With the fest approaching, the Oasis English Press sat down with the Coordinator of Poetry Club (PC), Harivansh Mehta (and a live studio audience), to learn more about the club’s plans and preparation.
He explained that the Poetry Club arranges two kernel events—Purple Prose and Rap Wars—the former is a nationwide slam poetry competition (lovingly called ‘pp’) with preliminary rounds held both online and in Pilani, from which the best poets advance to the finals during the fest.
He also wished to clarify the difference between poetry and slam poetry, the latter being a lot more ‘performative’, much like the club itself.
The other event, Rap Wars, is one of Oasis’s most anticipated events (so much so that one club member had broken into a dance at the mention of it), where rising artists showcase their talents.
During the rest of the semester, the club arranges ‘Reading Sessions’ to share and discuss each other’s pieces. He further noted that an unnamed fresher had failed to show up to any of the sessions.
Another element of their work was the Pegasus Board, which was updated very, very recently (i.e., three hours before the interview) after a lot of struggle, a very ‘touchy’ subject among the first-years.
A new venture they launched this year is Lafz, a biweekly magazine which contained something for everyone, from poems to song and movie recommendations. He encouraged students to send in their pieces to be published in the magazine.
On the perception of the club, he ventured to give a stern reminder that Rap Wars is in fact conducted by PC, adding that the club has gained much more visibility this semester.
When asked about the challenges in arranging the events, he answered, ‘The finances have been… interesting,’ hesitating to elaborate due to ‘legal reasons’.
Shots were fired left, right, and centre while he talked about his experience as Coordinator—elaborating that a very ‘active’ batch of recruits had induced in him more than one headache. He added that most of his juniors refused to stay at sea level and were most often found standing on top of Looters and FD-I tables.
The coordinator’s true colours came to light while talking about the club’s second years; calling them ‘quite warm’, ‘containing a lot of heat’ and ‘on fire ’, choosing again not to elaborate further. He also grieved over the number of alleged ‘identical twins’ that the club had recruited this semester (including the interviewer).
On a parting note, Harivansh encouraged students to enjoy Purple Prose and Rap Wars with their friends and wingies, and to have a great time appreciating the artists.