INDISA 2007

Where could one hear cries like "Har Har Mahadev", "Bharat Mata kii... JAI", "Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal", "Jai Maharashtra", and an endless array of cheers and jeers? It was not at a battlefield, but it was heard reverbrating throughout the jam packed halls of SUB the other night on the occasion of INDISA 2007-Rang Barse.

For all aliens reading this, INDISA is the yearly cultural fest organized for and by the students from the Indian subcontinent in Dalhousie University, Canada.

INDISA chiefly had many dances and "fashion shows", split between a 90 minute dinner intermission. The Master of ceremony(MC) did a fairly decent job, appearing between performances and delivering his wisecracks. Though commendable, some of his puns were not well received- especially about Halifax not having any taxis for the night as every Indian was there at the hall. Though a few caught him lifting Russell Peter's idea (on Honda Civics- watch OUTSOURCED), the MC was OK, appearing to be too enthusiastic or too mechanical at times.


The dances started off with a Bengali number choreographed by Mou and Tanishka, followed by an array of "fashion shows", which were more than themes/dance numbers in themselves. While some of them were OK, some were poorly performed with little or no enthusiasm among the participants. There were cries of "1-2-3-4, bandh karo yeh athyachaar" at some drab exercises in the name of fashion show. Tiny tots and young teens too took part in the festivities of dance and fashion shows, which earned them a praise from a boisterous section of the crowd "Chotte chotte bacche, jawano se acche", much to the chagrin of the other performers!

A few dance numbers were very well done, most notably the one by Sheetal and group, the solos by Subbu, Suneethra(?) and Varthika. Mou was also scintillating in all her performances. The theme of the night was "Rang Barse", an apt title especially with the HOLI festival in mind. Abitabh Kumar was another person who took part in many dances and fashion shows, and he was dazzling in his own way, as usual. A few technical glitches with lighting and sound were quickly forgotten as the audience were treated to some good choreography and some refreshing dances. It was colourful all right, but colour was more in the crowd with their own version of "rang barse"- hooting and cheering all the way along; blissfully ignorant of the surreal lunar eclipse engulfing the moon outside the building that night. A special mention has to be made about GAURAV SEHGAL, who was chief in creating the frenzy atmosphere for the evening.


The atmosphere became more electric after the intermission, and songs and dances and fashion shows became better and better. A fitting finale was the bhangra dance group, which had the whole crowd on its feet. After the bhangra dance, the catchy dance number "rang de basanti" from the movie "Rang de Basanti" was played at the end, signifying the theme and the mood for the evening- all the performers for the night came on and were cheered, ending in a colourful manner. It was all glitz and glamour, with nearly 600 people in the hall. Overall, quite a memorable evening.



The photographs surely reflect the mood of the evening. Special thanks to Anirudh Koul, the yahoo answers guy and the next big thing in computing, for the pictures.



This blog **MAYBE** updated to include more pictures, as soon as they are made available.

Overheard in the SUB: "Goro, desh chodo!" (Whitey, leave the country!). Brazen! Quite brazen, since most people present were canadians!