COMFEST 2014

This year, the Jaipuria Computer Club’s annual Computer Festival, Comfest, took place from the 16th to the 19th of October. With the elements of Literature and Arts, the event was one of the most anticipated school festivals. At their 14th anniversary, the JCC took Comfest to the next level, with newer events, more teams, and an entertainment evening like never before featuring top performers of the country like Mr. Aditya Narayan and his band the A- Team along with nationally acclaimed DJs ‘NDS & BLUE’.

More than 55 schools from all over the country and abroad took part in Comfest which is one of India’s biggest school-level student organized festival. The members of JCC are responsible for every activity, from the events, management, hospitality to fund collections and showcase utmost diligence and precision in making the event a success. This year, the JCC core team was led by Rishbha Jain. Excellent guidance from our Principal, Mrs. Shikha Banerjee and H.O.D. Computer Science, Mr. Manish Seksaria, an omnipresent enthusiasm and a spirit that refuses to accept anything but an impetus from what it receives has enabled JCC to evolve over the years and make Comfest a bigger success each passing year.

The first day of this four day extravaganza started off with a one of its kind event captioned as ‘Artista Tech Tattoo’, which saw budding tattoo artists showcasing their talents as they set up their own tattoo booths and made technology inspired tattoos on their fellow teammates, displaying their creative talents. The event was a three hour affair where the teams got an opportunity to interact with each other and familiarize them with the atmosphere.

‘Artista Tech Tattoo’ was followed by the electrifying cultural evening. The gathering was welcomed by Bharat Bahl, Vice President and Sanket Tandon and Manmohan Bansal, Executive Secretaries at JCC, with their humble words. The entertainment evening featured the nationally acclaimed playback singer Mr. Aditya Narayan and his band the A- Team followed by the phenomenal DJs ‘NDS & BLUE’, who literally set the stage on fire. With this, the remarkable Day Zero came to an end with a dinner for the out stationed teams and the teams prepared themselves to take the challenges of the next three days head on.

After the success of Day Zero, Day One of Comfest14 started with the festival’s Opening Ceremony. It began with a welcome speech by Rishbha Jain, President of the JCC followed by addresses by the Chief Secretaries, Ayush Singh and Adavya Bhalla.

Dr. Roshan Jacob the District Magistrate of Kanpur, obliged to preside over the ceremony. Dr. Roshan Jacob is an Indian Administrative Officer, 2004 batch. She is presently the District magistrate of Kanpur. She was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and one of the finest administrators who supports e-governance and cleanliness in the city. She recently authored a book called-“A handful of Stardust” and has been nominated for the President Award for e-governance. The mesmerizing and valuable words from our Chief Guest inspired the students and motivated the gathering. After the opening ceremony, a two hour quizzing session, ‘The Fun Quiz’, hosted by Ojesh Gupta and Bharat Bahl, tested the wits and intellect of all the participants and was thoroughly inspired by the audience.

Post lunch, the competition took off in full vigour. Day 1 marked the beginning of all the competitive events with the preliminary rounds of ‘Tech Talk’, ‘IT Quest’ and ‘The Season Begins.’ The participants also showcased their talents in various events like ‘Scram the Gramm’, ‘Vid Ed’ and ‘Virtual Dub.’ It also featured the display of Flamethrower, a robot made by the students of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School during Robowars, an event where teams create robots to fight against each other. The students of our school also prepared a robotics arena featuring various obstructions, the highlight being the conveyor belt this time. The event ‘Graffiti’ also took place on this day, which featured one of the largest graffiti in the nation.

Day 2 of Comfest14 had a number of competitions taking place, beginning with ‘Junk’s the Punk’, a Treasure Hunt where all teams were required to find and solve clues to qualify to the next level, where they were required to make a model from junk. The Quiz ‘IT Quest’, the debate ‘Tech Talk’ as well as ‘Tee Splash’, ‘So You Think You Can solve?’, ‘Silent Treatment’, ‘The Season Begins’ and ‘Wiz Pro’ were some of the other events taking place on this day.

The day also featured the crowd pleaser, ‘JAM on HAM’, an extempore competition, which was witnessed by all present as participants try to speak on a random topic for half minute in the preliminary round and for one minute in the final. The day saw some amazing events like ‘Lost in Rendition’, ‘Picsel’, ‘Twist a Tale’ and many more that challenged the participants in the spheres of photography, creativity and literature. The day was concluded with an entertainment program featuring the School Rock Band, ‘Random Theory’ that elevated the atmosphere as the participants prepared for what Day 3 had in store for them, while JCC geared up for the final day of Comfest.

Day 3, the final day of Comfest14, started with the finals for IT Quest, which was hosted by one of the most famous Quizmasters in India, Mr. Ajay Poonia. Following this was the finals for Tech Talk where the final two teams battled it out in a heated debating session, the Season Begins where the finalists battled it out to be declared the best gamer of Comfest14, Lost in Rendition and more events like Web Tech, Minds of Kinds and Pandora’s Box.

Post this came the most awaited moment for one and all, the final leg of the entire festival, the Closing ceremony. Dr. Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, M.P, Government of India, obliged to preside over the ceremony. The winners of the various events were felicitated with prizes. The arena resonated with a round applause and appreciation as M.R. Jaipuria School, Lucknow bagged the overall winner’s trophy. The closing ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by the Vice President of JCC, Pranshu Nigam.

With this came the end of Comfest14 and the JCC retired a happy lot after the commendable success of the event. ‘It’s not about us. It’s about the things we leave behind. It’s about legacy’ were the last thoughts of JCC as they signed off leaving behind a legacy, an entity, Comfest, only to make it bigger and better the next year.