Sanskrithi Diaries Part 4 - The End

By our third year at college, our seniors bade us farewell and the responsibility of carrying Sanskrithi’s legacy was in the hands of our batch.  We really missed their guidance, their dedication to the team, their jokes and their presence during our rehearsals. We “wrote” a special song for our seniors, about humaara parivaar Sanskrithi  and gave them a little performance on this!

It was time for us to conduct auditions and we got a brilliant team of juniors. We trained them in our signature Dashavataar, along with other dances like Ramayana, Trimurthi and the Fusion dance.

We, along with the juniors, continued these dances at competitions and the awards kept pouring in. But we realized that we had to do something different.

With our juniors, in the new avataar

Along with our juniors, we hired a professional choreographer in our final year. The first lady we hired didn’t appreciate any of the work we had done so far and taught us her version of Contemporary Dance. I’ve forgotten the steps, but I can remember all of us doing her exercises, which included rolling on the floor and jumping and lifting each other and a lot of acrobatic stuff that we were not used to!

Within a week or so, we had had enough of this and replaced her with another choreographer. That’s when we learnt “Kshatriya Dharma”. We were going to perform that during AtmaTrisha but due to the rain, our performance was cancelled. The team did perform it at a few fests later, but it failed to evoke the kind of magic that Dashavataar did.

Soon our juniors learnt a few more dances and Sanskrithi was again back in form. Kudos to them for keeping it up, continuing the winning streak and for getting wonderful opportunities to perform in India and all over the world! J

I’m sure that all of you have your own memories of our team too... feel free to share them here :)

Sanskrithi Diaries Part 3 - The competitions

I’ve lost count of the number of competitions we went for, but here are a few “special” ones that I remember.

I’m sure that my batch mates remember this one: We got a chance to perform at a college (no names!) in Bangalore, and although we were initially skeptical, we did eventually go there. It had unfortunately rained that evening, and the (carpeted) stage where we had to perform was a MESS. The carpet smelt bad, the stage was slippery and the audience…well, they were the most enthusiastic crowd we had ever performed before! As we went on with our Dashavataar, the people in the audience cheered and hooted crazily. Some guys in the audience even took of their shirts and started copying our steps! After we finished our dance, we didn’t even wait for the results! We just left from there immediately, amidst the cat calls and the comments passed our way! (any one remember the guy singing “Hey Paro”?!)

Another incident that makes me laugh even now is when we performed at some college which was situated very far from the city. But as our luck would have it, it started raining very heavily, and leaving from that college became very difficult! Anyways, so we packed our costumes, props, make-up etc. and thought we would wait for the rain to subside and then leave. But we suddenly remembered that we hadn’t taken permission to return late to hostel, and we had to get back ASAP. Three of the girls had bikes with them that day, so six of us went on the bikes to the main road, thinking we could get autos there. We went on and on but not a single auto driver was willing to take us! It was raining heavily, there were strong cold winds, we had all the big bags, we were sitting on the bikes and it was getting closer to our hostel curfew! Finally, we got an auto and three of us got in, while the biker girls went back to pick up those who were waiting in the college! I think it was Sahana, Arya and me in the auto, along with some of the bags and a laptop. That auto ride was memorable indeed! We were feeling very cold and there was a lot of traffic, trees had fallen onto the roads and vehicles had just stopped moving, and all this while we were worried about getting late to hostel! We somehow managed to reach till the Rajarajeshwari Arch when our auto stopped, due to all the water logging! Then we managed to get another auto and jumped from this one into that. To keep ourselves warm, I think the three of us started singing in the auto :D We managed to reach hostel just in time, and the other girls who were on the bikes also came soon enough. I don’t remember if we won that competition or not, but for me, it was truly unforgettable!

Remember the competition at PESSE? We gave our best and performed quite well, and were happy with our second prize…until we got to know why we didn’t come first! I’m not going disclose the details, but in short, some “transactions” took place and once we realized what had happened, we were shocked!

After the first few competitions, our routine was quite standard. Rashmi would collect costumes and props from Prasiddhi, we would take permission from hostel, go to the fest, get ready in ten minutes, wait in line for Sushma and Sahana to do our make-up, perform Dashavataar, collect the prize and return! :D

 

Okay, we didn't look exactly like this...but we were close!

Sanskrithi Diaries Part 2 - The trips

Sanskrithi gave me the chance to visit new places. Every trip we wanted to go for was preceded by requests to the college faculty, permission from our respective heads of departments and long letters and pleads to our hostel manager!

