Saarang@IITM

For those who don't know saarang is the annual cultural festival of IIT Madras. On the whole I should say this saarang had been good. Apart from the immaturity shown by the coordinators especially in anchoring, I haven't noticed any major glitches. Well, I think I should comment only on the events I've attended.

~Classical nite
There was Bala Murali Krishna's concert followed by gorgeous Isha Sharvani's performance along with Daksha Sheth Dance Company. Definitely Isha was the crowd puller. I haven't seen any classical show (I attended 4 of the 6 since i'm attached to IIT) being so occupied as this one was. BMK was not so exciting. The crowd just clapped his way off (most were sarcastic). Then Daksha Sheth performed Sarpagathi. I still wonder how they managed to impress all (including me) doing sarpagathi without waving their hands over their head, which is the general symbol used by many to depict snake. For those who didn't attend the show, you guys really missed it. Isha was amazing, wonderful, awesome, rocking, ultimate and what not! I'll always remember the padmashana she did in mid air with a little help from hanging rope. With the looks and figure she possesses and the flexibility, I'm sure she will soon be shining among the stars of Bollywood.
~Choreo nite
Though I was very late for this event, I felt that I didn't miss much. It was because 3 out of 4 winners were among those I have seen and most of those were not impressive. I should make a special mention of the 'Loyola College'. They were the one who filled life in the nite. They started claiming themselves as the Dream team of saarang and believe me, truly they are one. Extra-ordinary performance engulfed with great brilliance. Most of the moves were Mind boggling!! Their Performance made me feel like my 150 Rs. didn't go in vain :).
Talking about the performance of host team, i.e., our own IIT Madras, I should say It must be only the choreographer who understood what his team performed. Unlike every year this time they hired a choreographer from outside, by paying him over 60k!!, as if they have no brains. It was the worst performance of the day I have seen. Few other teams were good and ZooZoos were the special attraction. Anchoring was poor.
~LM Show
Shankar-Eshaan-Loy were invited this time. It started with 'tharang' winners and runners-up performing before the musical maestro trio arrived. I don't remember the name of the girl who sang 'Chandralekhaa..', she was great. After that, with all the arrangements settling, Eshaan entered with his guitar, followed by Loy approaching his keyboard and then from the background of the stage was the voice of Shankar with the song 'Dil ka mamle hein Dilbar...' from 'Jhoom barabar Jhoom'. Shankar is an accomplished virtuoso not just in music but also in stage performances. He knows exactly how to keep the crowd off their seats. I myself was jumping and dancing all the time along with my friends. It was just for about half an hour that I was sitting when Shankar moved to melodies and the 'Uncles' (that's how I like to call them) behind me sat down and pleaded and finally shouted at me  to sit. The last half hour was rocking. His breathless record, 'koi kahe kehta rahe..' from 'DCH', 'Sabse aage honge Hindustani'.  Thank God that I didn't fall down or atleast twist my ankle. Thats the way I jumped dancing that time. Anushka Manchandani performed few allowing Shankar to relax a bit. While she made the crowd sleep, Shankar came back with 'Wake Up SiD!!'. Karthik's visit was a surprise. He gave 'Na Nan Na Na Na.. Na Nan Na Na' from Rock-on. Actually it was Rock-on for most of the day starting with 'Pichle sath dino mein' and ending with 'Sinbad the sailor'. On the whole it was a rocking nite, however, a little less rocking than Shankar's previous performance on the same stage 5 yrs back and the anchoring was poor again.
~Panache
A culture show which was an attempt and it actually was awesome. Mostly due to the beautiful girls who participated. It's actually the first time I've seen belly button being exposed in saarang. Well, the regular jeans and T's don't allow it right! I was crushed badly by the looks of the blue dress girl of Mumbai team. Frankly, I would give away my much fav 'adidas' shoe and 'arrow' shirt for a salsa with her :). The immaturity of the coordinators was visible when handling small glitches like delay in arrival of participants and also the way they treated judges both in the middle and towards the end. Anchoring was once again poor. The judges were rude and SSN, who arrived late, had to suffer their wrath. My friend pointed out at a mistake committed by the Mumbai team in their performance, where eventually the lady in blue dress happens to stamp the back of her guy where 'OM' was painted. It is something which should have been taken care. However, even the judges were blind enough to ignore it. There were just 5 teams this time. Hope more will turn up for this event in future.
~Sand Sculpture
It was supposed to be a workshop but actually it was not. We did all on our own. We made another Taj Mahal which looked almost like the first one but smaller in size and sleeping :). We made a gateway to Taj from Love symbol. While shaping the sculpture we noticed a lady exposing half of her naked butt while busy in her shaping business. While we hoped it was a careless mistake, we didn't tell her as we were the only guys to which it was visible.
Remarks
On the whole I enjoyed the 4 days a lot. Girls got hotter this time. More minis and few micros were also seen. Cleavages were not bothered. However, there was a recession of  pretty girls. And now I'm looking forward for other college fests :)