Signary Desk Report
Boredom and apathy – these are the two words that are most commonly associated with the current global lockdown. The pandemic has made everyone anxious, and glued to their device screens with no particular objective in mind. To free everyone from the shackles of loneliness and lethargy, Josephite Language and Reading Club arranged its first ever Online Festival, Garrison Online via one of the most popular and trending applications, Discord. Their festival was inaugurated on 14 May, 2020 and ended on the 18th instant.
The festival featured a total of eight events, all uniquely different from each other.
The events were as follows: Innovative Inditement, PowerPoint Presentation, Photography, Catch 22, Interpretation, Extempore Speech, Eccentric Stances, and Atypical Story Writing.
Four amongst the eight events were debutant and were designed to put the participants’ competency and diligence in the field of language at test. The event, Catch 22, tested the participants’ visual interpretation and comprehensive skills while the all-new Interpretation brought out the hidden poets inside the participants—by asking them to deduce the inner meaning of a short poem. The Extempore Speech was one of the most awaited events where the participants had to deliver a speech on a given topic after a mere 3 minutes of preparation time—also, without the anxiety of public or stage fright. The Eccentric Stances was yet another debutant event that featured some over-the-top, improbable situations where the participants had to depict the fate of the world in the case of an ‘eccentric’ change in history. Their closing event, Atypical Story Writing, was eye-catching for many as it featured a huge twist on the traditional story-writing event. While the typical story writing events give you the story beginnings, Garrison Online’s revolutionary event showcased the abrupt ending of a story where the participants had to start and develop the story upto the given conclusion. This proved to be a fitting end to an exhilarating fiesta.
With over 1200 responses across their social media platforms and an average of 200 participants per event, it can be said that the event was a great success.
Josephite Language and Reading Club further encouraged the youth of today to utilise their free time towards improving their proficiency in the world of language and literature, as it moves forward intending to spread the regular practice of language amongst the youth to shape up their lives for the better.