Batti Bandh on 15-Dec-2007...

Batti Bandh Program got a lukewarm response. But the four young lads who were behind this concept were content that they were successful in creating a little awareness about the mammoth issue of Global Warming. I was also very much excited by this initiative and tried in my own way to contribute to this cause.
I underwent some really good experiences and came across various human thought patterns and learnt a great deal from it. I had written a personal mail urging my friends and colleagues to follow Batti-Bandh and make it a success after taking some information from the official Mumbai-Unplugged website. I was propagating the idea of following this program so aggressively that some of my colleagues felt as if I was going to get some reward by the organizers of Batti-Bandh! I had to fight with my team-members to convince them that this was a really good initiative for creating awareness about Global Warming. But we Indians are so biased at times that nobody can change our rigid thoughts brining about change in our perspective. I had an argument with one of my colleagues when he said there are numerous power-cuts already in their area and it would not make any difference at all even if we switch off all the lights of our homes for one hour. I tried to explain him that it was not all about just saving the power but also a gesture to think about we should care for our fellow beings and for our future generations. We should not waste energy, power, light, water etc. and should cautiously use them in order to sustain human life on earth for a long time to come. We all should be responsible citizens. We are all so engrossed in our own hectic lives that we think little about such things as energy or power conservation and their careful use. We see these matters as trivial. But they can cause havoc if we continue to ignore the signs shown by nature from time to time. So I had a tough time explaining all these points to my colleague who was arguing with me. To further aggravate me the other colleagues also joined him and started speaking negative about 'Batti-Bandh' program. How helpless we feel at times when we can't convince somebody and make him or her see our own point of view! I felt angry and disappointed and decided to keep mum but then Suraj (my best buddy in office) came to my rescue (!) and put across his point stating that this initiative was a small but courageous step in creating the awareness about a serious issue. Finally I didn't talk much to argue with my colleagues but got the opportunity to spread the word further by officially sending a mail to my entire office staff from 'Staff welfare committee' Mail Id and I was happy that I could contribute to this good cause in this manner! Even if one person read that mail and decide to switch off lights at his/her home it would mean a lot!
I put off the main switch of my home and got succeeded in making 3-4 more neighbours to follow the suit! We all came out of our homes and sat together at one common place. We had never gathered like that at 07:30 PM before. But today we all were happy to meet and discuss various subjects sitting together. One of the uncles from my neighborhood was negative about the 'Batti-Bandh' idea and was saying” what difference would it make even if we little bunch switch off lights for an hour?” I don’t like this attitude of people. They think if something wrong is going on then their doing right thing is not going to make any difference as the majority is involved in doing the wrong. But why do we forget that a sea is also made of lakhs of water droplets. I recollect a very nice story of a boy throwing star-fishes thrown out by the sea-waves in very large number, with both his hands back into the sea. His friend asked what difference it is going to make. His two tiny hands will not make any difference to the thousands of starfishes still lying on the shore. To this the little boy replied – “It made difference to those I already threw in the sea! They have got their lives back!”
Can’t we all think in this manner? By doing our little bit, we would certainly make a difference. If all of us start thinking in this manner then there would certainly be a change, betterment.
Coming back to my Batti-Bandh story, I could finally put across this point and we all had a really good time during that dark hour.
Hope such more initiatives are taken up by youth of India and we all participate and do our own bit in order to make Earth a better living place…



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(The below mentioned mail was posted as Blog on 14-Dec-07)
Hi Friends,

A Friendly appeal to all of you....Please switch off your all the lights at your home on 15th Dec 2007 between 07:30 - 08:30 PM to show that you too care for environment and are a responsible citizen.

I am myself going to follow this and be part of the 'Batti Bandh' initiative. And there are thousands of other responsible and sensible mumbaiikars who would join me ....So please you too be a part of it. Does not electricity go sometime without any prior notice for an hour or two? Assume it was such a case if you are getting two thoughts about doing this....

