SAARANG 2010

This is the third time I am attending saarang and this time it's kinda special to me, since this is the first time I am attending it as an IITian... btw, for the people who dont know what saarang is... It's only 'the most' popular cultural fest in the country which is hosted/conducted by IIT Madras. it usually happens in the last week of January every year. in this 4 day long youth festival, guys and girls from all over the country turn up to the campus to be spectators/participants in various events and shows.

it's also the most 'coulourful' event that happens in chennai... and atleast 50-60% of the gentlemen crowd come because of this reason.

so it began... on 21st January. one more thing about saarang is... the spotlight shows happen in the evenings. day time is mostly full of games and workshops and competitions etc. this year, spotlight shows as usual were:

• the classical night (performance by Dr.Balamuralikrishna and dance performance by Dhakshin seth dance troop),
• Choreonite,
• Rockshow (Hammerfall and one other band. skid row cancelled their trip due to some unforseen circumstances - we were told) 
• light music show (Shankar-Eshan-Loy)

Dr. Balamuralikrishna's 2 hr long kutcheri, which was the opening event, was incredible. when u listen to him sing, you wonder how someone can have such a sweet and distinguished voice, for like 40+ years... crowd went crazy when he sang all his signature songs, especially when he performed "paluke bangara mayana...". he's a legend!

The same night, BMK's performance was followed by a mindblowing dance performance by the dance troop 'Dakshin Seth'. the dancers were so flexible and bendy... (it hurt my ego when I saw them - i know I can never do what they do). the star attraction of this show was the lead dancer Isha Sharvani... Oh... My... God... she was simply 'out of the world'! havent seen a gorgeous Indian girl dance so well since Vyjayanthi mala, Padmini, Shobana and Maduri Dixit. It was love at first sight! "Isha..., by any chance if you are reading this blog, this is to inform you that you have struck me like a thunderbolt (godfather style)". I know she's a hot celebrity and I am just a fat potato and there's a '1 : 1 million' probability that she'll read this blog - it's a long shot... but it's worth a try... :-)

 Now is the fun part... I planned to attend Kamal hassan and Gautam menon's lectures the next day but for the programme which starts at 9 am, I got up at 10.15 am.....!!! the oppurtunity cost for that 1 hr and 15 mins of sleep was very high. no one else can learn the economic concept of 'oppurtunity cost' more practically! but I heard from my friend that kamal's speach was 'short and sweet'. and then the day was filled with a lot of workshops and events, none of which I attended. I also missed the 'salsa' workshop which I will regret for the rest of my life (maybe even in the after life)... most of my friends have attended it and here's what they had to say: "thank you IIT"...

The same day in the evening, 'choreonite' was the spotlight event. many colleges have come to show (off) their talent. some of them even from outside chennai (Bangalore, Trichy, Coimbatore etc). And guess what... My college (UG) SVCE, also came and performed. Though I was the only guy who cheered/shouted for them when they stareted, they gave a very good performance and the crowd did enjoy it! and of course, the performance by Loyola college, one of the most ancipated performances of the evening, did live upto the expectations. I had to explain to my MBA classmates, who asked me about Loyola, that it was the parent college of 'LIBA' B-school, on hearing which they were all like "ooooooh ok". I have to mention the performance of Stella Maris college. I call it the angel dance . If there was a college in chennai, with only good-looking girls and nothing else, it must be stella maris (MOP Vaishnava college girls - I've not forgotten you people, but face it - stella it is!). Btw CET won the event and runner up was NIT trichy.

The next day, I dint miss that much, like I did the previous day. I started the day attending the DJ workshop, which btw happened in my department and my own class room. DJ Kave, DJ Prashant and DJ Zen - thanks you guys! now I can scratch the disc and know how to use the turn table etc... atleast I can pretend that I know all that :-). then I went outside to repair my cycle, which btw is a totally unwanted piece of information in this blog (sorry folks). afternoon was good fun. there was this hip-hop competition which happened at the SAC(IIT's main auditorium). have you seen the movie 'stomp the yard'? if no, then pls skip to the next paragraph... it was exactly like that. this kinda thing happening in India, that too chennai!!! India is now a developed country, in my opinion . it was basically a 'dance off' between two teams. they dance for pre-recorded hip-hop stuff. and the stunts those guys performed, was amaaaaaaaaazing. the guys who performed had really practiced very hard i would say. at a certain point it looked a bit dangerous as well. i was just like that movie.

Then there was this prelims for all the metal bands in front of SAC. each band had to perform for 15 mins, irrespective of the number of songs. the qualified bands got to perform at the OAT (open air theatre) -bigger, better setup (which I did miss - not completely though). after that I had a shawarma in the food court and bought myself a saarang t-shirt (unwanted info number 2).

Next day was pretty Ok as well. i went to the CLT complex where a number of workshops were taking place. pottery workshop etc (i wonder what makes people want to learn pottery n all - but to my surprise a lot of people were doing that. people who fall in the following categories: geeks, nerds, dorks :-) - (all in the name of good fun)). then i went into the 'face painting' workshop. No...! its not what you think. i would never give my face to anyone to scribble on it! but a couple of my friends did!!. I passed on a bad comment (like a poor rating) on the painting done on my friend's face, and got abused by a girl who did the painting... (well! that's me). Then after that, I along with my friend went on to see the fashion show in the SAC. we waited for sometime and lost patience. so much for the fashion show. we came out even before it started. I had to submit an assignment that day. so I had to sacrifice Saarang activities for the rest of the day.

Evening came, and it was time for the most awaited event of Saarang 2010. SEL (shankar-eshan-loy) show.

it did start as per schedule. but the trio apeared on the stage only after an hour. till that time we had to listen to some dumb solo singing performances. we were a group of 20-30 people sitting/standing/dancing/shouting/hooting together. the open air theatre looked like one giant disco/club without supply of alcohol. hope IIT considers that option too, in the future :-)... shankar performed all his usual/signature songs. the kind of crowd, which would normally go crazy without any reason, went totally crazy and out of control, on seeing shankar mahadevan perform (it was like adding petrol to burning fire). I came back to my room and i was so tired, but I dint sleep. instead i wrote this blog... the next day is going to be pretty much the same. rock show which will be happenning in the evening is an eagerly expected event. good luck hammerfall (in handling the out of control/super enthusiastic IIT crowd)! but for me saarang is over since i am not gonna be here the next day...

Overall experience @ saarang 2010 - 8.5/10 (mine) 
Now I already cant wait for Saarang 2011. it never gets boring...