We were finally taught the longer version of Dashavataar when we had to perform at a fest in Pondicherry. That was one of our best performances till date and I can still recall the way we all screamed in surprise when we realized we came first! J The trip to Pondicherry was great fun! I remember that by the time we removed our make-up and changed out of our costumes, it was very late at night and all the food stalls were closed. We then went out of the campus and got bread and jam from a grocery. Without plates and spoons, we somehow managed to make jam sandwiches and had them at midnight! Our non-theme dance the next day, on a medley of songs from Devdas, was unforgettable too – last minute practices, lack of coordination, mismatched costumes and pure chaos on the stage! :D

The whole group, juniors and seniors, went to perform at PES, Kuppam. Travelling with a huge group, the fun we had during the journey, meeting the senior professors, and performing in front of a huge audience there are some of the things that I remember.

No description of Sanskrithi will be complete without talking about our historic Cultural Exchange program. We worked on this for many months, trying with different universities, finally landing at IUP, US. The team worked on choreography, learning different styles of dance, rigorous practice sessions, photo shoots, and planning the trip. Planning the trip involved working out the finance aspects, the accommodation, the travelling, all the logistics, etc. All this hard work definitely paid off! Every part of our trip was fun-filled and memorable; visiting world –famous places in New York, the video shoot for Asianet Channel, meeting many hospitable families, all the snow, the unlimited pizzas, making new friends, imitating the American accent, playing games, learning Ballet, conducting workshops and of course rehearsing for our performances…the list can go and on. I can surely say that this program is something I shall always remember and I think all of us learnt a lot from these experiences.

The team at IUP

Our last trip as a group was to NITK, Surathkal. We had wanted to go there since our first year and finally got a chance in our final year! Like all the others, this trip was great too!  We had a good time for two days there. After hours of waiting, we were finally given accommodation in a nice place there, and that’s where we slept, ate, practiced and got ready for the show. We enjoyed playing on the beach, meeting old friends there, exploring the large campus and drinking loads and loads of Amul Buttermilk! We had gotten ready quite early and the competition got delayed, so there we were: eight of us in black costumes, faces covered in make-up, with swords in our hands, and the hot sun glaring down at us! We were very exhausted by the heat by the time our chance came to perform. That evening, some of us went for dinner while the others enjoyed the rock concert on campus. A pleasant surprise awaited us there when we realized that the food was so much cheaper than Bangalore! We ate and ate and ate some more and were happy to see the small bill! :D

These trips with my team have been a learning experience, and despite the little obstacles that came our way, we had loads of fun and got a wonderful chance to bond.

Sanskrithi Diaries Part 1 - The Beginning

Dance is an expression of emotions, a display of drama, a show of splendour, and simply, an extravaganza of colors, lights, music and beauty. For me, dance will always mean one thing, Sanskrithi.

I’ve had some amazing memories with Sanskrithi, its founders – my seniors, my team-mates, my juniors and everyone else who was connected with the team. Here’s an attempt to recollect some of them J

During my first year at PESIT, I was a part of the large crowd in the auditorium, attending the auditions for Sanskrithi. After all the auditions were over, I remember asking the three people on stage, “What is contemporary dance?”.  Little did I know that Contemporary Dance would become such an important part of my life in the years to come!

During our first practice session, I remember all of us were very nervous and scared of not getting the steps right. But Raghu, Chithra and Nisha made us feel like a part of the group and patiently taught us all that they knew. I got to meet other seniors of the group and saw how the team functioned as a family and how each and every one of them made me feel like I was a part of their family too. After our performance at MANage (where we won 2^nd place) , there was a change in the team and our team now consisted of Arya, Harshna, Preethi, Rashmi, Sahana, Sahithya, Sushma and me.

Initially, the eight of us used to perform the “Junior” Dashavataar, and used to watch in awe when our seniors performed the “Senior”/”Kanpur” Dashavataar. Dashavataar – even now, I get goose bumps thinking about it. The beautiful and haunting music, the creativity behind the formations, the way each step fit perfectly with the music, the use of props and the effect that this dance had on the audience… this dance was truly a masterpiece.

Our first stint at choreography was when Raghu told us to work on a part of “Trimurthi”. We worked quite hard in hostel to come up with some steps or the other, but I think we eventually copied a lot of steps from “Junior” Dashavataar!

