With Oasis ’25 just around the corner, the Oasis English Press sat down with Lakshya Jagnani, the Coordinator of Ragamalika, to understand the club’s inner workings and its events for the upcoming fest. 

Lakshya explained that the club was conducting two competitive events, Swaranjali and Thaandav, with both competitions comprising one round. Swaranjali was a classical music competition for vocalists and instrumentalists for both Hindustani and Carnatic music with solo, choir, and 5-6 person group performances, while Thaandav was a classical dance competition open to all forms of classical dance like Bharatanatyam, Kuchippudi, and Kathak. This year, the club added a new ‘duet category’ for Thaandav.

Lakshya further elaborated that the club was hosting a professional show in the Main Auditorium on Hindustani classical music. This year, it was hosted by vocalist Anirudh Aithal, accompanied by Sumit Naik and Tejas Ravindra Katoti, playing the tabla and the harmonium, respectively.

When asked about the timeline followed by the club, Lakshya mentioned that they began preparations for the fest during the Diwali holidays, by contacting various artists for the professional show. After coming back onto campus, club members discussed the logistics and budgeting for the show. He said that they were in talks with the StuCCA regarding the logistics for Swaranjali and Thaandav at the same time. 

Lakshya stated that the club is expecting a footfall of  300-400 for the professional show, with likely higher numbers as the students of Birla Balika Vidyapeeth had also been invited. For Swaranjali, the club is expecting around 40 solo participants and 10 groups, while a maximum of 20 solo participants and 5-6 groups are expected for Thaandav. 

As the coordinator, Lakshya talked about how he had to supervise and divide all the work amongst the club members. He admitted that the week before the fest got tiring and hectic, as he had to fill out different forms and assign work to the club members.

On a concluding note, Lakshya remarked that classical Prof Shows are seldom seen in colleges today, and that considerable efforts were being made at BITS to uphold and continue classical art traditions. He advised people to explore classical art forms and try to find the beauty in them, saying that, ‘Once you get into it, you’ll fall in love with it.’