Vishnu Venkatesh, the Oasis coordinator for Ragamalika has been spending all his evenings leading up to the fest neck deep in work. He took out some time from his busy schedule and sat down with the Oasis English Press to talk about the club’s activities. 

Raag is the classical music and dance club. Throughout the year, they organize and promote events related to classical music on campus. Every semester they host major shows and chamber concerts (which according to Vishnu is just an excuse for their members to bunk classes and jam). 

Every Oasis they host Tandav and Swaranjali, which are contests for classical dance and music respectively. For Swaranjali, Vishnu said that they have received an unprecedented number of applications— he promises that the contest will be exciting, as they have invited some of the most notable music societies in DU.

 They also organise a professional show. This year, Raag has invited three of the most prominent faces in the Carnatic music industry— Abhishek Raghuram, Patri Satish Kumar and B U Ganesh Prasad. Abhishek Raghuram is one of the young prodigies of Carnatic music, who will be remembered as a legend years from now according to Vishnu. He was very excited to see how the turnout will be for the professional show. 

Upon being asked about his experience as a coordinator vis-à-vis his experience in his initial years, he commented on the burden of extra responsibility on his shoulders, but he also said that he was happy to walk the extra mile. He said that his tenure as a coordinator has also taught him how to interact with a large community of people, and has honed his managerial skills. 

On being asked whether he felt that classical music was fading out from college campuses, he said that on the contrary, he was elated at seeing the participation that the club has enjoyed this year. Vishnu feels that the general BITSian crowd should keep an open mind when it comes to exploring classical music among other genres, since classical music, once divested of its rather academic image, is like most other genres. He said that his experiences while playing the mridangam had initially drawn him towards classical music and upon finding a community of music lovers on campus, he decided to join Ragamalika. And now, he says that he is proud of the way the club has geared up for Oasis ’19.