LUMS Olympiad 2011: What are you good at?

Creativity, spontaneity tested in 21 competitions.

LAHORE:

Participants in the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Olympiad 2011 were tested hard on Wednesday for their general knowledge, sketching, designing, debating and acting skills on the second day of the event.

The day kicked off with Mind Quest, a general knowledge competition, where the participants had to answer the questions quickly using a buzzer to beat rivals to right to answer.

Nida Kaif, the chief organiser, said it was disappointing to learn that not many of the participants knew the answers to all the questions.

Fashion design challenges called Live Art, Click Flick and Portrait were next.

More than 10 teams were given a theme and asked to either design a magazine cover or sketch a portrait using a live model or display photos on the given theme.

Sana Khan, from Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design, said her team chose to design the cover of a lifestyle magazine, “It was not as easy as it sounds. Yet it was fun,” she said.  The photography and sketching session was adjudicated by Khawar Riaz, photographer and makeup artist.

Riaz said such events gave young people a chance to discover their abilities. “They will get a foretaste of what making careers in these filed is like and they will know whether they are meant for it or not,” he said.

Fazalur Rehman, the event convener, told The Express Tribune that his team had been working for the six months preparing for it.

“The main idea behind the Olympiad is to promote arts and give the youth an opportunity to explore various genres.”

He said science and outdoor sports were not featured as frequent competitions were held in those areas any way.

A gaming competition was however organised. Usman Amjad, one of the event organisers, said that the gaming competition aimed at finding the best gamer of Pakistan who he said could represent Pakistan at international competitions.

The debates and declamations session gave the participating teams a chance to express their points-of-view on current issues.

Ayesha Ahmad, a Lums alumnus and a debater, highlighted the importance of debates and demonstrated the techniques of interacting with the audience.

The music workshops were cancelled after Bilal Lashari, Fawad Khan and Ahmad Ali Butt, the speakers for the session could not make it.

The second day concluded with drama performances by several teams on Sufism: Voice of Mystic. The session started with a musical performance by Nazim Saeen called the Dhol Dhamal followed by 20-minute performances each by the participating teams.

Today is the last day of the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th_, 2011.