Slowly, we became better and better at our dances and learnt how to work together as one team. We performed at many fests all over Bangalore and in other places too, winning almost everywhere we went!

Dressed to impress? Not really.

Dear Female Colleagues,

Every morning when I come to office, I cannot help but wonder… why is it that young, educated people do not know how to dress appropriately to a workplace? You don't need to wear expensive clothes, or keep buying new stuff all the time. All I'm saying is, once in six months, have a good look at your wardrobe, see what fits you and what doesn’t, what’s faded and what’s torn, what’s meant for office and what’s not. 

If you prefer wearing Indian clothes, this is for you:

·         Waist-length kurtis DO NOT go well with patialas or leggings. They are ideally meant to be paired with jeans.

·         Skin colored leggings honestly do not look good, regardless of your complexion and your figure.

·         If you honestly feel that leggings don’t suit your body shape, then you don’t have to wear them just because everyone else is.

·         If you’re wearing a sari, please learn to drape it well. The pallu should be pinned up and must not fall off your shoulder or sweep the ground beneath you. Also remember, transparent, sequin-y, shiny chiffons look better at parties than at a meeting.

·         Long, shapeless kameezes or kurtis don’t look good and neither do body clinging ones! Go to a tailor and get your clothes stitched properly. If you lose or gain weight, then make sure you get your clothes altered accordingly.

·         You may like to adorn your hair with flowers and wear lots of jewelry that goes with your outfit. But please keep it to a minimum since your colleagues may not be comfortable with the strong fragrance of the jasmine, or with the jangling of your 24 colorful bangles.

·         I understand that not everyone is at ease wearing high heels and that wearing flats is the “in” thing. But wearing rubber chappals is pushing it way too far. There are so many smart-looking flat sandals available these days in all price ranges. Check them out!

If you wear Western clothes, then know that:

·         Black jeans, faded or plain, boot-cut or skinny, are NOT trousers.

·         Formal trousers or skirts are to be worn with formal shoes, not slippers nor sandals and definitely not with floaters. Could a man get away with wearing hawai chappals with formal wear? No. Then why should we?

·         Sequins, bows, bright colors and canvas material do not constitute formal shoes. They should ideally be black and plain.

·         Your low-waist trousers shouldn’t be hanging precariously on your hips. Do that on weekends! For office, use a belt and keep it where it’s meant to be!

·         Ethnic jewelry may not always suit Western wear. Eg: Jhumkis will not do for earrings.

·         Your shirt/blouse should be well fitting. Not loose, not tight, just right. Again, visit a tailor if the store produced ones don’t suit you.
       

Regardless of what you’re wearing:

·         Keep in mind that make-up is also an art. Practice a few times to know what suits your skin tone. Loud colors can look quite ghastly. Make up at work should be subtle and should be used to keep you looking fresh all day.

·         Maintain your hair and your nails. Nothing looks more unprofessional than the just-out-bed hair or dirty nails with peeled off nail polish.

I don’t claim to be a fashionista or perfectly dressed always, but I can see the difference between well dressed and not-so-well dressed. Let’s try and look more professional, isn’t it?

Regards,

A casual observer

Dabbling in Drama

My debut as an actor was when I was in the 2^nd grade in school. My class had enacted the story of  "The Old Lady and the Pumpkin" and I was chosen to play the old lady. So, the 7-year old me dressed up in my mom’s sari, wore talcum powder in my hair, wore spectacles without the glasses and as luck would have it, even managed to lose a tooth. So much for getting into character!

In the years after that, my stage appearances have been restricted to quizzing, singing and dancing. No more acting offers came my way! Until… I started my job. While I was in Mysore undergoing my training at Infosys, there was a lot of emphasis on soft skills (communication, articulation, presentation, etc) and the importance of these skills in today’s world. As a part of our training, we were to have a skit competition. The entire batch was divided into smaller groups and each group was supposed to present a short skit on “The importance of soft skills for a software professional”.

My friend Shabnam and I were in the same group. The others in our group were from different colleges and cities of India. After some brainstorming, we decided to do a remake of Charles Dickens’s classic “A Christmas Carol”. We changed the character of Scrooge into an IT engineer who although was good in her (yes, gender changes too) work, did not know how to interact with people and therefore lost out in life. We then showed the appearance of three ghosts and the transformation in the lead character and how she then lived happily ever after. Guess who was elected to be the rude, arrogant, mean Ms Scrooge? Yours truly.

