NUS Rag 2006

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Today is the NUS Rag Day 2006. Rag Day is a tradition in NUS (National University of Singapore) and it is an annual event where each of the different faculties and halls of residence builds a carnival-style float, integrates the float with a musical dance, and creates a spectacular show.

This year (2006) is the first year where I participated in Rag as a spectator. In 2003 I joined Science Rag as a freshman, in 2004 I joined the Science Rag committee, and in 2005 I missed the Rag Day because I was doing my attachment in Vancouver, Canada. This year, due to heavy workload in school and other commitments, I didn't join the Science Rag team. Instead of building the float and entertaining my friends (like what I did in 2003 and 2004), this time I decided to be entertained by my friends. Nevertheless, being a spectator could be rather tiring, as I had to join my fellow friends and students of the Science faculty to scream and cheer, and I was standing for 6 hours continuously. Haha. (Of course, what I did as a spectator was peanuts compared to the amount of efforts spent by my friends in the Rag team. They spent months and months building the float, planning the dance movements, creating the costumes, and rehearsing for the entire performance...)

The performance by the Science Rag team was simply awesome. The performance tells a story of a man who travelled from the future into the past, where he fell in love with a lady. However their "love across time" was disrupted due to their different backgrounds... Besides Science, the other faculties and halls of residence also did a very good job. I loved the locomotive built by Kent Ridge Hall and the pirate ship built by King Edward VII Hall. The show by School of Bizad (Business Administration) was also a touching one. (The float design and the plot were amazing, but I should reserve my judgements as Bizad and Science were long-time rivals for Rag.)

At the end of the whole show, prizes for various categories were given out. At first, the Science faculty was very happy because we thought we received the prize for "Best Float Presentation". In the end, it was discovered that there was some confusion and the prize should belong to the medical fac... There were some other "cock-ups" and mistakes for the prize presentation... (It was quite embarassing, as the President of Singapore was around, and everyone is blaming the NUS student union for the lousy job.) In the end, the Chancellor Shield (something like the top prize) went to Bizad. Science was rather disappointed. (Bizad won the shield for several consecutive years until Science took the shield in 2005. Now Bizad took the shield again.) Nevertheless, Science still had one prize in the end, for the most total sum collected in Flag, a charity collection. (At least this year was better than 2004, when Science won nothing at all.)

After looking at all the wonderful performances and the amazing enthusiasm of the fellow Science students, I felt tempted to join the Science Rag team for 2007. However, I have to consider my workload for the next 2 semesters, and I have to take into consideration my honours year project and the search for employment after my graduation in summer 2007. Anyway, even if I am not joining Science Rag 2007, I will still have no regrets, as I already joined Rag twice (2003 & 2004) and I already had many fond memories and nice experiences participating in Rag...

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Photos

Kent Ridge Hall's float
My favourite

Kent Ridge Hall's presentation
The most amazing part of the show - a plane appearing out of the locomotive!

Comments

[BIzader]

thanks
Thanks. I must say u r the only sci fac person who nvr criticized Bizad. Didn't really like the rivalry among the 2 also but still i'm happy bizad won and happy that there's still someone out there who appreciates our effort in rag... Jus a point to note... Sci fac didn't get the most collections, Bizad did. Sci got the most coins collection. Hope this is not offending...