The 'Jhankaar' Legacy

With India winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 yesterday, it signified another thing in addition to an attestation of our skilled players. It signified bringing the groups of Indians, spread across all corners of the world, together in celebration. This included the small although-not-that-small Indian students community at Georgia Tech that I'm a proud part of. Thats the magic of cricket! But let me talk about one more equally magical phenomenon that manages a similar feat to a good extent - Indian Culture+Bollywood!!

Which "naujawaan" Indian  true to his/her salt does not feel like breaking a leg at our Bollywood dance songs?! Or any hip-hop songs for that matter? Add to it the cultural annual event - Holi - in all its vibrancy of colors and juvenile mischief, and we've got the perfect occasion to make it into a full-blown show! This is exactly what I was lucky to be part of last Spring (2010). Its called the GT Holi Show, coined "Sapne Rangeen" last time, (this year's event is named "Rang De") and is organized by the India Club at Georgia Tech (ICGT).  It is a Georgia wide event where Indian dance teams from multiple universities e.g. GT, Georgia State, Emory, UGA and even private academies participate - e.g. Kruti Dance Academy (who were also featured in America's Got Talent!)

You can also catch a glimpse of one of the performances by a group called "Paheli" below:

Me and my friends were team 'Jhankaar'- the sole graduate student group among primarily undergraduate groups, who came VERY close to professional-level perfection! (In my defense, unlike us, they've got all the time in the world to rehearse! :P) After our seniors floating the idea of keeping this tradition live this year, we juniors were on. We decided to perform on some Bollywood masala hits as a variety from the classical - Bharatnatyam, Kathhak and folk dances - Bhangra(USA and no Bhangra? Impossible!) and Garba by the other groups.

Squeezing rehearsals in between tight workloads consisting of project submissions and exams was painful; and with vastly differing schedules among us, co-ordination became the no.1 task above actual dance choreography. But rehearsing in the studios available on campus with those wall-high mirrors used to be an absolute delight! Yes it gave us sore thighs and calves the next morning but heck, the fun was much more. I made some really good friends through our team and got a lot closer to the existing ones; so if the previous sem was academically great, this semester was more kickass in terms of friendships and college participation.

This post is dedicated to all my Jhankaar friends - Anuja, Amruta, Madhura, Shreyas, Chinmay, Kunal, Anushree, Vinesh, Nilesh and Reema - you made that time at Gatech very special \m/

I regret that a maddening workload this semester prohibited me from participating again this Spring since most of our group members graduated and the juniors are too nerdy to bother :P I hope the tradition survives next year and that some grad students are able to take a little time out of work to step up and...shake a leg bro!

P.S. this experience also revived old memories from VJTI days - Annie, Ashwin, Gul, Nik, Rahul, Binu, Pranay... hope u guys miss those days as much as I do :) 

Those awesome things..

Everyday, I tread my way to campus, around it as I make my way to class, lunch, job, library or just hanging about at my favorite hideouts. Walking is faster but on windy cold days like these, I prefer not reaching class with a partially frozen face and hair all over the place, and instead take the buses which are called Stingers - Georgia Tech's mascot is a bee -->

Most of the times, I notice these smallest of things, almost hit-n-miss, or the kinds that needs one to be really contemplative to notice. I happen to be one of those who can find amusement and happiness in the smallest of observations and the other times, not be satisfied even with the biggest of happenings. Well..each one has their kinks :D So here goes..

The rains are still lovely

Yeah, yeah I know I know that rains are a pain-in-the-neck when you gotta get to places and like to be dry et al. But no matter what and no matter how old I get, the rains bring the child outta me. I just like to look at the raindrops touching the plants around me, making them seem fresher than ever. And darn it, it IS really romantic to be with that special person out on a rainy day, watching the rainbow as you shudder slightly under any temporary shelter you can find and feel the aroma of wet earth putting a spell on you...

Birds chirping beats the MP3 player pounding in your ears...anyday!

I usually never used to up and about early enough to be able to hear any birds. But these days I have to get up really early to make it to my weekend activities. And when I heard that chirping one morning, I found myself transported to my room back home in India when I used to wake up as my mom switched off the fan..... (another one of those music-triggers-memory moments.. read about it more in my previous article on music)

It just rocks when you have a camera on you at the exact moment you needed it!

As I was walking, I just happened to look up and see this awesome reflection of another building in the windows of this one. Next thing I know, I'm juggling coffee + notebook + gloves in one hand, and whipping out my camera phone with the other hand! I also enjoy rounding up on cute, secluded walkways around campus which I hadn't noticed before and finding out if this can be my new shortcut. Below is one of them immediately as I turn around. (the building is the same one in the reflection and it happens to be my awesome semicircularly architectured Klaus Advanced Computing department)

Eminem in your ears when you're working out

This may not be everyone's favorite but I found it enthusing me with a strange drive. If you look at me at a place like the gym and sports arena, you'd probably conclude that I've lost my way and arrived there by mistake (well for those who don't know me, i'm really skinny). But these days, I like doing some lightweight Yoga and playing racquetball etc there. Adding to the wonderful things in life is the feel of the heated water in the swimming pool. A slight dampener there would be having to share your lane with a weird flabby guy smiling at you through those fogged-up glasses after each lap :P

More interesting stuff to come.. In the meanwhile, check out this nice CGI video for the song 'Blurry' by 'Puddle of Mud'