Holi Celebrations

So this weekend, the Hindu Temple here in Cincinnati had a big Holi celebration program which included dance performances by kids of all age groups. And Bollywood song and dance sequences have always been my favorite. I was so mesmerized by that entire program that I didn't even try to get to the food stalls where Samosas, Bhelpuri and chaat were lined up.

Anyway, that evening brought back 2 realizations to me:

a) Seeing all those little kids, specially girls, all dressed up and with their moms' entire make up kit put on their face, I just reminded myself how desperately I want to have a girl.

b) It also reminded me how participating in a choreographed dance sequence was my desire and passion for such a long time and the one time I finally was able to fulfill it.

It was the time I was at BHU, in 3rd year. Every year, we used to have freshers party for the new incoming batch and a farewell party for the outgoing batch.

And being the conservative place Varanasi was,and also given the fact that most of our batches had a boys to girls ratio of 1:10, most of these events had boys in the lead.
And girls were given the responsibilities like creating the banners, decorating the hall, wearing sarees and looking good.

So, the second year I was there, at the farewell party, I broke the tradition by volunteering to do compering for the party.

And then there was this friend of mine in my batch who was nick named "Prabhu Deva of BHU" obviously thanks to his expert dancing skills. On each event, he used to take a group of boys and train them on a dance sequence for the event. So one time it was "Main to hoon Paagal Munda tu hai meri soni kudi" and the other time it was "Hello Doctor dil ki chori ho gayee"

Finally comes the third year and it was time for the farewell of our own batch.
Now because Mr Prabhu Deva was a good friend of mine, so I convinced him to try some thing different before we left the university. Instead of boys, have a dance sequence with girls.
And my persistence finally won over his reluctance.

And quickly we selected the group and the song

For practice, we "borrowed" one of the rooms every evening for an hour from a friend who lived there.

And this entire thing was kept as secret to reveal it as a surprise element on the event. And finally, the event day arrived.And given the fact that no one knew about it before hand and then it was intentionally kept as the last item in the event, everyone was taken by surprise.

And did I enjoy it? A lot !! The music, the rhythm, seeing the looks on the crowd !! I can tell you I can still feel the chills going through my spine as I write it even after about so many years.

And the best part, one of my professors, who was known for his very serious nature and very difficult exams, gave a compliment "I never knew you had this talent too !! (Because till now, I was known more for my programming skills rather than any thing else)

So, the event at the temple brought back all those memories and all the music made me tap my feet all the time.

PS: (Edited to add): I didn't realise it until Nancy pointed it out that I never "explicitly" mentioned the song we all danced on. It is actually the same song I linked below. Falguni's "Maine payal hai"

Oh, and before I sign off, here's the song that I still adore to this day:




Enjoy ...
Dil se

Nach Baliye

A dance song tag moving around and I am not in? I just could not pass over this opportunity and here they are, my all time favorite dance songs !

1. Mention dance and not Madhuri: That's just not fair. And when she pairs with Prabhudeva, the Indian MJ, the combo is just super. Watch it yourself

2. And then Mads paired up with Karisma in DTPH. Apart from the fact that it was a SRK movie, I loved the movie because of its songs and dance.


3. Dance and Akki: They are not separate from each other. So here's one from Akki's movie which is my fav:


4. Ishk-vishk: I loved Shahid in his first movie and specially this song:


5. And then how can I forget this song from Big B


6. Rangeela girl: I am sure all the guys out there will agree with me on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCLBM2IkHc
(Sorry could not find embeddable link for this)

Enjoy !!