And if you are thinking what would one do during this dark one hour...then my friends....there is lot that can be done...just a few creative thoughts...
-> you may sit with your family members and can have a candle - light talk/dinner/ antakshari session...!!!
-> you may convince your other locality friends and play some game in your area in this dark hour!
-> sleep! (its winter so fans are anyway not required!)
-> don't do anything ...!just sit idle/ meditate/ make the plans for what to do onthe new year eve!
-> talk with your other friends/relatives on your phone/mobile
-> anything which you can think of doing in the darkness!!!

Please be a part of this drive...and spread awareness about Global Warming....save energy...and Be Responsible.....!!!

Rgds,
Vikas G. Nayak

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(Here is some more info)

First, a quick copy-paste off the Batti Band website so that you’re on the same page as I am.
Batti Bandh is an entirely voluntary event taking place on the 15th of December between 7:30 & 8:30 p.m. This event is aimed at requesting all of Mumbai to stand up for a cause that is greater than all of us. All you need to do is switch off lights and appliances in your home, shop, office, school, college or anywhere you are for 1 hour to take a stand against global warming. Just 1 hour.

The lovely intent here is to combat global warming. Inspired by Earth Hour in Sydney, the idea is to conserve energy during that one hour, as a mark of commitment towards fighting global warming. And, of course, it’s not just that one hour, but there are a list of things you can do every day to reduce the risk of global warming.

A woman I admire...

In my last Blog I wrote about an all-the-time-smiling gentleman Anil Jawaharani.

Second person I am going to talk about is Dimple Upadhyay. My Sister Tejal's Best Friend. I know her since my childhood days. I have grown with her and my sister. They both are six years elder to me. Dimple has always been a ‘bindhast’ girl. She is the eldest among her three sibling sisters and a beloved of her parents. Today she is married with two lovely daughters of age 12 and 8.I know her since she was herself a school going kid.

Why I admire Dimple is because of her zealous nature. She is always enthusiastic about things in life. She was an average student but completed her graduation in time. She was my sister’s best friend. She stood by her in times of need. I have observed her giving correct advice when my sister needed it in her low times. Also she used to be there for my sister whenever she needed her. Today also whenever my sister want to take a big decision or may be simply wish to go for a shopping spree or a distant temple, Dimple will be there with her always!

But this is not the only reason why I have decided to praise Dimple and write a Blog on her! She possesses many other very good qualities. She is bold. She is Modern Woman, I would say. She knows driving and possesses her own scooty. She drives her father’s car also many times. She buys and sells shares. She has helped her father in his business and has been a very helpful and nice daughter to her mother also. She has been guiding source for her younger sisters as well.

Every time I meet her she is learning something new. She keeps asking me about latest software and good websites and Internet.She personally sat with me for creating her first email Id and learnt all the basic techniques to use Internet for her personal and business use like a smart curious pupil! She has been into many businesses herself. She has marketed beauty products. She has done beauty parlour courses and has tried her hand in making other women look more beautiful too! She has attended seminars related to her business here and there. She wears saris as well as modern attire of a professional woman also!

Last time I met her she was taking tuitions to learn Accounting Tally package. I asked her why this now? And pet came the reply: I wanted to know what tally is all about and I already learnt accounting during my B.Com. Days so thought why not learn Tally so that I can put my computer skills also to a good use!

She is always on the look out of learning new things. She never sits idle at home. She not only performs the role of a typical housewife but also keeps learning and applying her knowledge all the time.She likes to exercise,do yoga and she is a good cook too...Teaching her daughters at times,no problem!She does that too. Her hubby Mr. Jayvant Upadhyay is also a gentleman and loves her a lot and is proud to get a wife like her. She is a good wife, nice and loving mother and plays each role with her best capacity.Full of life,energetic,loving,caring,smiling always...

Bravo Dimple! I wish my Mother, sisters and fiancée also learn lots and lots from you!

Spread Happiness and Live cheerfully...

In the next few Blogs, I want to talk about people I know who have some peculiar characteristics which make them interesting persons to know.

