Horizon: A new begining

Now contrary to my criticism of the glorification of RAIT's past I quite love the idea of one of its most celebrated monoliths: Horizon. Many may say RAIT stands for more but Horizon is still the definitive identity of the college. The celebration of the college, the students and the music, the celebration of its past and the future ahead is a memory which is enshrined in every alumni and every student.

But this time last year we were informed that it was Rhapsody a combined effort by all institutions under the DY Patil flagship that would replace Horizon. And despite the great potential that such an event could have had somewhere down the line we didn't quite put up a great show in 2009. Furthermore we were lead to believe that Horizon was no longer a valid option. Forward to August 2009, the swine flu outbreak and shutdown of the college for a week. The SUC which at that moment existed merely as a body on paper and was in the doldrums and completely dysfunctional. Horizon had been witnessed only by two batches in college the Fourth year and Third year students. And just our senior most batch had any idea of what it took to be part of organizing it.

Then came the good news, just as everything else in college it happened spontaneously and unexpectedly. The SUC was structured again and we were back in action. The first task was to get fresh blood into the system, inform the students, teachers and the management about our plans. The next task was to get back Horizon.
The idea of Rhapsody was perhaps the only issue on which I have seen the students, teaching staff and management of the college agree upon unanimously. Nobody wanted any part of it! Not that the three are on completely different pages but as a link between them we could safely say that we had the absolute support of everything RAIT behind us.

For all that we comment on Vijay Patil being too busy and not having the time we forget that he is quite open to any all suggestions made by students. The man is very approachable provided you get and appointment! But that is a task in itself. It took us a month or so to finally meet him and we gathered enough support from other colleges to forward our case. We stated our thoughts, our facts and the general consensus was reached fairly easily. I guess the man himself new that Horizon as a brand meant far more than a successful Rhapsody would ever have meant. The meeting lasted a mere 15 minutes. The verdict was simple get back Horizon and get back RAIT.

Well now that we have it back, the odds to achieve a good festival in the short time span available is very daunting. But this is a thrill and an adventure we are willing to endure. So I hope this 5th,6th and 7th of March 2010 you will witness a vintage celebration of RAIT.