How time flies, I wonder. As I indulged myself in deep thoughts pertaining to the breathtaking pace of events here at LBS NAA, we looked forward to perhaps the last big bang event of the 90th Foundation Course, India Day. For the benefit of the outside world, India day is a celebration of our cultural diversity and the fraternity that is shared among vary many sections. The fundamental idea is to showcase proudly ones culture and to sensitize the others who might not be aware. As officers we might get to serve in different parts of India and hence its always a good idea to broaden the circle of your cultural outreach.
And for the last big bang, the preparations and the efforts were also going to be pretty proportionate. It started with lots of meetings. One for the food coordinators, one for the overall coordinators, one for the exhibition coordinators and many others which people forgot to attend and which I am unable to recall as well. The initial euphoria disappeared soon with the deadline looming large for the Village Visit report submissions. Also, the FC has been so hectic with numerous events that some started feeling participation fatigue and distanced themselves from any further activity. Almost as if they had taken VRS from the FC. People alleged that the total number of emails they have received from Officer's Club is more than the cumulative emails they have ever received in their entire lifetime from all sources collectively. Apparently the bait of delicious cakes and cutlets was not enticing enough.
For the chosen ones, i mean the coordinators, the toughest job was to get people to the meetings and divide responsibilities. You would see the same old four five faces from each zone everywhere. On top of that, the picture wasn't much clear. What are we supposed to do during the procession? What the hell is Explore India and how is it different from Exhibition? If people from outside are coming to put their exhibits then why do we have coordinators for exhibition? This hazy picture was soon getting better as we moved closer to the designated day and people started pouring in. Couple of days before the big bang, the store containing exhibits from the previous batches was thrown open to the OTs. And boy, the way OTs pounced on the objects was what you usually see the housewives doing on a Big Bazaar Mega Sale day.
Now as far as the decoration of the designated areas is concerned, mostly all groups seem to be going for the flex war. Who can have the largest number and the biggest ones for their benefit. But I guess the war was won by innovation by the North. On that day, we saw this beautiful creation of the Himalayas and with the river flowing out of it. They had people sitting alongside the river doing their chores. There was this maple like tree with these beautiful leaves which I heard they had spent hours cutting them by their own hands. Beautiful creation folks, kudos. Meanwhile, I was finding it difficult to motivate people of the West zone to contribute something for the exhibition. Thanks to the bunch of people that came to the rescue and I would like to believe that we did a decent job at the end. The time spent painting would be remembered forever as some of it is still on my tie and pants.
These were the days when the nights were vibrant and full of energy. Anywhere you go in the campus, you could find the floors shaking and music playing. Almost everyone was practicing some dance form for the cultural evening. Some were even involved in two or more. Fortunately all dances were different which negated the possibility of a constructive interference leading to destructive resonance. Amazing zest shown by the entire batch which eventually went down to participation by nearly 250 OTs on that night. Must be unprecedented in the history of LBS NAA.
Finally India day dawned upon us. The early morning hours were spent in decorating our respective zones as that was to be opened just after the procession. Slowly people dressed in their cultural attire poured near the main gate. Then there were those who were dressed up as famous personalities from their respective states. It was almost like a miniature India both geographically and temporally. As the procession started, you could see various dance forms of India suddenly coming to life. The music and atmosphere was so electric that those posing as Mahatma Gandhi, Meera Bai, Saint Jabali, Budhha and others couldn't control themselves and joined the party and seeing them dance we wondered has history been rightly told to us?!
But one of the most beautiful moment of the procession was to see the intermingling of cultures. The bhangra group of the north coming and joining one of the groups from South. Such fusions were everywhere to be seen. That is the kind of India we seek. Then it was time for the exhibitions. Our west zone had used the theme of Gandhi as he went to all the states of our zone. Besides we were showcasing the major architectural and natural heritage of our states. We had also made a tiger cutout which was placed behind some small plants to which people questioned if he had gone veggie? We told them as the theme was Gandhian, even the Tiger had to do some compromise. Then there was this cutout of this camel which looked too cute to be one so we just passed it off as a deer.
The exhibition fun was followed by a delicious lunch which was served by our fellow OTs while rest were sitting down and eating. That way is more fun rather than sitting with sophistication on the table chair. And that brought us to the final chapter of India Day. The culturals. In back-to-back performances from all the zones we saw almost all possible dance forms of India and we also were fortunate to see the performance of a lifetime by Surpanakha. Deserves nothing less than the Oscar. So you actually need to see all this to understand the cultural diversity of India and only reading notes from Farji Ram and Sons won't suffice. Another gem moment was people from northern India performing dances like Bihu which eventually was the whole point of India Day. Cultural integration. Kudos to all for their wonderful performances and also to those who worked tirelessly behind the drapes.
