It was supposed to be a pre-event and was to be staged on January 23rd as it was a Friday. But this idea seeded only on January 21st leaving us with two days of practice. We got a meeting request for practice on January 22nd. All I knew was that I was suppose to be a Kashmiri as there were only three vacant posts- Kashmiri, Marathi and Bengali. Since, the other two involved draping a saree, I backed off owing to my petite frame and the pain that came in managing an unstitched piece of clothing that too on a ramp. Vishal Wadhwa was suppose to be my partner. Never heard of him though.!
When we went for the meeting. From Kashmiri, I was given the role of a Manipuri, as my almost chinky features and height matches that role. Even my partner changed to Vishal Khandelwal, my best friend. Vishal was not there when this was decided. He was very pissed when he came to know that he was a Manipuri, as he didn’t look an ounce chinky. Just to match our heights he had to dance with me. But I was elated to get him as a partner as he used to claim that he’s a great dancer and even in occasions he showed some of his ‘break- dancing stunts’. The other pairs were- Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannadiga, Keralite, Goan, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and Kashmiri.
When we went for practice, we were told that they will play AR Rehman’s ‘Vande Mataram’ and in pairs we have to catwalk. The order was to come from North and then proceed towards South. So, the order of the pairs were- Kashmiri, Punjabi, Manipuri, Bengali, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi, Goan, Kannadiga and Kerala. When the first pair catwalked it was looking so odd! Finally, everybody spoke out and a new formation was given. Everybody, will do a jig on the folk songs of the respective state for 2 minutes and than we will catwalk on Vande Mataram and we roped in another “Bharat Mata”! The idea came out really well and whatever songs were there in the lappy, the couples started practicing on those songs.
The problem was with us to find a Manipuri song. Though, I am from the north-east am basically an Assamese from Guwahati so Manipuri to me was same as Greek and Hebrew. Also, just two day for the event, finding a song, practicing the steps and keeping the bulk of my time finishing my work assignments seemed suicidal. But luckily, the Cultural Committee was able to convince the HR Director to postpone it to January 27th. After buying time, with two hours of googling and endless downloads, I finally zeroed down to one song ‘Mami Sami’!! It had nice folk beats and sounded just perfect. Though the words were unintelligible everybody gave me kudos for selecting this particular rhythmic song.
The practice session was nightmarish. As Vishal, my partner had two left feet when it came to folk dance. I don’t find myself as a dancing diva but I can catch steps fast and with little practice I carry it off well. Vishal took a full 30 minutes to get the steps right. But I was proud with my partner as there were even worse two left ‘feeters’ around!! Liker the Kannadiga couple was very stiff and conscious, Guru the guy was ostrich like and Mamatha the girl lacked poise and the song was very patriotic as Mamatha wasn’t comfortable with a love ballad!! The Rajasthani guy Piyush, danced aka jumped and shook the whole fourth floor. But full points goes to him for his effort. Comparatively, the guys were worse than we thought and the girls were born dancers.
By the time it was Friday people started backing off as due to the extended weekend people were going for a long holiday. Some backed off as the replacement they got were ‘Aunty’ or ‘Uncle’ types. Moreover, the practice sessions except on Sunday acted as a dampener. The Gujarati and Marathi couple was absconding and had to be replaced.
Come Saturday, we were off to office half-heartedly. Even though had to come to office on a weekend, the practice sessions were fun unlimited! Everybody was in a holiday mood and everybody instead of dancing to their songs were dancing to others songs. Most of the time I was learning Salsa from Sunny the Sardar. Some real pun intended jokes like the Manipuri song ‘Mami Sami’, while ‘Mami’ in North India means sister-in-law from mom’s side. Since no one knew the lyrics everybody started singing ‘Mami, Mama, Chacha(uncle) and what not. Recession had to play a role in our fashion show too. Due to recession, the budget was very less according to Amresh. As a cost cutting measure, Sunny the sardar was adamant that at least a banner should be put up with two bamboos. This idea was vetoed by the rest of us. Also, there was no ramp and we had to do the catwalk in the cafeteria of Hallmark building. The crowd in Hallmark was too rowdy. Cat, wolf whistles, cow mooing, crows, cock-a- doodle- doo anything you name comes from the crowd. Unfazed by this all the couples religiously practiced on January 26th. The programme was shaping up quite well.
With the excitement of practice everybody forgot about their costumes. Finally, Manish, the ‘Ethnic Dress Competition’ winner came to the rescue. All the clothes will be rented. I was at tenterhooks as finding a Manipuri costume in South India is just finding a needle in a haystack. Also, if they get me the Manipuri dance costume than it will be more like weight lifting for me leave alone catwalking and dancing. So, taking the advantage of being in South India where they can’t tell the difference between a Naga, Assamese or Manipuri, I thought of wearing my own costume. Also, keeping the faith that among 900 employees I just know one Naga and the rest are Assamese like me and the one Manipuri I know is on a L1 visa to US of A. I thought of designing my own costume. So I thought of wearing the weaved ‘Mekhla Chadar’ in Manipuri style that my Aunt gifted me in my last visit to Guwahati. I also remebered that her son had performed Manipuri dance in the Assam Governor’s house recently. So with her help and a little googling again I was able to make a picture of my look in my mind. She was very sad that she couldn’t courier me the Manipuri dress due to short notice.
D-day came and after everybody got their costumes on rent which came with a warning that one stitch gone will face heavy penalty in monetary terms. Good that I wasn’t wearing one. With a little help from my friends I was able to drape my costume really well. Thanks to Smita and Smriti, they helped me a lot and the mekhla(skirt) was very nicely draped so that I can dance freely much to my relief. For the last touch of my make-up I had to put a multani mitti bindi that runs from the middle of my forehead to my nose to give that perfect Manipuri look. A frantic search for a toothpick was on in the girls loo. Finally, got one in Payel’s bag. Girls carry everything. Hence Proved!!! Smriti drew the perfect ‘Bishnupuriya Manipuri’ bindi.
When we reached upstairs., everybody looked straight from a Nautanki company(Theater group). Vishal, my partner didn’t look like Manipuri at all. After endless photo sessions, we were ushered in. Everyone performed really well. The crowd behaved themselves and sang ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ . We had to do the programme once more due to public demand.
Than came the reviews, everyone praised all of us. But there were mixed feelings also. Some of the employees thought that we will be paraded in short skirts just like a real fashion show and were disappointed. But as a whole, we were appreciated by all.
For me this was special as I performed after a gap of 10 years almost a decade. It was exhilarating and I believe I carried it off really well, thanks to my partner who kept me grounded and made every possible attempt to cheer me up. Also, the rest of the people, Yashshri, Pratibha, Geetima, and each and everyone of them were very sporty.
To end this post, I would say ‘WE ROCKED THE SHOW! HALLEJUAH”(sic)!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment