Yang Idols
BY SOWMYA SRINIVASAN IYER
As you enter the hall, pictures of your favorite childhood cartoons surround you, flooding your mind with nostalgic memories from back then. Seeing new friends in their old uniforms, fondly remembering their pre-CN Yang days, it was truly a night to remember. The small trinkets like the loom bands and bubbles took us back to our early childhood days, as we relived those gleeful carefree moments in the warmth of the function hall.
The event started off with registration, where we all got small goodie bags where we could put in the small snacks we chose from a basket. This was followed by a chill dinner, a usual sight in our CN Yang events, with groups of friends chilling on the floor of the function hall, except this time, on cute picnic mats.
There were a total of 6 performances, ranging from instrumentals, bands with guitarists to just a solo by everyone’s favourite Chinese singer, Meldon! And of course how can we forget the freestyle beatboxing and dancing duo; Nitin and Darren, blowing us all away with their sick moves.
Not forgetting all the great games played during the intermission! Oh man I wish I hadn’t emceed for the event because if I could have played, I would have totally nailed ‘Don’t forget the lyrics!!’
I guess everyone’s favourite part (aside from the performances of course) was the lucky draw! (Another familiar item at CN Yang events!)
Being a performer is a special experience. I guess it gives you an avenue to be able to share your feelings and memories through something deeper than just words, but rather emotions and an interpretation of a work of art. What felt even better was when people in the audience seemed to see eye to eye with us as we sang, creating a bond that’s both strong yet strangely and inexplicably distant from oneself.
Being a part of the small and rather familial CN Yang community brings a certain warmth with it, especially to SnW events. It’s really a comforting feeling now, and I guess that’s because it’s home.
Gallery: Yang Idols
Halloween 2017 – The PUrGe
BY JOSEPH SEBASTIAN ANG
The Crespion Function Hall was still the function hall that I knew when I got there, but the decorations made it somewhat different. For that night only, the spirit of Halloween was in the air (although some might be amused that it was a regular Thursday night on the second of November). There were Halloween designs on stage, spooky masks all around the walls, and even a make-up booth. The most impressive piece was the photobooth backdrop, which featured a dark design with a sinister dog looming over anyone standing in front of it. No surprise, considering the event was named The PUrGe (get it? Pugs).
But then there was the buffet table. It seems to be a recurring theme in many events I attend nowadays. In any case, during the pre-event feast, I noticed the people. There were many interesting costumes – a zombie, some guy wearing a beach shirt and carrying a duffel bag, a well-built male wearing a dress, a flight attendant and even Slenderman. The Social and Welfare Portfolio committee members were even more into it. One made a striking replica of Harley Quinn, while the other looked like he was bathed in blood. It was a once-in-a-year opportunity, and it was interesting to see how people’s personalities shine through the costumes they chose.
After some contextualization (through amusing videos featuring the 10th EC members), we were divided in groups and a game session resembling those in Orientation camps began. The groups were then split up to play different kinds of games. And it was then that I entered the night’s Escape Room – a full-blown chamber of horrors from which players must escape in twenty minutes. It is of worth to note that I remember going in with at least ten people, and none of us knew what we were doing. We crashed around in the almost completely dark room, tried to read hundreds of words of clues on the walls and spun locks for twenty minutes. The hilarious thing was that we celebrated every small success like it was our greatest achievement, only to realize that we were still way too far from escaping. And so we failed. The organizer laughed and told us that we had only completed the first out of three stages required to get out. Oh well.
The rest of the games were various station games, where we were pitted against other groups to win points for the prizes. In the end, the winning group was rewarded with a large prize.
The S&W event was a time for fun, a night when we indulged in the creativity of the S&Wportfolio to de-stress ourselves from the strenuous daily absorbing of knowledge that is the common experience of all university students around the world. It was fair to say that I immensely enjoyed myself and being able to unwind with Halloween. Thank you, S&W!