We all come across lot of people day-in-day-out during our work or at home or in the train or in the bus or anywhere during the course of our normal routine lives. But a few people we can not forget due to their special qualities. We can learn many good things by simply observing them.

First character I will talk about is Mr. Anil Jawaharani. He is my colleague and works in the NCFM Department of my office (NSE).He is so lively and jolly that one may never get bored with this man. He is probably in his forties. But young and old would enjoy his company alike. He spreads a kind of happiness and positivity around him. Sadness is Hundreds of miles away from this man! As part of his job, many times he has to be the invigilator of our online Examination system (NCFM) at NSE. Now exam is a scary thing for many. But if you get Anil as your invigilator you would forget what fear is! He would welcome all the candidates who are supposed to take the exam in his humorous warm style and then give all the instructions for the online exam in a very cheerful and funny way! Tension of the candidates vanishes as soon as they meet Anil! After every instruction he will fire a funny punch line and candidates will surely get a chance to laugh even in that serious ambience of examination room. Even during the exam he will keep the mood light and tension-free with his witty remarks. He also has to attend calls coming from candidates all over India querying about NCFM exams during a normal routine working day. He will make the day of the caller by wishing him 'Happy Birthday or Happy New Year' everyday! A caller would first get surprised by this wish from a stranger and that too when it is neither his/her birthday nor the new year day but after a few seconds he/she would want to talk more with Anil. And why not?! Who would not like to talk with a jolly and lively person? Sometimes I have to go to NCFM Department for some work and if Anil is present on his seat, he won't forget to call me by weird interesting names every time (like 'Bade Bhaiya', 'Doctor Sahab', 'Hero', 'Pyaare Mohan' and whatnot!!)Sometimes he would act also funny! His gestures also would surely make you laugh. Now when one has to work all day long in the office, who would not like to be in such a good company as Anil's? Don't we all avoid the boring, ever-complaining, sad people always? There is already enough of all those negative feelings in our lives and in the world where we live. Then why talk about and multiply it. Rather we should have more people like Anil to spread more happiness and good feelings around.

Anil may have ordinary troubles and problems in his life too. He is also a human being after all. But you would never notice him in a bad temperament. He is always cheerful and in a good mood! Always with a smile on his face! You want to get rid of your worries? Go and meet Anil!

Anilji, Khuda se yahi prarthna ki aap hamesha aise hi Haste aur Hasaate Rahe...

Dance Performance in NSE Annual day...(part-3)

Finally the Big day came. We all were very very excited and anxiously waiting for the evening to come! The Annual Day event was supposed to start at around 7 and our performance was expected to begin at around 8. We attended half working day, had our lunch in the office and left at around 1:30 for the venue that is 'The Intercontinental' at Sahar International Airport Road, Andheri.
I left along with Vijayendra in Suraj's car. Vikram also was coming by his car with other group of around 3-4 girls. Rest of the gang was coming by Bus arranged by SWC, NSE.
We reached venue at about 3 and checked out the whole place. Who would not like being at a 7star luxurious hotel and that too when one has not to pay a single penny from his/her own pocket?! The place was marvelous.

There were some really nice big paintings on the walls around the spacious stairs. We clicked lot of pictures with great poses in numerous permutations and combinations!




In a while Tea – Coffee was served. There were 5-6 different types of Tea and a variety of biscuits just for us – Dancers!
One variety of the specially made Jain biscuits was so tasty that I still have their delicious taste on my tongue till today!





I had Assamese Lime Tea which had a very different aroma. After having tea/coffee-biscuits, we had a final rehearsal on the stage. The stage looked great. One of the Filmfare Award or some beauty pageant types!
However we felt it was smaller as compared to our NSE Audi stage. But it was decorated well with some wooden props. A disco light platform was also being specially prepared for NSE employees for the evening Dance party, following the event.
We only rehearsed once so as not to exhaust and tire ourselves. HitenSir was giving last instructions/tips on wireless mic. He was in great tension but looked chilled and excited. After that rehearsal, we went back stage.

