ENIGMA

“Earth is no longer habitable. We need a collaborative, sustainable plan to habit Saturn’s moon Enceladus” was the sole idea behind the science event Enigma, conducted at Magnachrista 2018. A practical understanding of science and loads of creativity was required to excel at Enigma as it brought out the applications of basic scientific principles such as magnetic field and gravity. The inquisition of Terra formation was brought to the forefront which was dealt with uniquely by each participant. Some thought that introducing genetically engineered bacteria was viable while others preferred the idea of encapsulated cities, with their own soil and atmosphere. Some participants pointed out that Enceladus had a frozen ocean near it’s poles, which can be used as a source of water. Thus, having provided the perfect platform for participants to showcase their understanding of various scientific concepts and their ability to think miles outside the box, this event produced creative outcomes. Overall, the winners were declared based on the creativity of their ideas and their presentation.

Winners:
1st price- Christ Academy
2nd price- Mount Carmel College
3rd price- Jyoti Nivas College

-Manasa V Reddy
1 PCMB D

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HELIOCENTRIKA

Heliocentrika was set in timelines other than the present. In the first round, participants were required to present Galileo’s proofs of the heliocentric structure of our solar system (hence the name ‘Heliocentrika’) to a panel of judges who were set in the 17^th century. In the second round, participants were instructed to represent 22^nd century science by adopting concepts from movies and showcase how they would aid humanity in its progress. The concepts picked by respective participants included arc reactor (from ‘Iron Man’), virtual reality (from ‘Jumanji’) and battlechips (from ‘Battlechip’). In the climax of the event participants were instructed to pick sides, whether to save the planet or move to another, while humanity is on the brink of extinction. The arguments for both sides were formulated as standard debate. Issues such as time taken for travel, socio-economic differences between travelers to the other planet, and the ecosystem of the new planet, or lack therefore were major concepts of the debate. After a very close tie, the winners were declared as follows.

1st price- Jyoti Nivas College
2nd price- Mount Carmel College

-Manasa V Reddy
1 PCMB D

ANAKRITIS

Anakritis, an event conducted at Magnachrista 2018, had the biggest turnout among the science events because of its interesting detective-like archetype. ‘Anakritis’ is derived from the Gorgan Anakritis, who were interrogators in Greek mythology. This was well encapsulated in three rounds.

The preliminary elimination round had a set of logic-based questions to be answered on paper. When interviewed, the participants said that a combination of spontaneity and common sense is needed to answer the questions.

The second round involved a riddle, featuring a line from ‘Toy Story’- “Ride like the wind- bullseye” which was said by Woody, a cowboy. If one could fit the puzzle together they’d arrive at the Ramanujan number. The top six participants who were quickest to unravel the riddle proceeded to the next round.

The final round was a classic detective murder mystery. The setup consisted of an outline of a dead body, a diary, fingerprints and a half- burnt photo. The characters involved were the victim, his best friend, his colleague and his neighbour, who he wasn’t very friendly with. Whichever team figured out first who the killer was and explained the plot of the murder won the event. This event thus managed to push participants to their analytical extremes and had channel their inner detectives!

Winners :
1st price- Christ academy
2nd price- Jyoti Nivas College
3rd price- Transcend PU college

-Manasa V Reddy

  1 PCMB D

Slam Poetry

Slam poetry is an up-and-coming form of spoken word poetry that is being increasingly lionised by student poets. Pierian Spring, the English literary club hosted its first ever slam poetry event to cater to the interests and talents of spoken word artists.

As in a regular poetry slam, artists gathered to recite their original pieces before a judge and their fellow poets. Poets plumbed the depths of their creativity, unbridled by a given theme or word limit and presented the choicest poems of their collections with great élan. Life, silence and personal experiences emerged as popular themes that had captured the imaginations of the writers. Participants were assessed on a variety of criteria including the content of their poems, style of presenting and ability to engage with the audience and elicit emotions.

