Mr and Ms Oasis kicked off in a grand fashion at 1:30 am in the FD-2 QT after a one-hour delay. The competition was to be of three rounds which were a talent show, a couple’s round, and a question-answer session. The audience primarily consisted of outstation participants, mainly from JIMS, who were expecting to see the future Mr and Ms India.

Enthused by the sudden increase in audience compared to last year, the host, GD Sayal, tried to hype the crowd up by engaging in uncomfortable conversations with audience members and forcing them to showcase their “talents”. He succeeded in bringing out a talented bathroom singer and conducting an awkward proposal scene between two reluctant attendees.

Once the judge decided to divert his attention to the competition, the first round began. Ananya, the first participant, performed Kathak to a fusion of two Hindi songs. Although it was an energetic performance, it drew little appreciation from the JIMS crowd who were anxious to see Samyak Sahu, the second participant. Samyak walked on stage to loud applause and proceeded to beatbox. He managed to get the crowd into a frenzy with his range of vocals and beat sets. Encouraged by the positive response, Samyak then showcased his singing talent, primarily cultivated in the bathroom. Following the prompt decrease in applause volume, he quickly switched back to beatboxing.

This was followed by a filler performance. The singer, who had previously participated in Indian Idol, drove the crowd wild with his melodious singing and vocal range. However, GD felt that he had to take matters into his own hands. He then unsuccessfully tried to whip the crowd into a frenzy himself.

The third contestant was Nandu, who sang in nine regional Indian languages. However, the set somehow also included English. She was followed by a guitar performance by Pranay. His slow beat managed to move the motley crowd of JIMS students and three BITSians. However, his beat was also slow enough to lull the judge to sleep.

The fifth contestant was Soumya who enacted a mono-acting skit on conversations with her mom. She was followed by Sakshi Agarwal dancing to several Bollywood songs. After numerous delays due to technical difficulties, Krish followed by playing the keyboard blindfolded. His performance was met with a lot of appreciation from the crowd. Next, Harshit gave a moving performance on the guitar. Finally, the first round was rounded off by Shiv who enacted a play and a performed a dance.

Round two saw the contestants paired together and give complementary performances. The duo of Soumya and Samyak, who rapped and beatboxed respectively, drew applause from the audience. Another notable performance was that of Shiv and Anshika, who enacted a play on a tragic love story of an army officer.

Following this, the judge selected four contestants for the finals based on their performance. However, the majority of the audience, which consisted majorly of JIMS students, was unhappy with the exclusion of two of their comrades and wanted a more qualified judge for the competition. Informalz promised to resolve the same. The contestants were then asked why they wanted to be Mr and Ms Oasis. One aspirant to the title of Mr Oasis answered, ‘to find my Ms Oasis,’ which was poorly received by the judge.

Given that all involved bore the delay and weather to participate in the event, the competition was a success by conventional standards. The event concluded at 4:45 am with the announcement that results would be displayed on the Controls Board in due course.