We practiced and we practiced every day of the week. There was a lot of editing done to bring down our long script to a ten minute skit. We brought in props and costumes and even tried to add background music. On paper, everything looked simple. But to actually get this to work was pretty hard. Some of the people in our group were too loud, others too soft, and some others just unwilling to accept any changes in the script. We even had one person who refused to say the word “ghost” or wear black clothes. I honestly do not know why.

The three ghosts

At long last the day arrived. We were very excited and confident with our respective roles. One look into the audience and all the confidence died. The entire auditorium was filled. There were around 1000 people seated there!

Our problems began when we were told that we would be given only two mics. Our characters came onto the stage, but sharing one mic during a group conversation led to a lot of mess. We lost on time as the actors kept forgetting who to hand the mic to next. Things got worse when they didn’t notice that someone accidently switched off the mic. Nevertheless, the show must go on. I don’t think the audience could hear much, but they certainly had a good laugh as the “ghosts” came onto the stage in their wonderful, colorful costumes. The only mic working was mine. So to the audience, it looked like there was one mad woman shouting on stage, while the others were just moving their lips. The worst part? We were finally done with the skit and had far exceeded the time limit. I was the only person on stage and our narrator concluded and said “Thank you”. No applause. I thought the audience hadn’t realized that we were done, so I said “Thank you” again. Still no applause.  That’s when it hit me. The audience will clap only if the performance deserves it. With my head hung low I walked out of the stage and said “That sucked!” out loud, forgetting that my collar mic was still on. =S It was then that the audience began whispering amongst themselves. Poor Mr Charles Dickens must be shuddering somewhere in the world above.

Needless to say, our group did not win. I wanted to wear a mask for the remaining months at our training centre. This event can definitely qualify as one of the most embarrassing moments ever. For a long time, my friends were kind enough to constantly remind Shabnam and me of our little production.

Not to say I didn’t take anything away from this. I learnt that I should stick to music and dance. Drama? Not really my cup of tea!

Friiiiiday!

Ten signs that today is a Friday:

1.       People in the bus talk to each other – On other days, it seems almost criminal to start a conversation with the person seated next to you. People are either sleeping, or buried in a book or head-banging to music. But on Fridays? People like to interact! I have made more bus friends on Fridays than on any other day of the week!

2.       People like to flaunt their wardrobes – Our office’s rather ambiguous Friday dress code of Business Casuals leads to a lot of fashion statements. You can see middle-aged men in bright, cartoon t-shirts and ripped jeans, and ladies in anything ranging from a sleeveless top with capris and flip-flops (yes yes, they believe our office resembles a beach) to a kurti with an ankle length skirt (Preeti Zinta’s look in Lakshya still seems to be popular out here)

3.       People eat more – Or rather, it seems that way. Lunch breaks can stretch up to hours and the conversations and food keep flowing. Good business for our caterers!

4.       People drink more coffee and tea – The cafes are filled all day long leading to very good profits for our beloved CCD. The coffee vending machines in the buildings work overtime as everyone takes more frequent breaks.

5.       More gossip at the water cooler – My cubicle is very close to the water cooler on my floor, and trust me; people love to talk more on Fridays! There’s more news, more spite and more laughter on a Friday.

6.       Everyone wants to leave early – The earliest bus is the most crowded. Unless you can get to your bus ten minutes before your usual time, be assured, you will have to go home standing! The later buses are sparsely occupied since either everyone finishes their work early, or they postpone it to the next week.

7.       Activity on the office Bulletin Board increases – Somehow there are more things to discuss, and more people to argue with on the BB on Fridays. The creative and not-so-creative, the polite and the not-so-polite, the logical and the not-so-logical…everyone has their say on the BB.

8.       Team outings – Most of our project parties, team lunches or birthday treats happen on Friday. So you can expect a larger crowd anywhere you go.

9.       Things are more expensive – Movie tickets and buffets cost more than they do on other days. For some reason, the price-setters believe that Friday is a part of the weekend and hence, the public is expected to shell out more for the same.

10.   People are happier – Need I elaborate? The joy of waiting for the weekend to begin is visible on everyone’s face. Plans are made, cancelled and made again. Every conversation that takes place all day will have at least one mention of what one will do during the weekend. Everyone is just waiting to run back home and start partying!

  

I think that Fridays are so valuable to us that every Monday morning, all we do is look forward to the coming Friday! =D