love and garnished with energy that you won’t see anywhere else is how we would define this phenomenon.

But wait; let us start from the beginning. Exactly thirty years ago, an intra-college event consisting of literary, artistic and cultural contests was combined with a fete including game and food stalls, and viola! The first ever recipe of Kaleidoscope was born. From then on, each subsequent year the participants as well as the organizers kept adding more and more and now we can safely say- we started from the bottom and now we here! Come and experience the love for yourself on the the 5^th and 6^th of September this year! Oh, and say Namaste to Aunty and Uncle.

Hack Report

Mumbai. A few minutes before midnight on a hot summer night in March, a lonely and frustrated soul finally cracked under the strain of countless sleepless nights spent on the Internet and suffered a brain fart so severe that the repercussions could be felt all the way at the Facebook page of Kaleidoscope. It appears that the page was subjected to a change in the introduction and display picture in what experts call an attempt at defamation of the festival, after which it was deleted altogether.

The Executive Committee have graciously offered their condolences to the obviously troubled (read: sick) person responsible for this action. Although they extend their sympathy to anyone who may feel threatened or intimidated by the pure awesomeness of this festival, desperate attempts such as this one will only be met with a universal one-fingered salute (guess which finger). Simultaneously, ’Get Well Soon’ cards are being dispatched to Loser Headquarters, Hackerzgaon.

Mildly amused and greatly incensed by this event, the spectacular ladies behind the festival have taken immediate action. The Workforce is stronger than ever, further responding with “(Don’t) Hack. Ok. Please” in-keeping with the current theme. They have also issued an official response, which read “LOL kya ukhaad liya?”

It is clear that Kaleidoscope has lived up to image of a kaleidoscope, reflecting stunning and colorful patterns regardless of the light it is put under.

Orientation 2015

Kaleidoscope orientation

noun

a public spectacle that occurs annually at Sophia College for Women, Mumbai, where each team of the workforce tries to coax/ bribe/ attract/ threaten/ charm/ yell at the general masses to try for its respective interviews.

The sun rose that day, a little brighter than usual, as the workforce got into their coordinator t-shirts once again. Due to unavoidable circumstances, the orientation this year was shifted to the area outside the Sophia Anderson Annexe (the BMM building, yaar). Armed with publicity techniques that would bring the creator of Abki Baar Modi Sarkar campaign to shame, the ladies of Kaleidoscope were set to strategically direct the abundance of fresh talent towards their desk and their desk ONLY.

Jokes apart, the orientation this year saw promising new faces aplenty, who took interview details from each desk and daydreamed about being a coordinator and chanting <insert team name here> in a loud, feverish frenzy.

Okay, put the ‘jokes apart’ on hold for now.

There are two types of people in this world, the ones who like balloons and those who don’t. The second kind doesn’t exist. And nobody knows this better than team marketing. Move over post-it notes and colourful little chits. The team remained true to its name and aggressively marketed itself. Two words: free chocolates.

A marketing coord is seen calling out to the ladkis, whilst enticingly yet subtly holding on to two chocolates. Tr00 dedication.

A PR coord, a perfect embodiment of her team’s role in Kaleidoscope, walked about with numerous post-it notes with interview dates stuck to her face. The God of public relations is proud of you, beta. Jeete raho. Informals, with their ridiculously cool moustache and hat logo, had it painted on a giant red flag this time.

You know who’s cooler than you? Informals.

Team fundamentals reinforced the fact that nicknames stick, and coined the best tagline of all time: Become A Fundoo.

They put the fun in fundamentals.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no new team called PROMNAT, it’s just our good old PA being dramatic (pun intended).

You got us there, PA.

 

The most asked question at the orientation, undoubtedly, was regarding expansion. Let me tell you, it has got nothing to do with bodily expansions or mind-expanding substances, but is a new team, which will be in charge of organising non-competitive events. The workforce collectively pats the EC on the back for taking this initiative, and hopes to see this new addition to the fest in action soon.