Tried our costumes. Girls had already started with the make up and a special Iron man was called to iron our costumes. There was an air of haste and somewhat chaos all around but we were enjoying every moment. Some dresses had come at the last moment so many of us were busy trying those.
We didn't miss the opportunity to click pics in those sandoes and new dresses with make-up on! All this was so much fun!

The Banquet Hall where the stage was setup was decorated very well with the drapes and lights on the top with a huge elegant chandelier in the center.

All the chairs were also clothed with black and white covers alternately and with golden bows! Just below the stage a dance-floor was set up with glass covering disco-lights below the floor.
The center of the stage had stairs which led to this dance floor. The mood of the evening was building up...

At around 06:15 PM, first bus from NSE arrived and guests started entering the hall. Our excitement grew! We were all ready in the first set of dresses in which we were supposed to perform. The event began with speeches and some other facilitation program etc.
Our first dance performance was by the girls - Tuja Namo! It went very well. Half the girls were in Blue and the rest in yellow Indian Traditional dresses (wore by apsaras or dancers in the palaces of ancient Raj-gharanas). Though these dresses were not that royal, of superior quality or costly, they looked beautiful in that smoke-filled scarcely illuminated stage.
The first performance captivated the audience and we were all too excited to wait for our dance sequence! Audience appreciated the first dance with lot of cheering and clapping.

Second dance was 'Silsila ye Chahat ka..' by Tejashree and other girls where they were supposed to hold illuminated lamps in their hands and dance. Little time was left and still all the lamps were not ready with small LED bulbs with which they were supposed to be shown as illuminated diyas. Tejashree had to be more careful because her Diya was supposed to remain lit (that is the LED bulb of that diya to be ON) till the last moment and she had to do all the running around and dancing (including the 'special' peculiar hand movement of hers where she gave a beating to Aishwarya!) and her diya was flickering the most!!!

But that dance sequence also went very well and audiences liked it equally well. Third dance sequence was the western songs based and the dancers rocked! They set the stage on fire by their energetic and electrifying performance!

Audiences roared and cheered and clapped and were asking for more! ‘Once more's’ were also heard intermittently! Parody dance sequence was a major Hit! People loved the old - new fusion of songs and the humour aspect of this concept. While performing I saw some of the colleagues dancing lightly on their respective seats!
The expressions on their faces told it all how much fun they were having! Our 15 days rigorous rehearsals sessions were paying off! There were some goof ups in between in certain dance items - like in one of the western dance number somebody's, who was dancing in front, zip opened!

But he very cleverly managed to go back and correct the error. In another parody dance number one of my friends strived hard to remove his kurta, he had worn for the previous dance, but it was stuck and the dance began! His expressions I still remember and can't help myself from laughing till date!


Finally he used all his strength to get rid of the stuck kurta and literally ran to reach the stage and could manage to start with a little delay which was not even noticed by the audience! One more such instance was in the parody only where all the boys were supposed to tie a duppatta on their waists, but only half of them remembered and wore it actually! But these all details we could notice because we had the knowledge. Very few sharp people from the audience would even notice this small small goof-ups! That’s the plus point of a group dance! The parody sequence ended with an old song 'Tik Tik Tik Tik...' where all of us, some of us clad in western and the remaining in folk-based dresses, were supposed to come on stage and dance together holding each others hands. It really looked great and everybody enjoyed it thoroughly! The last set of dance sequence which comprised of bhangda, a pop-song and 'Jhoom barabar Jhoom...' number was performed after a short event. Here also in Bhangda, one of the dancers could not find the white coloured pant of right fitting so she came on the stage in black pants and we all other dancers were in white outfits for that dance number. But the dance went so well that this small imbroglio went unnoticed! The special stunts at the end of Bhangda number enthralled audience and they filled the hall with their appreciative feedback noise! The dance lights were creating the magical ambience more beautiful on the stage. In between the dance performances, smoke was also released to give a nice effect to the dance performance. There were two big screens put at the sides where we could see the performance from back-stage. The scene at the back stage was ultimate! You should have been there to know what I mean! There were so much noise, chaos, rush, haste! Dancers were all running here and there to change the dress for their next dance or to make the entry from the other side than their previous performance! I was enjoying all those moments very very much! Finally the last sequence ended with 'Jhoom barabar jhoom...' and we all used the stairs in the center of the stage to actually go down on the dance floor and call our colleagues, the audiences to join us on the dance floor!
What could have been a better end of a dance performance evening than this! It was so much fun! Joy was all there in the air! Our seniors, managers, subordinates all came on the dance floor enthusiastically and the party began!
After a while, we dancers were facilitated by a small but beautiful memento and the choreographers were presented with gifts and bouquets!
That was followed by another round of dance on the dance-floor. Some of us even used stage to dance and had a blast!
This was one of the Best evening of my life (and I am sure for many others among us too who had performed something of this scale on stage!).

