Sathya Sai with Students: The Business School at Sri Sathya Sai University

… Continued from Part 7

Sports and Cultural Meet

Sri Sathya Sai seeing the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet of the Sri Sathya Sai Educational Institutions

The Institute organises the ‘Annual Sports and Cultural Meet’ during December – January of every academic year. There are various cultural events such as elocution, debates, general knowledge quiz, vocal and instrumental music, painting and sketching, poster making, clay modelling, mono-acting, Veda and Stotram chanting, Yogasanas, dramatics, and many other fine arts and performing arts-based competitions and programmes. Various sports and games events like cricket, table tennis, lawn tennis, shuttle badminton, volleyball, basketball, football, etc. are also organised for the students belonging to the Undergraduate and Postgraduate classes in each of the campuses of the Institute. Besides this, there is an exhibition programme on 11th January every year, wherein all the students of the Sri Sathya Sai Educational institutions participate.

The Sports Meet commences with the arrival of the Revered Founder Chancellor into the Hill View Stadium at Prasanthi Nilayam

The Institute Brass Band leading the March Past

Students leading the Flag March

For a period of more than three weeks, the faculty members and students of every campus, jointly conceive a theme and draw the detailed plans, which are finalised in consultation with the administrators of the Institute who in turn obtain clearance from the Revered Chancellor. The students and faculty members put together the items, which form part of the exhibition programme.

Students of the Anantapur Campus performing a military drill

Students of Prasanthi Nilayam Campus performing the Giant Wheels event at a height of about 40-50 feet

The Lion Dance Performance

The total programme, which lasts for about six hours, is divided campus wise into groups of items, and each item is assigned to a group consisting of a senior faculty coordinator assisted by younger teachers, senior research student coordinators and student coordinators besides the student participants (the number of student participants depends on the nature of the item). The faculty members and the senior students of the Institute predominantly train the students in these items. There are various departments working for the exhibition programme such as the fabrication group, art and sets group, music group, choreography group, costumes and make-up group, march past group, refreshments group, stage decoration group, security and seating arrangement group, mascot group, etc. The faculty and students make the necessary arrangements making use of the locally available materials.

A Martial Arts event by the students of the Brindavan Campus

The Giant Flags events by the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus students

Motor Bike stunts by the Men's Campuses

The exhibition programme is of international standards, and is very colourful and spectacular. The most interesting feature is, that all the events of the exhibition programme such as tent-pegging, dare devil motor cycle/jeep/car/truck stunts, judo, karate, taekwondo, para-sailing, paragliding, para-jumping, mono-cycling, aerobics, Yoga-feats, lion-dance, dragon–dance, bungee-jump, cultural and folk dances, gymnastics, etc. are performed by the students in front of a very large gathering of over 10,000 people in the sprawling Hill View Stadium at Prasanthi Nilayam. These are done with minimal involvement of external professional trainers. The students do the march past to the tunes of the Institute Brass Band at the beginning of the exhibition programme after which each campus of the Institute presents its own programme. A part of the programme is held during the morning session and rest of it in the evening. The students and faculty members of the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School and the Institute while preparing and performing the programme, learn to work under pressure, utilise the waste/scrap materials, recycle the already used materials, work in various groups, work as a team and perform everything selflessly, without any monetary or material expectations. A spirit of cooperation and unity of purpose is the underlying motivating theme for all the students and staff members of the Institute all through the Sports and Cultural Meet.