Sayoni Kumar, PGDM 2016

Udaan is the annual festival of Jaipuria Institute of Management held in the spirit of combining learning with fun. Over the years, Udaan has developed into a brand in the region and attracts participation from several institutes. Udaan 2014 beautifully carried the tradition of previous years in a very ‘2014ish’ chic ensemble.

Held in September, Udaan 2014 was a resounding success. It began with Dr.Rajeev Thakur, Director Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, and Professor Nimit, welcoming the Guest of Honor Lt.Rita Gangwani, Former Officer, Indian Army, one of the most dynamic and impressive personalities to visit the Jaipuria Noida campus. Lt.Gangwani declared the event open and addressed the students, motivating them and filling them with the courage to achieve. “It is important to align your mind, body and soul to achieve success”, she said as she took the podium. She continued, saying that in life what matters is ‘values’: “A hundred rupee note always will be valued at a hundred even when it is crushed or becomes old”. She left a marked impression on the audience, with student Neha saying, “I have never met anyone with such command and poise”. Mr. Abhijit Nair proposed the vote of thanks and handed the stage to the organisers to begin the events.

This year, Udaan saw participation from NIILM, NDIM, ABS, Dayalsingh College, Kirorimal (Delhi University), IMS Noida, IMS Ghaziabad, Bharati College, ABES, ITS, Bharti Vidhyapeeth, Deshbandhu College, Kamla Nehru, Amity University Noida, and Symbiosis Noida. The first event was a Treasure Hunt, which was won Lokendra Sharma and Mohammad Rizwan from ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad. The runner-ups were Aman Maheshwari and Mayur Aggarwal from IMS, Ghaziabad. Another event, PHOTOMONTAGE, had a theme of ‘India 2020’ and was judged by Mr.V.K. Parsai. And, in a nice surprise, the winning and runner-up teams were from Amity University. KOLAM, the Rangoli competition had the theme of ‘Incredible India’, and was judged by Mrs. Sakshi Shukla (alumnus of JIM Noida). Students presented beautiful aspects of cultural, traditional and royal India via powerpoint. First prize was bagged by NDIM Delhi and the runner-up team was from Amity University. Camouflage, the face painting competition, had the theme of ‘Wild Life’, and was won by Nischint and Satyajit from NIILM and Simran and Shubhanshi from Jaipuria Noida. ‘Radio Mania’ had Saurabh Singhal (ABP news) as the guest of honor. He awarded Abhimanyu from NDIM Delhi as the winner and Eti Gupta from NIILM CMS as the runner-up. The ‘Bollywood Gyan quiz’ was won by Itee Gupta and Siddharth from NIILMS CMS. Following them as first runner-up were the team of Disha Sharma and Anmol Bhasin from NDIM, while the second runner-up was the team of Alka Rawat fromIMS Noida.

‘Razzmatazz’ and ‘Mystique’, the two most popular events, were won by the host institute for the fifth year in a row! “We are so glad that these students have bagged the titles and made our alma mater proud”, shared an obviously excited Rohan. The beatific title of Miss Mystique was bestowed upon Shubhangi, and Navneet Tyagi was crowned Mister Mystique! The faces of Mystique Ethnic were Shruti Joshi and Abhishek Bharadwaj, and the faces of Mystique Glamour were Astha Uniyal and Himanshu.

Udaan 2014 came to a scintillating end with the Star Night that saw performances of A Bazz and Gucci Armani fame Simranjeet.