Punjab Engineering College conducted its annual cultural and technical fest PECFest: Retro Ek Safarnama from the 9th to 11th April. Amid the pandemic, keeping social distancing norms in mind, PECFest 2020-21 revamped itself to be completely digital this year while keeping its heart intact. Words fall short for the wonderful journey that this fest has been, it came a long way and made it an even bigger success. PECFest also came up with an innovative Virtual Campus Tour to mark its territory as one of the largest techno-cultural fests of North India.
With over 100+ competitions and events, this fest was nothing short of a wonder. Competitions ranged from Artist's Paradise which showcased one's creativity to Brain Boosters, Coding Competitions and Case Studies which tested one’s technical ability. Technical competitions like F1 challenge, Electronica, Cadathone, Bhramand 7.0, and Designovation were some of the many competitions the fest organized successfully amongst others. Unveil the culprit, Groovz, Cinetrailer, Improv Premier League and Netagiri were some new cultural competitions that were introduced this year.
PECFest saw many new competitions and events including PEC talks. The audience got the chance to interact with industry experts and eminent personalities like Samar Singla, Yuvraj Tomar, Sumrit Shahi, Adhitya Iyer, Khushwant Singh, Neha Jain and Vivek Attray and gleaned invaluable knowledge from their experiences. PECFest also witnessed many star performances, from stand-up comedies to live music performances by budding indie pop artists to interactive sessions with upcoming actors.
On the first day of the fest, Yahya Bootwala's thought provoking poetry and stories took everyone in a whirlwind of emotions and contemplation. Later in the evening, Rahul Dua talked about his college days and his time during lockdown which took everyone in nostalgia.
With higher spirits and energy on the second day, the fest witnessed a fun and interactive session with the all-time favourite actor Gagan Arora famously known as “Bagga”. Our very own Abhishek Upamanyu was the headliner for day two and his jokes and comic timing were all 'the swaad' that the audience could ask for. The night was followed by a mesmerizing performance by Ankur Tewari whose amazing voice marked the perfect ending for day 2.
On the day final day of PECFest, Rohit Saraf; the heartthrob of India interacted with the audience and shared his journey as an actor which was followed by an enthralling music performance by Anuv Jain who took the audience on an unforgettable journey. To wrap up the evening and PECFest 2020-21 with fireworks, Zakir Khan had the audience in fits of laughter throughout his entire performance.
The switch from offline to online was a difficult challenge but PECFest took it in stride and did not let its spirits down. The introduction of the virtual campus, the online competitions, webinars and shows is the testimony to how well the fest thrived in the face of this challenge.