Every time I hear a song on which we had performed that evening bring back the old sweet memories of rehearsal sessions and that grand performance evening back to my mind! I will always cherish these sweet memories for the rest of my life!

(The End...!)

Dance Performance in NSE Annual Day...(Part - 2)

Let me talk about the characters among us now who danced in the grand finale show of NSE annual day dance event! There was this 'Dancer' who was graceful not any less than a choreographer or a bollywood heroine! There were lot of chain emails exchanged among us about this 'Dancer' but never her name was mentioned (Though everybody knew who she was!).Let me quote her name in bold letters for the first time, here in my Blog! She was none other than....'Dweetee Shah'...!


She danced so elegantly and gracefully, twisting her body like rubber and jumping and swirling that one would like to keep seeing her dance on and on and on! She was indeed the Best 'Dancer' in western category.

Next name I have to take is 'Asif' ...The Comedian, the actor, the flirt, the
Mischievous, the notorious...How many adjectives I shall use for him! And every time Dweetee entered the Audi; He never missed a chance to bow his head in her respect! She felt so embarrassed initially but later on she was used to this! He always praised her in all possible words, sometimes even touching her feet (of course jokingly!)



It was fun to hear Asif's sometimes witty and sometimes foolish comments! You should see his nakhras and style in the pictures people have taken during these rehearsals and I am sure you would be entertained!

Then there was Tejashree, heroine of our most of the songs (Aishwarya of our 'Silsila ye ...' Devdas number,Priyanka of 'Ek mai aur Ek Tu...' number etc. etc.).


I guess no one would ever forget her most graceful step in the song 'Silsila ye...' where she had to put her finger on her chin and wear those very innocent expressions on her face coming in front before the audience and then running all around among the other girls performing with her in that song! She did Salsa also in one of the songs and she did classical dance also in 'Tuj Namo...' - Ganesh aaradhna song.

Next I would talk about Umesh who danced equally well among boys as Dweetee danced among girls. He had the advantage due to his slim-lean body! My most favourite step performed by him was when he had to sit and jump and again sit and jump (in 'Dhoom' title track where Dweetee and Vijaya also had to do the same step with him).I envied him for that step! Vijaya was also a character one would remember! She was distinct among all due to her curly hairs which has also gained her the title 'Maggi' (noodles!).She too was a good dancer. She seemed funny at times when she was dancing in front but forgot her steps and asked the girl next what the next step is! She also twisted her body very well! How can one forget the stunts performed by her and
Dweetee in two-three songs where they had to literally jump on their hands - head down and legs up in the air - and go the other side! She danced very well in 'Hare Ram ...' number from 'Bhool-Bhulaiya' and equally good in 'Tuja namo...' also!(Like Tejashree only - contrast of western and folk).

Tomboy of the girls-group was Mamta whose deliberate pronunciations 'Yoges' for Yogesh and 'Suz' for 'Shoes' always mad me laugh! She was too energetic. Continuous Practice sessions made her sweat and she used to get exhausted at times but she never got tired and never said 'no' to any song to be practiced.


