Two fluttering heartbeats of a dying Horizon

Three words can succinctly describe Horizon 2007: Jal, Yana Gupta and Channel V.
A short summary of what happened then for those who missed it!

1. Pakistani band Jal performed for the main concert night and the event featured massive participation, or at least the deft work by the Channel V crewmen makes it seem so. In the long living tradition of RAIT mess ups, while they were being chauffeured from the airport a team was scampering around in Navi Mumbai trying to book a hotel for them that would accept Pakistani artistes.
2. A cricket match was also conducted at the stadium (can’t remember whether it was the international one or the practice ground) between the DY Patil/RAIT and Jal team.
3. Yana Gupta finally came to RAIT and people thought it was a hoax like previous years. Despite massive number of posters, we had to make SOS calls to get people roused out of their slumber on the morning of the 3rd day after a total night of DJ chaos. This included kicking many people off from the floors of RAIT at 7 am in the morning. Needless to say, these people were in varying states of inebriation promoted by various alcohols and stimulants/depressants of the natural/artificial etc category.
4. Once she actually arrived in college though, pandemonium broke loose. We had to resort to a literal security circle around here, not that it bothered me…I was in charge! Yana Gupta didn’t arrive for the Fashion Show or something else. She came to award the prize winners for the Online Gaming contest conducted by Indiagames.com, an event that saw an attendance of more than 400 people. This event was conducted at the IT Center and the older SysAdmin Lab which suffered continuous PC crashes. Subsequently, all 20 PC’s were formatted by us on the 2nd night before Yana and the press came in. This was done without the permission of the Lab Admin and left a hundred complaints against us in the next few days. Naturally, they were all water of a duck’s back. A part of her appearance also included a ‘Date Contest’ with her that called for participants to sing/dance/do any foolishness to impress her. The foolish winner turned out to be RAIT SUC GSec 2009 Dhruv Rishi who got a solitary date with her for 2 hours at Bandra Taj Lands End. Lucky bugger.
5. This ‘Horizon’ was perhaps one of the few ones that was telecasted on national television via the grace of Channel V. Deft and undercover work by three student bloggers gave the world many insights about the intricacies of our great festival.
6. Unchained was in a state of decline like previous years with minimal funds. One highlight was the participation of the band ‘Decibel’ which was to gain fame as participants of Channel V’s ‘Launchpad’ programme. They also performed the super-hit ‘Nagin’ before it actually became popular. Emphasizing the cash crunch trend, this band was put up at the house of one of the event heads.
7. In a first, Next Electronics (the Fashion Show sponsor) turned out to be the sponsor for all night events thanks to the lack of any other sponsor!

Horizon 2008:

Few words to describe Horizon 2008: Paintball, Pritam, Times of India, Gary Lawyer and cost cutting
A few one-liners to describe Horizon 2008:
Venky (Cultural Secretary): Paisa nahin milega
Vivek (General Secretary): You are right, and you are also right
Alok (Treasurer): Where am I?
Mohsin (some unknown worker): *%$!*@$#

1. Well, Horizon 2008 featured the very expensive artiste Pritam and his band in one of most touted events in recent times. The event was highly appreciated with VP calling it the best he has seen (big smile there). I had a strong suspicion they were lip-synching since I was up close, but couldn’t prove anything (who would want to?)
2. RAIT also went back to ‘The Rock Age’ (patent mine) with Gary Lawyer performing on the third night to an almost empty arena. Doesn’t matter. It was the highlight of the festival for me.
3. Paintball came to RAIT for the first time after an effort of over 4 years. The very expensive sport was loved by everyone. I almost got gored by the actor Chetan Hansraj (he owned the paintball company) because I inadvertently sprayed the bullets read paintballs in some unmentionable area.
4. Project Udaan saw the light of the day. 3 underprivileged students are being educated by the savings of the organizers in the college. Two of them are performing exceptionally.
5. Perhaps the only ‘Horizon’ that had only 12 people helping with publicity, read poster slapping across New Bombay, two nights prior to Horizon. I did the headcount. This was thanks to Venky’s no free beer policy.
6. The only time that Horizon also got Page 3 coverage in the Times of India main edition. It wasn’t about rave reviews of Pritam or Paintball, rather, the beating up of LT college dance troupe participants who had the audacity of shouting ‘RAIT sucks’ inside the campus!
7. There was a huge fire inside the Dental building while Gary Lawyer was performing. Two fire engines and the entire Nerul police station ensured Gary Lawyer was stopped on time. The interlude between the cop and Gary on stage was hilarious.
8. The only time in recent memory that Unchained organizers actually ended up paying more than the prize money promised thanks to the generosity of the previous Unchained organizers committee.
9. In my opinion, the highest budgeted and cleanest Horizon in a long time. Period.

Brief summary of the last two Horizons' in the maiden RAIT Alumni Magazine (RAM).