Riviera Review

4 days.

129 colleges.

2125 external participants.

More than 30 cultural events. Plus gaming and sporting events.

More than 3 lacs rupees worth of prizes for cultural events only, which doesn't count informal events' prizes from sponsors like Airtel and the enormous number of chocolates given out to the audiences in almost all events.

1 Rock night.A concert by Shankar Mahadevan.A laser show, fireworks, an international juggling show, one DJ night, and Prakash Raj for the valedictory function of the festival.

That was Riviera 2008. In facts and figures.

But that is just a little fraction of the story.

Riviera 2008. Four holidays for some people, starting 30th January. And four 'work' days for many. When they worked day and night, and made the event a success. All the people who did their work with full devotion, or less than that, or more than that.

It was a show an entry point for some and a last event of its kind for some others like me. It was meeting new people, getting to know more about many, and enjoying with the old ones. It was watching people perform, seeing them doing things with a passion, it was watching teachers dance like anything, even with us and it was learning about students who thought these things weren't good enough to go out for.

Riviera taught me a lot. Till its last moments. In fact, even after the actual thing was over. It told me that even though I have worked on a lot of things, I have missed a lot many things in my college that could have done. My few hours at the reception desk made me realize that it's not just wastage of time or some boring piece of work given to people which they do sitting at these places. It's not just responsibilty but equal amount of fun (or maybe more) also. And, it has told me that even being the good guy I am, I am not the best guy out here (that much I knew for sure) and that there are people who are still hundred times as good as I am. (actually they call it being stupid, not just good, at both the levels, mine and 100 times that)

Truly speaking, fests like Riviera tell us the importance of work and activity in life. They tell us how important it is to think, to have new ideas and implement them. The same events, however interesting, if simply repeated, do not touch our souls the way they do for the first times. That is the reason 'Salad Dressing' and 'Kite Flying' were welcomed whole heartedly and were liked more compared to the old events like 'Wordsworth' which were removed from the list this time. The want of having something new made the 'Bluffmaster' as successful an event as the parallelly going ad-zapped which has been a favorite for years. 'Sand Castle Sculptures' and 'Rangoli' were liked a lot and people kept on clicking pictures of them even two days after the competition was over.

Anyways, now there are just two things. It was a great fun to be in the Riviera '08. And that it's over now.