XLRI, Jamshedpur successfully concluded its 3 day annual sports and cultural festival with a host of sports, music, dance, drama and other fun activities- ‘VALHALLA- 2013’. The 3 day event witnessed about 1500 participants from top B-schools across the country, including, IIM-Calcutta, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai; Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune; Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar; IIM-Ranchi and Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi.

The event commenced on Friday, 26th July with Hand Shadowgraphy and Sand Art Animation Show by artistes Amar Sen and Sabyasachi Sen. 

The event included a range of sporting events, such as volleyball, football, chess, badminton, table-tennis and more. The event also included Jamshedpur run (5 km and 10 km) organized by the CII – YI XLRI chapter. The race with theme ‘Run To Spread Smiles’ saw a participation of about 500 runners, and was flagged off by the CII Jharkhand Chairman S.K. Behera. Besides XLRI faculty and the participating students, citizens of Jamshedpur took part in the run to increase awareness. 

In the event, the schools also battled out in competitions on singing, dance, drama and fashion. The host emerged as the overall winner by winning the maximum number of events across categories. The shows ranged from a rock music show to singing to group dancing to fashion show and theatre. 

Other attractions of the event included pottery making, adventure sports and a sports quiz. A stand-up comedy show by 2 alumnus of XLRI on the first day also generated positive response. 

Renowned Bollywood playback singer Benny Dayal stole the show at the concluding fundraiser event with his hit numbers such as Pappu Can’t Dance Sala, Lat Lag Gayee, Aadat se Mazboor and Badtameez Dil amongst others and  enthralled a whopping number of 2000 audience with his music and charm. The show was organized as a fund raiser by SIGMA (Social Initiative group for managerial assistance) in collaboration with the Bangalore based NGO Milaap. 

“Proceeds from the fest will go to a microfinance firm Milaap, which will use funds to loan money to the needy in Bihar and Odisha. When borrowers pay back the money, it will be recycled — lent out — to other people in need. The collections from the show were on voluntary basis”, said Varun Paruchuri, Principal Secretary, Extra Curricular, Students’ Affairs Council (2013-14), XLRI.

The initiative received a great response from all, with total collections being around Rs. 2 lakhs.