Then there was Deepa who was very enthu, Rukhsana who always made me laugh with her comedy style of speaking and carry herself,


Neeta who danced very well in spite of hurting her leg due to falling down (which she quite often does!), Anuradha who joined late (like me) but picked up her steps quite well, Aarti - my partner in 'Mood Mood ke na Dekh...' number and who danced in 'Dholi Taro...' with rukhsana,neeta and Premila - masked Ganpati of 'Tuja Namo...' aaradhna song.


Vibhuti, Rajani, Meetali and Navneet were equally enthu, energetic and danced in tune with last but not the least, Alpa who was again a very graceful and (I guess learned) dancer. Well, Girls are anyway pretty, delicate yet graceful and do a lot of 'nakhras' so even if they don't dance well, people are going to appreciate them! But I am giving them a genuine compliment! They all really danced well! Cheers gals!


Now Guys ...Asif and Umesh I already mentioned, Suraj - my choreographer for old parody numbers - was very comfortable while dancing and enjoyed his steps very much.




Rajanish could not make it to attend the practice sessions on time regularly but enjoyed his dance and we all loved his spirit!


Dharmendra was a very good dancer and he was complimented by our DMD Chitra mam herself! He used to dance with very nice smile on his face and enjoyed himself while dancing. Viren and Vikram also danced well.



Laxminarayan, also an SWC member, used to go for his dance classes at Shiamak's very often and so used to come late but was quite enthu and enjoyed his dance.


Yogesh also tried to dance his best.Roxy teased him by telling him that he looked like a watchman while dancing!
Vijayendra was our Abhishek Bachchan and he paired with Tejashree for a sequence where he did some salsa also!


Manoj tried to showcase his dancing skills after choreographing Fashion Show in last year's NSE annual day and did a good job.



GauriShankar (whom HitenSir called GauriSankar some times!) was also a good dancer (and a good singer too! I heard him sing a nice old Hindi song in the dress-room once). Then there was Vaibhav who used to enjoy his dance and shake his body very very energetically and enthusiastically. After our rehearsals sessions we used to have a JAM kind of session where some of us used to dance freely and there Vaibhav and Asif were the first to start with all those naughty steps as well as the typical 'Band-Baja' style steps!(Two males bringing their shoulders close, rubbing their chests against each other's and bending their bodies and dancing with hand movements!) Yogesh, Girish and myself also used to enjoy these JAM sessions very much! Sometimes we used to play some very peppy South Indian Dance number and Gaurishankar, Biren and many others also joined in and we used to have some smashing time dancing like nobody was watching us!(Is not that true style of dancing? I had read somewhere 'Dance like No one is watching.')

Pramod, Sujith, Hoshedar, Sijo, Vikas Shrivastava and Deepak also rehearsed hard to perform the Best on the Big Day.

Thus, we all actually had a blast of time during the Rehearsals...!!!

Now let me talk a little about the songs on which we performed.

Dholi Taro number had these four guys : Viren, Vikram, Dharmendra and Umesh and their partners were Aarti, Premila, Rukhsana and Neeta respectively. They were supposed to wear a Gujarati Traditional costume along with a special mask which carried a Girl’s face behind the guy’s costumes and a moustached guy’s face behind the girl’s costume. The choreography was fantastic and they had to frequently turn during the dance to make the opposite gender's face visible and also shake their heads continuously to make the masked faces real and to make them look talking with the guy's or girl's face next to him or her. It was skillful and amazing.

