With lights, music, spooky decor, and adolescents dressed in all sorts of costumes, Halloween ’18 at Ashoka was a night to remember.
Although the main event, which I have briefly described above happened on the night of the festival, Halloween on the campus itself was a week-long affair with students using the spirit of Halloween to spice things up on campus.
The various clubs and societies on campus teamed up with the Cultural Ministry and jumped in on the festivities by coming up with events and activities to add to the celebrations. Navrang, the film society of Ashoka screened the 1978 horror movie, Halloween, followed by the Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween Heist episodes on the weekend preceding Halloween and successfully set up the mood for the revelries of the 31st night. Meri Dastan, the story-telling society, held a Spooky Stories night for a collective sharing of horror stories on the night before Halloween to contribute to the quintessential scary theme of the festival. The Cultural Ministry also held a Halloween Postcards sale outside the mess to give out memorabilia. Even the Gardening club of Ashoka came to give out pumpkins to make Jack-O-lanterns to complete the scary Wednesday evening. And last but not the least, Mad Batter, the baking club, served up some delicious Peanut Butter Bars, Cake Pops and Cupcakes at the Halloween Party.
But the craziest endeavour was taken up by the students scrambling for bits and pieces of clothing to create the perfect DIY costume. And this is where we come to the main event: the costume party on the 31st. Despite their packed schedules, assignments, presentations, etc., Ashokans managed to conjure up amazing costumes and turn up to the festivities in full fervour.
The event saw people dressed up as characters from TV series such as Doctor Who, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bojack Horseman, etc., to characters from popular movies like Sherlock Holmes, Star Wars, Grease and so many more. Costumes with a more abstract bend could be seen in the form of a ‘Formal Apology’ and ‘Social Construct’ roaming around the atrium where the partygoers had gathered. The music, dim lights and ceremonial pumpkins, bats and skeletons accompanied by the students dancing to the music made for an interesting sight, to say the least. Ashokans even managed to uphold the tradition of trick-or-treating with the Resident Assistants of various floors giving out candy to whoever came knocking on their doors.
All in all, it was a night where memories were created and more importantly, which gave the campus residents an unusual respite in the middle of a week of hectic schedules.
Edited by Vasudha Malani (UG 2020)