The creative team, which is incidentally also responsible for writing this blog, continued being fabulous and was seen recycling the poster it used for last year’s orientation.

 

"I hope nobody notices the creases." - The creative team.

Happy Kscope-ing!

10 MYTHS about Girls during Kscope

The fact that Kaleidoscope is a festival organized completely by girls (Sophia College for Women) has always been overly glorified. Well, we’re here to tell you that it is no big deal that girls can pull off everything that anyone else can. So, here are a few myths about girls debunked for you.

1.  Girls can’t lift heavy weights. Excuse me while I carry two metal chairs up a flight of stairs alone.

2. Girls are always involved in “cat fights” and can’t work together. Maybe you should come back 

to the real world of maturity and responsibility.

3. The security can’t handle rough crowds or situations. Have you ever seen a fight break out any 

event?

4. It is easy to sweet-talk any girl into doing you a favor, be it getting most-coveted time slots or 

last-minute prop requirements.

5. Girls are not good at handling technical requirements. I’m sorry, what did you say? I can’t hear you over the sound of Team Technicals, making sure your performance happens without a 

glitch.

6. Girls faint at the sight of blood/ injury. So, who’s doing the first-aid on the Informals Court 

again?

7. Girls gossip about each other (and other random people) all the time. If by gossip you mean 

coordinating between Workforce teams, sponsors and participants, then yes.

8. Girls take selfies all the time. Yeah we do. While we sign deals with our sponsors.

9. All girls care about is losing and maintaining weight. Not that anything’s wrong with that, but did 

you see those cheesy Mexican fries?

10. Girls will take the guys’ side in any argument. Uh, even heard of ovaries over brovaries?

Ten New Year Resolutions all Kaleidoscope Coordinators have

Ten New Year Resolutions all Kaleidoscope Coordinators have

As 2015 has rolled in, bringing along renewed hopes of exercising more frequently, spending more time with the fam, not being forever sleep deprived and such, here are ten resolutions exclusive to the womanpower of Kaleidoscope.

      1.    I will not forget to eat during the fest and then binge eat later until I puke.

      2.    Boom Snap Clap is not an appropriate answer for every question. Just the ones you don’t want to answer.

      3.    I will not go out of my way and/or spend obscene amounts of money just to vasool all the food coupons.

     4.    I will not judge every company based on their status as sponsors for Kaleidoscope.

     5.    I will not use the Den as a semi-permanent residence because of the free WiFi.

      6.    I will not let my reserved seats in the Bhabha hall ruin my friendship with my

non-coordinator friends.

      7.    I will be patient with each whim and fancy of my sponsor.

      8.    I will not get into fights when people say that a fest other than Kaleidoscope is the best in the city. Or maybe I will.

      9.    I will not terrorize FYs in the interviews.

     10.  I will make a lot of new friends, bond with seniors and juniors alike, and take back a ton of memories.

But you don’t really need to make a resolution for that, do you?

                                                     Here's to more

Kaleidoscope 2014 may officially be over, but with the year too coming to an end, one of the largest inter-collegiate festivals in Mumbai deserves a special mention in the list of things that made this year so memorable. This year’s theme, Be Iconic- evident right from the life-sized Tardis to the tribute to some of the greatest authors on the Spiral Staircase (iconic in itself)- left us with only one thing to hate about the week-long fest; that you can never hate it. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all. And as majestic as it was, all good things have to come to an end.

But enough about 2014. We have something even better and promising to look forward to in 2015. That’s right, next year marks the 30^th year of Kaleidoscope; 30 years of sheer energy, effort and will that have given voice and stage to incredible talent, right on the campus of Sophia College for Women. So as we mark the end of another 365 days of our lives, the Workforce, excited as ever, is once again ready to Boom-Snap-Clap their way through a whirlwind of challenges to make Kaleidoscope 2015 grander than ever.

Make sure you don’t miss it; in the words of Albus Dumbledore (and this is 100% true), “don’t pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who could not attend K’scope.” Because even though you may think that the fest is a strict progression of cause and effect, from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, which will leave you breathless.