Josephest aims at giving a stage to students to display and polish their talents and creative abilities in an interactive and competitive milieu. This year too, St. Joseph's College organized this inter-institutional cultural meet on the 17th & 18th of October. Josephest­2006 wore a Roman look this time and brought together six participating schools, namely: St Mary's Convent Inter College, Allahabad, St.Anthony's Convent Inter College, Allahabad, agore Public School, Allahabad, Jagat Taran Golden Jubilee School, Allahabad, YMCA Centenary ichool and College, Allahabad. and St. Joseph's College, Allahabad.

The first day began with the welcoming of the Chief Guest Mr. Himanshu Kumar , Vice;hairman of the Allahabad Development Authority and an alumnus of our college. An inter-religious gayer followed. The captains of the participating teams assembled on the stage and expressed their eelings on being a part of Josephest and then accompanied the chief guest and our Principal, Fr. Louis dascarenhas in the lighting of the lamp. The chief guest declared the feast open and released its souvenir. The curtains were raised to reveal the backdrop of the stage with a gladiator riding his chariot o mark the Roman theme. The achievements of Mr. Himanshu Kumar, enumerated by the Principal. were very inspiring. In his speech, Mr. Himanshu shared with us the memories of his days in S.J.C. and stressed on the importance of extra-curricular activities.

The audience in the jam-packed auditorium was introduced to Josephest by a fabulous computer presentation. The first competition was Melos(English group song) on the theme : "No days like school lays" . The melodious songs struck the chords of our hearts. S.J.C won the inaugural event with S.A.C and FPS coming 2nd and 3rd respectively. The Hindi Group Song lifted the spirits higher with some great Derformances. S.J.C and S.A.C tied for the first place here. followed by TPS. Spirited arguments then zxcited the audience in Disputo (English debate). Dhawal Klrti(S.J.C) was adjudged the best speaker for the motion and Mudassir Ansari(YMCA) against the motion. Dipanker Khosla(S.J.C) and Ashish Nainan(YMCA) tied for the best interjector. In the extempore debate it was a clean sweep by S.J.C. Md. Asim Shaan and Chirag Mital won the best speaker's title-for and against the motion respectively.

After the break for lunch, the event resumed with "Fear Factor'". The participants were given tasks like picking up coins from jars filled with cockroaches and worms, to test their fearlessness. The first competition in this session was Flip-Flop in which the participants of classes 9 and 10 had to describe the pros and cons of the given subject. Pragya Bhatt did us proud here. Another wonderful computer presentation on 'Life at S.J.C' enthralled the audience. Next in line was Elocutio (English Elocution) where emotionally charged speeches and recitals further invigorated the competitive spirit. Aman(S.J.C) overcame the competition while Nooreen Fatima(S.A.C) and Nimisha Roy(YMCA) were adjudged 2nd and 3rd respectively. In Via Ludus (Street Play), the teams impressed and inspired with emotive acting in thought-provoking plays. S.J.C continued its winning streak here and S.A.C and TPS stood 2nd and 3rd respectively.

In the meanwhile, creative juices were flowing in off-stage events. It was hard luck for us in Scriptio( Creative Writing). In the Hindi version Lakshmi Misra (S.M.C), Chakori Shukla (TPS) and Rama Mishra (S.A.C) stood 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively while S.A.C emerged as the best team. inCollatio (Collage), Md. Yasir Khan and Humayun Mahfuz of S.J.C stole the show with their fantastic depiction of'A scene of natural beauty'. In Ars Bene Literarum (Spell-Well), another contest for classes 9 and 10 students, Vinayak Mehrotra (S.J.C) stood 1st and Divyank Srivastava (TPS) and Nimisha Mishra (S.M.C) tied for the 2nd spot.

Throughout the day interesting fillers including songs and mimicries never let the excitemern the audience go down. Much more fun and excitement was expected with events like Qaww Cachinatio (Laughter Redefined) and Tripudio (Group Dance) scheduled for the second day. But w knew that, unfortunately, this was not to be..

On the second day preparations were on for the event to resume with the Quiz. The stage was set and the teams had arrived when we received a shocking news. Saurav Banerjee, a student of ch 10-D of our college, and his father had died on the previous night in a car accident while his sister and I mother were critically injured. As a mark of respect for the deceased, it was decided that Joseph( would be called off as the festivities could not be continued in wake of such a huge loss. Sorrow w written all over on the sullen faces of the students. A minute's silence was observed and the gatherii prayed for the peace of the departed souls.

No one could have imagined that Josephest, an event for which the entire S.J.C fam' especially the students of the college section, had toiled day and night, would come to such an ab and tragic end. But above all, the loss to the S.J.C family was severe and irreparable. It has been sai Man proposes, God disposes", and it is at times like these, that we are forced to acknowledge that G will reigns supreme.

S. Saad-ur-Rasheed -12th