Victories are gained, civilizations are built, and history is made not in the banquet halls where insipid talks are spun out under the pretense of intellect, but on the stage of epic cultural events like the 'Josephest' where the apprentices get a platform to interact with the ideologies and viewpoints of an assortment of eminent educational institutions of the city. Josephest has always been a premier cultural and scholarly occasion since its foundation as 'Confluence' in 1977.

Josephest 2008, a two-day long inter- institutional cultural extravaganza was held on the 24^th and 25^th of October 2008. This bravura event began in our college auditorium on the 24^th of October with a grand opening ceremony. This year's Josephest witnessed the contest between 7 schools from the city, namely, St. Joseph's College, St. Mary's Convent Inter College, St. Anthony's Convent Inter College, Girls' High School, Tagore Public School, Maharshi Patanjali Vidya Mandir and YMCA, for the prestigious Josephest trophy. For the opening day, Mr. Mudit Chandra head of HRD, Allahabad division of NCR and his wife Mrs. Belu Sinha Chandra, Asst. Commissioner of Income Tax Department, Allahabad were the chief guests. The function was flagged off with the lighting of the lamp by the Principal, Bishop Isidore Fernandes and the chief guest, followed by the captains of the school teams. Amidst this, 'asato maa sadgamaya' was being chanted in the milieu. Next, the chief guest delivered a nostalgic speech. Subsequently, the Principal, while addressing the august gathering, recalled the rich history and spirit of Josephest over the years. The chief guest was then felicitated with a memento and the Josephest souvenir. After that, the computer presentation by the IT association of SJC prove to be the absolute show-stealer as it received fabulous applause.

Now the programme moved onto its most captivating segment, that is, the competitions. The exuberant energy and charisma in the performances of the teams kept up the 31 years old Josephest spirit. At the outset, the English Debate for the students of classes 9 and 10 was held, the topic for which was 'vegetarianism- should we stop eating animals?' The contest was a clash of intellectual and witty arguments. Sameera Rizvi of Tagore Public School (against the motion) and Anubhav Raj Shekhar of SJC (for the motion) won the Ist and 2^nd prizes respectively, while Avantika Mishra (SMC against the motion) and Kritika Ahuja (TPS for the motion) tied for the 3^rd place. TPS was declared as the best team while Akshay Mathur of SJC was adjudged the best interjector. The English Group song came next, in which all the participating groups displayed poignant performances. SJC emerged on top, SMC captured the second spot, and GHS bagged the third prize. The show resumed after a brief lunch break, with the event 'Adman', in which the participating groups showcased their marketing skills and pioneering thought-process. The topic was 'Weight loss remedies' and SJC again topped the chart followed by SMC in the 2^nd and GHS in the 3^rd position, The Quiz followed suit, anchored by the quizmaster, Chirag Mittal, a former college captain of SJC. It was an absorbing and enthralling contest comprising 6 interactive rounds. In this event, SMC, SJC and MPVM stood 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

In the off-stage events of the day, Harshita Verma and Nausheen Manzoor of SAC bagged the first prize in the 'Face Making Contest'. Tarun Gupta and Anupam Agrawal of SJC came 2^nd while Utkarsha Singh and Ayesha Haqq of GHS stood 3^rd. In the second off-stage event, that is, in me Cartooning competition Gary Wright of SJC came first, while Maryam Khan of SMC came second with Kehkasha Nazim of GHS in 3^rd place. This brought to a close the first day of this mega successful event.

The commencement of the second day took place with the recital of prayers. It was followed by a computer presentation which summed up the golden moments of day one of the Josephest. The first event of the day, that is, the Hindi Group Song set the mood of the audience in the euphoric tune. The gold medal for Hindi Group Song was won by GHS, while SAC won silver and SJC won the bronze. The Extempore Debate, the topic of which was 'The IT world has alienated the youth from itself', was a superb paradigm of rebuttal and counter-rebuttal. It was won by Kunal Joshi of SJC. Vinayak Mehrotra of SJC and Manisha Tomar of SMC came 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. The next event, that is, the Antakshari was anchored by Fr. Ignatius Kujur who tested the spontaneity and Bollywood knowledge of the participants. A mesmerizing and gripping competition ensued, during which the audience applauded and cheered with all its zest. SJC and SMC were declared joint winners of the event, while YMCA and TPS earned the 2nd and 3^rd place respectively Next event was the Solo Dance, in which each performance was thrilling and engulfed a profound connotation. Harshita Roy of GHS stood first in this event, followed by Kamal of SMC and Agnes Simon of SAC. In English Elocution, all the performers evoked the sentiments of the gathering, but Arushi Agrawal of GHS came first, Pranjal Awasthi of SJC came 2nd and Anshu Yadav of SAC came third.

In the off-stage events of the day, the prizes for 'Collage' went to GHS, SJC and SAC in the declining order. In Hindi Creative Writing, Priyansh Gupta of SJC won the 1st prize, while Ananta Singh of SMC and Sonali Srivastava of GHS bagged the 2^nd and 3^rd prizes respectively. The final event was the group dance which brought forth a fusion of talents and exhibited their coordination and innovative choreography. After a series of ground-breaking performances, SAC came out as the winner, SMC stood end and SJC confirmed the third position.

This engrossing two-day cultural programme came to an end with St. Joseph's College clinching the highly esteemed Josephest Winners' trophy. Girls' High School conquered the Runner Up title. The chief guest for the concluding day, Mr. Gyaneshwar Tiwari GM of the Indian Oil Group (UP Division) addressed the audience, following which he distributed the pr1lizes to the winners. The captains of all the school teams were invited on the stage to share their experiences about Josephest 2008. The Principal, Fr. Louis Mascarenhas conveyed his gratitude to the boys for managing the entire event proficiently and successfully under the supervision of Mr. Francis Moore and other teachers. Next was the handing over of the candles by the College Captain Kunal Joshi, Head Prefect Mayank Darbari and Head Marshal Akash Saha td their subordinates Abhijit Parolia, Ahmar Zaman, and Devarshi Mani respectively. The programme concluded with the National Anthem.

It was indeed a true honour and privilege for each one of us to be a part of this' greatly enriching organization Josephest 2008. The function incised an ineffaceable impression on our guests and it was an upshot of the commitment, dedication and hard work of all the Josephites.

AhmarZaman
Vice Head Prefect