Asmita- The Cultural Cell:

The Cultural Cell-Asmita was established in 1998 at the College to groom the students of rural area in various cultural activities also besides academics. For this the college initiated Personality Development Workshops in the filelds of Theatre,Music, Literature, Dance & Fine Arts.The goal of these workshops conducted immediately after the commencement of the academic session is to train the students in the sense of dress and address and to infuse in them a feeling of confidence. Since most of the students hail from the highly backward neighboring areas which are patently rural in nature, they need lessons in refinement and confidence. The purpose of these workshops is to bring out the potentials in them so that they may conduct themselves confidently not only in matters of academics but in co-curricular activities also. These workshops include lessons in Theatre Arts, Dance, Music and Literary activities and create among the students a culture of working together as a team member. The purpose is to expose the students to various shades of communication and confidence building so that they can achieve their goals in life and act as responsible members of larger groups and society.

These workshops are conducted in the context of the rural background of our students. Most of these students speak vernacular and cannot speak even Hindi properly not to talk of English. They are to be trained in the art of communication without which they cannot even dream of competing with the students from the urban background. Same is the question related to their dress sense. These workshops train and groom them in both
these areas so that sense of confidence and effective communication is generated into them and they become properly equipped to compete with their urban peers in a level field of global competition and modernization. The students have greatly benefitted from these workshops and have brought laurels not only to the college but to their own families by gracing high positions in the realm of Industry and Military to serve the nation as responsible, competent, confident and successful individuals.

These workshops have been regularly conducted since 1998 in the months of August and September annually. Every student of the college is eligible for participation in these workshops as per his/her inclination and choice. “Asmita”, the Cultural Cell of the college is responsible for the conducting of these workshops under the guidance of Sh. Shyam Vashishtha, Associate Professor of Commerce and Coordinator of the Cultural Cell. Mr. Vashishtha is a trained theatre personality and renowned poet. On the basis of Trials held about a hundred students are selected and are given training in speech
culture, body language, mask making, back stage preparations, fine arts, dance, singing and other technical aspects of theatre and cultural/literary activities such as stage craft, light designing, set designing, costume designing, use of colors in theatre, pantomime, mimicry etc. They are delivered lectures on personality development, confidence building, communication skills, health and hygiene. They are also taught stress busting techniques. These workshops are unique in the sense that by the time the participants are over these workshops a sea change is perceptible in their overall personality and confidence level. This practice is unique in the Indian higher education system in the sense that we have seen life curves of our students under a going tremendous positive change in their lives which in turn gave them a high level of confidence, inter personal skills & positive attitude to compete and achieve higher goals in life. Further it has also being observed that the students undergoing these training courses are more disciplined and can be given any job of responsibility. Their regularity in the classes, their grace in conducting themselves inside and outside the college and their ethical values have invited commendations from all quarters. They have proved themselves to be good co-workers in group activities and also as group leaders. Since most of the students come from highly backward rural background with an entirely different set of values and are bogged down with vernacular handicaps, it is indeed a tough job to wean them away from their value systems and wayward nature. The most difficult part of the training is to educate them about how to pronounce words in a correct manner and in correct tone. Further, the trainers sometimes have to train the young students to come out of their own mental, cultural and ego blocks and work responsibly as team members. Another and perhaps the biggest constraint comes in the shape of resistance from the parents who because of their social and cultural mental blockage discourage their wards, particularly girls from participating in such training workshops fearing that this would spoil them morally. The teachers In-Charge have to constantly persuade and convince the parents about the advantages and advisability of such workshops in the personality improvement and the better future prospects of their
wards.

Evidence of Success

Besides the positive changes in the personality and ethical values of the participants the success of these camps is loudly reflected in the performance shown by them in the cultural events like the Zonal, Inter-Zonal Youth Festivals organized by the affiliating university and Inter-University and National Youth Festivals organized by AIU, Delhi in collaboration with Ministry of Youth Affairs, Govt. of India. In spite of being a rural college, our students have posed stiff competition to their urban counter parts and have won trophies repeatedly. The college has won the overall trophy of Bhiwani Zone once and has emerged as runner up at least six times in the last 10 years. Our college has also won Vice-Chancellor trophy for Slogan Writing thrice. Our achievements are not restricted merely to the university or state level; our students have represented the University in the Inter-University North Zone Youth Festivals and All India National Youth Festivals and won laurels five times in different events.

Going beyond the achievements in the cultural fields the confidence building measures in these workshops have resulted in our students gracing high positions in military and civil life. Many of the participants in these workshops have competed and won in the various competitive exams like Civil Services, CDS, NDA, ICAI, UGC NET, and Banking Services to prove themselves as leaders in their respective fields and have acted as icons for newcomers to the college. The financial and infrastructural resources were liberally provided for by the College Management. On an average an amount between 2 to 3 lac rupees are spent on these workshops every year but the returns are always higher in terms of results. We have enough infrastructure to conduct these workshops in the shape of 3 open air theatre stages, conference hall, rehearsal rooms and the properties required for the same. We
hire professionals also such as harmonium player, tabla/dholak players, dance instructors and sometimes motivators also for supplementing our local human resources.

These workshops have definitely contributed in creating a good name for the college to the extent that many of the talented young boys and girls from other areas come to seek admission to the college so that they can develop their personalities and their creative potentials and earn a name for themselves. There is also no doubt that because of this best practice BLJS College, Tosham has carved a name for itself and is well known in the academic and cultural circles for its excellence in these areas.The Students of Cultural Cell are successful individuals. The famous song GAJBAN PANI NAI CHALI is sung by the Alumnus of Asmita Mr. Vishvajeet Chaudhary. Mr.Somvir Kathurwal has sung many popular numbers like RAM KI SOON. He has also sung four songs in the Internationally acclaimed film by Sh. Yashpal Sharma DADA LAKHMI. The college artists of Asmita have won many laurels for the college and the region since its inception including Overall Champions Trophy in 2011 and 2016. They won in every event from Theatre to Fine Arts,Dance to Music & Literature at various levels i.e. Zonal to National Youth Festivals.