A variety Holi show by Indian students draws 1700
At a time when many professional shows and plays coming from India often have a hard time filling a thousand seats, the Holi Show—now a popular annual tradition—by the India Club of Georgia Tech (ICGT), drew an audience of 1700, which included college students, high school students, families, and several distinguished guests. Celebrating Holi, the festival of colors, this signature event of ICGT, far from loosing steam, has continued to build momentum through the years. A validation of this came from none other than John Stein, Dean of Students at Georgia Tech, who stated that this was the best show he had ever attended.
This year’s show titled “Rang Barse” took place at the Georgia World Congress Center on Saturday, April 18th. The event was directed solely by 23 talented Georgia Tech students, under the leadership of Vijay Palvia and Puneet Agarwal, copresidents of India Club.
The three-hours featured 14 acts by student dance teams from major Georgia universities, including Georgia Tech (GT), Georgia State University (GSU), Emory University, and University of Georgia (UGA). Kruti Dance Academy, a preeminent school of classical Indian dance, also performed. The master of ceremonies was famed comedian Dan Nainan, who was received with generally positive reviews from the audience.
The show began spectacularly with an introductory video, impressive lighting effects, and fast-paced music as the curtains opened to a decorated stage and cheers from the audience. Comedian Dan Nainan introduced the first act, Azaadi, an all-male bhangra team from Emory. The group also managed to incorporate a couple of comedic skits.
“Apsaras” followed with their own representation of Boogie Woogie India. An all-female Bollywood and classical dance team, they performed to well known songs of Madhuri Dixit, Tabu, and Aishwarya Rai.
The atmosphere quickly changed when Jhankar (Georgia Tech graduate students) took the stage with foot-tapping Bollywood songs.
In “Nazaaqat” fourteen talented girls performed to Bollywood songs from Roja, Krishna, and Taal. To conclude the first half of the show, Qurbani, an all-male Georgia Tech team, performed to bhangra and hip-hop while incorporating props, stunts, and theatrics.
In the second half of the show, a video parody on the Filmfare Awards mimicked scenes from popular movies. The newly elected copresidents for 2009-2010, Tarun Aurora and Nisha Palvia, were also introduced.
Southern Raaspitality, a co-ed team from GSU performed garba-raas. They were followed by GT seniors, “Jobless”, a co-ed team comprised of 32 dancers that performed to upbeat Bollywood songs. Their team name was a joke hinting at the difficulty in finding employment in this struggling economy.
“Champa and Chameli,” a classical-fusion, all-female team from UGA, combined Western and Eastern styles of dance. Tufaan, another Bollywood dance team representing GT and GSU, pleased the audience by performing to songs from different decades.
Aasmaan, an all-male team from GSU, incorporated a Troy vs. Sparta theme while performing to bhangra. The show came to a close with the final act, Junoon, a co-ed team from Georgia Tech that incorporated Bollywood, bhangra, and hip-hop.
West Indian cricketer Clayton Lambert inaugurates popular charity tournament
The drama of a historic upset marks this year’s competition.
Team Amigos—the runners up
Team Lanka Lions—the winners
Every year during the month of May, Atlantans who love cricket gather at Georgia Tech for the FutureTech Vibha Cricket Cup. This year the contest was between 46 teams involving over 400 players and participants.
The tournament started on May 9th, and was inaugurated by Clayton Lambert, a former West Indian cricketer and current coach of the USA cricket team. A total of 32 games were held during the first weekend with the first match starting at 8 AM and the last match ending around 9 PM each day. During the first weekend, usually not many upsets are expected, and the best teams breeze through the early rounds without much hassle.
However, this year was different and defending champions Alpharetta Monsters Kings lost to Rapid IT. Monsters needed to chase 75 runs in 10 overs which is a par score but a really good bowling and fielding effort from Rapid IT caused the biggest upset in the history of the tournament and the former champions remain that only. Unfortunately, RapidIT’s victory took all the gas out of them and were defeated by Chattanooga Titans, a team that is playing this tournament for the ninth year.
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