Ripples '09

January 8,9 and 10th : These days were among the first few in my college during which I felt a vibe of uncontrolled, pulsating energy flowing through the halls. Our college arts festival, named "Ripples", kicked off on the 8th of January. Amid all the furore over the results and the controversies and allegations over the wisdom and impartiality of the judges, I started to understand why so many had recommended this college to me!

With the college being divided into Houses, similar to the old model at school, open participation was replaced by house-wise selection, following which alone one could take part in any of the smorgasboard of events. I, myself, was slated to participate in 3 events, on behalf of my house, the Pirates. The first, Gaanamela, was a unique event in terms of its magnitude. In the simplest of terms, Gaanamela saw each House receive 20 minutes to showcase their members' musical talents in as few or many songs as they can manage to pull off within the specified time. Our band chose to perform 4 songs, "Nenjukkul Peididhum", "Ennavale", "Sajna Di Vari Vari", and "Duur", the last of which, I was chosen to sing. Given the late stage at which I joined the band, my song choice was made with the time constraint in mind. I had a niggling fear that Duur would see the end of my aim of singing at future versions of Ripples, as, simply put, I thought the song didn't suit my voice! Given my lack of practice time due to relentless practice for the other events, my faith in my vocal abilities never found solid ground. Eventually, on the day itself, as I hit my first note slightly wrong and adjusted quickly throughout the rest of the song, I felt disheartened. My lack of practice had clearly shown, and even though I was on-pitch throughout the song, problems with the instrument mikes distracted my mind in between the performance, and ultimately left me with a bitter taste in my mouth for not having come even close to my own expectations. Admittedly, the response to my vocals ranged from "OK" to "Superb", suggesting maybe I hadn't done as bad a job as I felt, but my disappointment hasn't yet waned, for I still feel that given a bit more practise, and a little better luck with the instrument mikes, I could've sung with a lot more vigour and confidence than I actually did. Unfortunately for our band, the mixing problems which felped ruin my own song went on to decimate our chances by ruining every other song of ours as well, in particular, our instrumental masterpiece, "Sajna di Vari Vari", feat 6 instruments, which had sounded brilliant during practice. A disappointing 4th place was all that could be achieved.

The second event, on the same day as Gaanamela, was Nostalgia : A group dance performed in a dated fashion in the backdrop of a pre-90's dance track. While all other Houses chose old Hindi songs for their theme, we chose an old Tamil song to shake a leg to. Practice was hectic, and the amount of money poured in to help us out was mind-boggling. 5-6 days of practise was all I had, but that proved sufficient in the end. My confidence, though at rock bottom initially as I'd never even AUDITIONED for a group dance on stage before, began to grow slowly, and by the final 2 days of practice, was higher than I could've ever hoped. Our performance on stage was lauded, and it seemed the fruits of our several hours of practice were beginning to pay off, as the crowd deemed us favourites. I, myself, managed to recollect and perform my steps seamlessly(to my great shock), and inspite of a small slip due to the loose carpetting, my overall performance was satisfactory to me thanks to a quick recovery. Unfortunately for us, the judges found our costumes unattractive, even though one couldn't imagine anything other than a "baniyan" and "mundu" for the song we'd chosen, and our dance, to them, seem too "folk". As a result of these absurd complaints, we were relegated to 3rd place.

The final event, Western Dance, was the showpiece of the final day. Having been pulled into the group only 3 nights before the event, it proved a tall order for me. Combined with Nostalgia, we'd practised relentlessly almost every night, sometimes uptil 2 am. The practices were held at times at the MH, and at times at a 2nd yr, Lakshmi chechi's house, quite far away from our own MH. The practices were exhausting and physically demanding, to the extent that some skin on the toe of my left foot peeled off in the process, forcing me to bandage it till the final performance. Having worked hard to memorize my Western steps in just 2 nights and adjust my timing to perform in sync with the group, tragedy nearly struck as I sprained my back while practising just a few hours before the event. Gulping down a painkiller tablet, I managed to rejoin practise after a rest and subdue the pain enough to be confident of my chances on stage. Being body-painted in scary colours from the waist up, was a new experience for me, and one I doubt I'll forget for a long time to come. On stage, excitement and fear reached out to me in the same breath, but I held my nerve, and did my bit almost to perfection(or at least, as best as I possibly could have), until a small, perhaps not easily noticeable error in the handling of a prop at the end killed my joy and sapped me of my confidence. Tense moments followed, but the announcement that we'd be sharing 1st place was gratefully welcomed.

Over the week or so in which I'd been made to shed a lot of sweat and tears in preparation for these 3 days, I faced exhaustion,anxiety and fatigue as perhaps never before. But truly, in that one week, I enjoyed college life more than ever in the previous 4 months. It was refreshing, and a welcome change from the trappings of the classroom. Seeing the commitment of the many seniors who formed the core of the house was also endearing indeed! Finally, a House felt like something I WANTED to belong to, rather than an unnecessary label. Inspite of the many controversies that surrounded this year's event with respect to the judging and organisation, the urge to broaden my horizons and try my hand at a far greater number of events the next year has already set in. It's an anticipation that keeps growing in my heart, and should reach fever-pitch this time next year. Videos and pictures of the event should appear on this blog in a short while, but for now, my hands are tied! Let's hope Ripples '10 goes much much further in terms of competition, skill and entertainment!

BOLO PIRATES KI JAI!!!