The three poets with compelling pieces, who demonstrated eloquence and verve were, in order of placement,

1. Supriti Sujay- II HESP M

2. Thanmayee- II HEPP N

3. Lakshana- II HESP M

Neha Susan Cherian

II HESP M

Book Spine Poetry

Book Spine Poetry is a singular take on poetry writing that serves to blur the lines between poetry and prose. It has, over the years, carved a niche for itself among the poetic events lined up by Pierian Spring. Participants are given a selection of book titles and asked to compose a poem, employing any five titles of their choice. The burgeoning coterie of poets of Christ Junior College turned out enthusiastically to meld their imaginations and aptitude for verse with the tools given to them.

The resultant poems were striking for their diction and rendered poignant by the use of book titles such as In Search of Lost Time, Things Fall Apart and One Hundred Years of Solitude.  Students wrote across a range of themes and presented a heady mix of the comic, tragic and romantic, penned in elegant verse.

The three poets who demonstrated a knack for creative adaptation were, in order of placement,

1. Farhan- I PCMB G
2. Dhruthi D A- I PPES O
3. Marvin- II HEPP N

Neha Susan Cherian

II HESP M

Fanfiction Writing

Taking a cue from the growing popularity of fanfiction literature, Pierian Spring, the English literary club, hosted Fanfiction Writing. A first-of-its-kind event in college, Fanfiction Writing was targeted at students with a penchant for books and sitcoms. Participants were given prompts relating to Harry Potter and F.R.I.E.N.D.S and asked to weave a story using recognisable characters from the given book and sitcom. Writers traversed the well-stomped and widely read/watched territories of the two classics and pushed the frontiers of the known stories by the sheer force of their imaginations.

This event served to bring out the divergent interpretations of well-known characters and stories through the eyes of the beholder-turned-writer. Ardent fans of F.R.I.E.N.D.S churned out side-splitting accounts of ‘The One Where Phoebe Releases an Album’, while faithful Potterheads penned thoughtful continuation stories that followed the close of the last book.

The writers who displayed an intimate knowledge of the book/sitcom and riotous imaginations were, in order of placement,

1. Swarnaa Nagarajan- 1 CAME L

2. Umme Salma- I PCMB C

3. Abigail Charles- I HEPP N

Neha Susan Cherian

II HESP M

Environment Quiz

The Environment Quiz was conducted by Sedes Minerva in collaboration with Eco Club on 28^th September 2018. The quiz was hosted by Aruna and Neha Shetty of 2 HEPP N.

As many people tend to conceive ‘environment’ as a very irksome topic, we were thrilled to see so many people participating to show that there are people out there who care and love the environment as much as we do. The quiz comprised of the prelims and final. The prelims had 25 well researched and intriguing questions which really tested the mettle of our participants. The top 6 teams from the prelims made it to the final merely based on their exceptional answers in the prelims.

The final comprised of 30 highly twisted and difficult logical questions. The questions mostly were asked in such a way that it really bamboozled the quizzers however, the answers were very simple. The final started out on a tough note, but as the quiz progressed our participants found rhythm and were back to getting questions right. All in all, it was a good and highly competitive quiz. The quiz concluded with a photo session.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Eco Club for helping us to conduct the quiz smoothly by being highly co-operative and enthusiastic volunteers. Furthermore, we would like to thank all our participants who participated in the quiz.

Finally, a huge shout out to Arun Sir for always being there in our quizzes and for creating a light-hearted atmosphere with his wit and humour. This was a really exciting quiz and we have many more exciting quizzes like this lined up.

Cheers. Happy quizzing y’all.

The winners are,

1^st place – Rohini Dikshit (2N), Yashaswini H (2N) Sumukh B Ram (2L)

2^nd place – Ananya Manjunath (2N), Akhila P (2N) Vijith Raghavendra (2L)

3^rd place – Harish VV Naik (2D), Devendra (2I) and Vishesh V (2I)

 –  Neha Shetty

   2 HEPP N