Fun along with social message is new mantra at MSU
Apart from Gandhigiri Day, students will visit kids in hospital and distribute roses at old age home on V-Day
ALTHOUGH cultural puritans may frown on Valentines’ Day celebrations, in recent years it has come to stay on the MS University (MSU) campus in Vadodara.
As a run-up to the celebrations on February 14, each faculty vies with the others to in weeklong youth week celebrations, consisting of dress codes, theme-based ‘day’ celebrations and other cultural and musical programmes.
This year, the Faculty of Arts is stealing a march over other counterparts with the various ‘days’ being coupled with social messages-inspired by the spurt of Gandhigiri, they are organising a day based on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy..
Faculty of Arts general secretary, Rupesh Prajapati, said, “On Tuesday, Chocolate Day, students will go to SSG Hospital’s children ward and distribute it among the patients there, while on Gandhigiri Day, students clad in khadi will put up a small exhibition on Gandhi’s life and his thoughts.”
Even Valentines Day is not going to be just a frivolous affair for these students who will be visiting a city-based old age home to offer roses to the seniors there. Prajapati said this was an attempt to attach some social message to the celebrations.
While not as elaborate as the Arts Faculty, technology and science faculties have also managed to put up a fair show. On Monday, students of different departments at the Faculty of Science wore t-shirts with catchy slogans. One such slogan at statistics department read ‘in search of truth’. Also, to celebrate Tapori Day, technology students plan to undertake cleanliness drives where the cleanest department will get an award.
The students on campus are enthusiastically adhering to the dress codes for each of these ‘days’. Interestingly, a few years back a students’ association had issued a ‘diktat’ banning short skirts on campus, which had invited protests and sharp criticism from students.
Referring to this, MSU Student Union (MSUSU) vice-president Pooja Kamath said, “It is up to the girls. It is their personal choice as to what they want to wear and what not to wear. Imposing orders and ‘diktats’ at educational institutes, will not yield
any gains.”
Meanwhile, commerce faculty general secretary, Abhishek Agrawal, said, The Youth Festival will kick off on February 14 to 19. A funfair and dance performances have been planned for February 17 and and a musical orchestra group will play on February 18. He said apart from regular days, they had been pbserving Cap Day and Cool Day where blue jeans and white t-shirt are made part of it.
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