Having Fun at College Fests

In the past few months, petaDishoom has been party-hopping from one bad-ass college festival to another. Hanging out with some of the hottest bands in the land, like Vayu and Parikrama, we've definitely earned a degree in "rockology"! Read on to learn what's been rockin'! But first, do you know of a college fest that's coming up? Join our Street Team and tell us about it immediately by e-mailing StreetTeamIndia@petaindia.org. Then work with us on getting petition sign-ups at the fest, and you can earn great prizes!

Focusing on forcing the powers that be to provide more humane and hygienic conditions for the chickens who are tortured and killed for KFC restaurants – and putting the pressure on officials to ban elephants in urban areas – we toted our KFC and elephant petitions everywhere we went. Kicking off the "ele-fun" at NMIMS College's Umang 2007 festival, we were lucky to recruit some great activists and see the always awesome Vayu perform.

Also rocking out at RUIA College, Vayu lead singer 2'blu' wore our "Change Everything" tee and spoke about PETA at both fests. Says our true-blue friend, "Vayu is proud to be associated with petaDishoom and encourages young people to log on to www.petaDishoom.com in huge numbers and spread awareness about animal rights issues". Is it any wonder that these guys snagged a PETA India Proggy Award for being progressive and speaking out against cruelty to animals?

At Sophia College's Kaleidoscope, Parikrama also sported petaDishoom tees while performing in front of a packed audience. Always taking time to talk us up at every college fest they play, Nitin Malik confided this to petaDishoom: "I am a part of PETA now. I believe that animals should be treated in a humane way. You could have cabbage instead of a goat's head …". Plus, get this: MTV VJ Ranvijay showed us some love by showing up at our stall and chatting with our volunteers – and the segment aired on MTV!

Going full-throttle at IIM Bangalore's Unmaad, Faisal – the lead singer of Strings – spoke out about PETA and threw petaDishoom T-shirts into the crowd. We also got 1,050 signatures on our elephant petition, which urges chief ministers across the country to follow Mumbai's lead and ban the entry of elephants into urban areas.

We got 300 more signatures gathered at Bharatiya Vidya Peeth's Fervour, where, in honour of our cause, only vegetarian food was sold on the campus during the festival. We're making huge strides in our quest to save countless elephants from being forced to walk on scorching-hot, pothole-ridden roads in busy traffic and from being chained and unable to move around when they are not working!

At Mumbai's SIES College, it was "rally" time. Loads of students waved PETA banners, and one exceptionally cool volunteer dressed up in a cow costume! And speaking of banners, the Institute of Chemical Technology hosted a marathon in which 40 students donned petaDishoom T-shirts and waved PETA banners to raise donations.

The super-creative folks at DY Patil College of Management put on a street play based on contemporary themes like global warming, animal rights and AIDS, which petaDishoom's own Simran Kodesia and PETA pal and super supporter Sean Noronha were honoured to judge.

We were also honoured to have the opportunity to address a crowd of more than 300 students at IES' Recce 2008 festival and "school" them about animal rights and how youth can get active for animals by doing missions and joining our Street Team. And things really got going at the Goa campus of BITS Pilani when we teamed up with the Environment Society.

In all, petaDishoom hit more than 30 college fests. We appeared at RA Podar College's Enigma 2007, the National Law School's Strawberry Fields, BITS Pilani's Oasis, St Stephen's Harmony 2007, SIES College's Xzoobearance Fest, IIM Indore's Iris 2007, Sydenham College's Brouhaha 2007, IIT Delhi College's Rendezvous 2007, IIT Chennai's Saarang 2008, SNDT College's Eldorado 2007, Sri Ram College's Crossroads 2007, MICA Ahmedabad's MICANVAS festival, DJ Sanghvi College's Techtrix, Mumbai's Jam Cat Concert, Thapar University's Aranya 2007, the Wildlife and Nature Club Festival, Lal Rajput College's Chakravyuh and NITT's Festember 2007. We also attended festivals at Chennai's Stella Maris College, New Delhi's Hansraj College and the College of Business Studies in Delhi.

Not only did we have fun, talk to lots of people and listen to great tunes, we also recruited loads of new Street Teamers and got 1,480 sign-ups on our KFC petition and 6,480 sign-ups on our elephant petition. As always, watch out for petaDishoom at other big fests, and remember to join our Street Team to help animals – and to get even more free goodies!

Parikrama Lead Singer Nitin Malik Rocks for Animal Rights

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