Magnificent Christmas Celebration

Magnificat 2019 was celebrated with great fun and frolic at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Lavasa on Saturday, 30^th November 2019. The entire campus bore a festive look to celebrate the spirit of Christmas with beautifully decorated trees and corridors along with Christmas embellishments everywhere. The classes were decked up with confetti and decorative objects and competed for the most decorated class title. It has been said that festivities begin nearly a month before Christmas and CHRIST, Lavasa is not an exception and leaves no stone unturned to spread joy and peace.

Director & Dean, Fr Jossy P George, Academic Coordinator, Fr Arun and Fr Lijo from Bangalore graced the occasion by their presence.

Dhruv Sangwan and Valerena Clayton welcomed all the dignitaries, students, staff, Ashiana residents and guests from Lavasa and then Christmas celebrations commenced. `Magnificat’ is associated with the canticle of Mary, which is a song of Hope and a hymn in praise of the Lord. As it resonates with the theme of Christmas, hence the event was aptly entitled as `Magnificat’.

The invocation choir by CHRIST, Lavasa choir mesmerized everyone as they sang melodiously in their angelic voice. Lavasa choir sang some popular carols such as Mary, did you know? By Michael, The first Noel, Gloria - Angels We Have heard On High, That's Christmas to me and a few more which reverberated through the entire campus. The campus resonated with Christmas carols and Santa’s red cap added to the festivity. The entire credit for an incredible performance went to the choir conductor, Mr Thomas Joseph from Pune for his guidance and motivation. The LED screen in the background reflected the spirit of Christmas with most appropriate images and the fairy lights added to the embellishments and adorned the entire building.

An interesting game was played wherein they had to guess the name of the carol and it was won by Mrs Jenifer Pope from Ashiana and Nandini from undergraduate course.

The much awaited program was an amazing performance by Fr Lijo’s `Dreams Band’ from Bangalore and it kept everyone spellbound. `DREAMS’; an acronym for Desire, Readiness, Empowerment, Action and Mastery for success is part of the ‘Let Us Dream’ voluntary service-learning movement. The entire team strives towards making a positive difference in the community through their musical skills. They sang and inspired the audience toward spreading harmony and consider humanity as one big family. 

The band is a community project which has performed all over the world. Fr Lijo led the band enthusiastically and sang with gusto. The performance began by invoking God's blessings. The first song was We sing For by Fr Lijo followed by Count On Me by Bruno Mars, Power of Dreams by Celine Dion, Knowledge is Power by Fr Lijo, Heal the World by Michael Jackson and Words by Boyzone. The second last song aptly entitled `Dreams’ by Fr Lijo was sung in English, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Shona, native language of Zimbabwe by the entire choir. The showstopper was Waving Flag by K'naan and it stole the show. Mobile torch lights were lit, the audience waved and grooved to the beats of pulsating music. Their energy and passion was clearly evident.

Fr Lijo personally thanked and applauded the band’s performance and upheld belief in commitment. He ardently wished for another band in Lavasa soon under the leadership of Fr Jossy. The band ended the mesmerizing performance by singing Silent Night. Fr Lijo specially thanked Vasundhara, Evelyn and Oshin for their valuable contribution to the band. It was efficiently coordinated by Ms Evelyn as Band Manager and Mr Nikhil Sebastian as the Director.

While the performance was going on Fr Lijo addressed the gathering and conveyed his message for Christmas. He said that Christmas is a time of giving and spreading joy. It is the time to express love, share joy and inspire others. Fr Lijo further reiterated that Christmas message is to send and receive blessings.

Then Fr Josssy addressed the august gathering and called it the most beautiful time of year with everything magical all around be it decorated trees, cake, carols, joy and faith in humanity, which is glorified during Christmas celebration. He inspired everyone to be more generous by giving and sharing. Fr Jossy is optimistic and knows that life will continue and his mission is to realize Fr Lijo's dream. He specially thanked CHRIST, choir, the residents of Ashiana, Apollo staff, Waterfront, Mrs Snidgha, Principal, Dasve Public School and Mr Gibson and looks forward to everyone's constant support. He hopes that the New Year will bring a lot of optimism and blessings to the residents of Lavasa.

Then some factual questions on Christmas were asked from the audience and the tempo was maintained. The exciting evening had plenty of pleasant moments full of amazement. Assistant Professor Amala sang Joy to the world, answered a question and won a prize. Little Kashyapi too answered a question correctly and got a prize.

Next, the theatrical skills were displayed through enactment of a play entitled `Hope’ which displayed the modernized version of the nativity scene. The brilliant performance was applauded by the audience.

 Director & Dean, Dr Fr Jossy George gave a token of love and regard to Fr Lijo and Sajina Begum for a memorable evening through their untiring efforts. The result of best decorated class went to B Com and the runner up was BBA B.

  

It was a delight to watch Abhiraj dressed as Santa dancing joyfully and then everyone grooved to the beats of foot tapping numbers! It enthused a spark of energy and the enthusiastic students joined him on the dance floor.

While there was a nip in the air, yet everyone sat in the open arena, watched the fantastic fun filled evening and enjoyed themselves to their heart’s content. The audience admired and appreciated the decoration of red, green and white balloons, clicked memorable photos near the artistically decorated Christmas tree, listened to befitting music and above all the invincible SWO committee members coordinated with everyone as efficiently as ever.

The exciting evening ended on a cheerful note and it would not have been possible without the strong support of admin staff, logistics team, IT team and students. The entire program was wonderfully and eloquently anchored by Dhruv Sangwan and Valerena Clayton under the guidance of Fr Arun, Assistant Professor Akhil Nair, Assistant Professor Amala, Assistant Professor Briji Jose and Assistant Professor Shynu Philip.