I like the steps choreographed by Roxy very much. All those steps were quite youthful and energetic. They were difficult but at the same time so good that you would definitely like to try and master them! I loved my song 'Jhoom barabar Jhoom' steps also very very much!11 of us were supposed to dance where we were divided into three groups. Initially we all had to sit on our toes and when song starts first 4 guys had to stand up quickly and sit again after 8 bits count the second group members including me had to quickly stand up and again sit back. Finally the third group members had to stand up quickly and do some steps and then we all join them and do some steps in unison! This kind of act of synchronization and coordination always attracted me and here I was a part of such a dance sequence! My God! I was enjoying !!!This song also involved Dweetee and Vijaya coming in the middle of the song, center-stage and perform some acrobatics kind of amazing steps which really looked great! Also one more good thing about the choreography was that we all had to run around using the entire stage space. Finally the exit was also special as we were supposed to go straight to the audience and invite them to join us in dancing!!!


Then there was Rang de Basanti number which was folk based but equally energetic and peppy! Our steps were not very difficult but required lot of energy! Once we had to perform on this song continuously for 4-5 times and we all were panting and sweating like anything! This song was not choreographed till the end of rehearsal period and we finalized some steps just before the day of our grand finale! In the last stanza we wanted to set some difficult and special steps. We set two such steps where Mamta had to run and sit on Yogesh's thigh and he had to lift her and complete a full circle. At the same instance, on either side, Asif and Vaibhav had to lift Tejashree and Navneet on their Backs with the girls keeping their one foot over the shoulder of the guy and the other foot on their back and swing their hands in air! It looked great! And all these while we other three dancers, me, Seeju and Deepa had to continue with normal bhangda steps in the background. We had a hard time setting the special difficult steps and rehearsing them but it was real fun!

Two-three days before our final event, the costumes came and we had to do the rehearsals with costumes on! The idea excited me! Like professional dancers we had to wear those jazzy-gaudy dresses and perform on the stage! The dresses were all showy and with frills and shiny material all above them.

But they were all generic sizes. So for the ones among us who were on little heavier side found problems with these dresses. They were too tight for them. For taller ones among us, these dresses were shorter. But somehow we all managed and the really problematic dresses which could not be helped with were replaced also by the choreographer.(Mr. Hiten himself had arranged to get these dresses for us.)It looked really funny when out of the group of 10 or 12 ,a few wore these dresses and the others were in their normal clothes and all of them danced together on the song.
Many of us were supposed to dance in 4-5 songs so changing costumes between the songs was going to be a tough task that we realized during these dress-rehearsals.


Our Choreographer Mr. Hiten was a man of great enthusiasm and energy. He not only taught us dance but gave us a few simple but very effective and useful tips to enjoy our dance and life. He said we all should not only focus on learning dance but also enjoy these moments of rehearsals where we were making so many new friends, learning so many new things, doing a completely different kind of activity than our routine work life. Me as well as all my friends and colleagues who were practicing there could not agree less on this. We all thoroughly enjoyed these sessions. One more important tip he gave us was to enjoy whatever we were doing. This applies to anything and everything in life. We all should enjoy whatever we are doing, be it work, be it some hobby, be it some daily chore or whatever and then see the difference! He told that we were not professional dancers so mistakes were bound to occur but we should not stop and get very serious about those mistakes. We should continue.(This also applies to Life, of course with learning from each mistake and try so as not to make the same mistake again)One of his tips made us all laugh loud! He said suppose while doing a particular dance sequence everybody in the group has to go to left but by mistake one of the girls forgets this and go to the right side, then she should not get conscious. She should assume and make audience believe that she is the heroine!(and rest of the group members are extra dancers!!!)(However nobody should deliberately attempt this in order to get attention!!!).'You are Hero or heroine!'-This should be your attitude! Audiences anyway do not know what the actual choreography is. They are going to believe what you show or do. So don't get bogged down or get conscious by your mistakes! Get over them. Continue the performance! Enjoy your dance! We all had a good laugh when he shared this philosophical tip in his own idiosyncratic style! Some of us thought him to be over-expressive and made fun of him at times! But that his how certain individuals are!

(Please read all the Masti of the Grand Finale Day along with some very interesting colourful visuals and some more special moments we enjoyed during the course of this dance event in the concluding Blog - part3 )