We might be going on a 55-day long Bharat darshan soon but i think we all got a glimpse of the entire country in just one day courtesy India Day!
P.S. Had made this video on MP's tribal culture and heritage which could not be eventually screened. Hence sharing it here with you all.
And for the last big bang, the preparations and the efforts were also going to be pretty proportionate. It started with lots of meetings. One for the food coordinators, one for the overall coordinators, one for the exhibition coordinators and many others which people forgot to attend and which I am unable to recall as well. The initial euphoria disappeared soon with the deadline looming large for the Village Visit report submissions. Also, the FC has been so hectic with numerous events that some started feeling participation fatigue and distanced themselves from any further activity. Almost as if they had taken VRS from the FC. People alleged that the total number of emails they have received from Officer's Club is more than the cumulative emails they have ever received in their entire lifetime from all sources collectively. Apparently the bait of delicious cakes and cutlets was not enticing enough.
For the chosen ones, i mean the coordinators, the toughest job was to get people to the meetings and divide responsibilities. You would see the same old four five faces from each zone everywhere. On top of that, the picture wasn't much clear. What are we supposed to do during the procession? What the hell is Explore India and how is it different from Exhibition? If people from outside are coming to put their exhibits then why do we have coordinators for exhibition? This hazy picture was soon getting better as we moved closer to the designated day and people started pouring in. Couple of days before the big bang, the store containing exhibits from the previous batches was thrown open to the OTs. And boy, the way OTs pounced on the objects was what you usually see the housewives doing on a Big Bazaar Mega Sale day.
Now as far as the decoration of the designated areas is concerned, mostly all groups seem to be going for the flex war. Who can have the largest number and the biggest ones for their benefit. But I guess the war was won by innovation by the North. On that day, we saw this beautiful creation of the Himalayas and with the river flowing out of it. They had people sitting alongside the river doing their chores. There was this maple like tree with these beautiful leaves which I heard they had spent hours cutting them by their own hands. Beautiful creation folks, kudos. Meanwhile, I was finding it difficult to motivate people of the West zone to contribute something for the exhibition. Thanks to the bunch of people that came to the rescue and I would like to believe that we did a decent job at the end. The time spent painting would be remembered forever as some of it is still on my tie and pants.
These were the days when the nights were vibrant and full of energy. Anywhere you go in the campus, you could find the floors shaking and music playing. Almost everyone was practicing some dance form for the cultural evening. Some were even involved in two or more. Fortunately all dances were different which negated the possibility of a constructive interference leading to destructive resonance. Amazing zest shown by the entire batch which eventually went down to participation by nearly 250 OTs on that night. Must be unprecedented in the history of LBS NAA.
Finally India day dawned upon us. The early morning hours were spent in decorating our respective zones as that was to be opened just after the procession. Slowly people dressed in their cultural attire poured near the main gate. Then there were those who were dressed up as famous personalities from their respective states. It was almost like a miniature India both geographically and temporally. As the procession started, you could see various dance forms of India suddenly coming to life. The music and atmosphere was so electric that those posing as Mahatma Gandhi, Meera Bai, Saint Jabali, Budhha and others couldn't control themselves and joined the party and seeing them dance we wondered has history been rightly told to us?!
But one of the most beautiful moment of the procession was to see the intermingling of cultures. The bhangra group of the north coming and joining one of the groups from South. Such fusions were everywhere to be seen. That is the kind of India we seek. Then it was time for the exhibitions. Our west zone had used the theme of Gandhi as he went to all the states of our zone. Besides we were showcasing the major architectural and natural heritage of our states. We had also made a tiger cutout which was placed behind some small plants to which people questioned if he had gone veggie? We told them as the theme was Gandhian, even the Tiger had to do some compromise. Then there was this cutout of this camel which looked too cute to be one so we just passed it off as a deer.
The exhibition fun was followed by a delicious lunch which was served by our fellow OTs while rest were sitting down and eating. That way is more fun rather than sitting with sophistication on the table chair. And that brought us to the final chapter of India Day. The culturals. In back-to-back performances from all the zones we saw almost all possible dance forms of India and we also were fortunate to see the performance of a lifetime by Surpanakha. Deserves nothing less than the Oscar. So you actually need to see all this to understand the cultural diversity of India and only reading notes from Farji Ram and Sons won't suffice. Another gem moment was people from northern India performing dances like Bihu which eventually was the whole point of India Day. Cultural integration. Kudos to all for their wonderful performances and also to those who worked tirelessly behind the drapes.
We might be going on a 55-day long Bharat darshan soon but i think we all got a glimpse of the entire country in just one day courtesy India Day!
P.S. Had made this video on MP's tribal culture and heritage which could not be eventually screened. Hence sharing it here with you all.
PS 2 . Long ago had written an article on Madhya Pradesh, Click here to read!
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing this.
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