The all hyped and arguably the biggest cultural fest in Kerala, turned out to be a slaughter-house, unexpectedly tonight. You won't believe it, but painfully yes, my dear friends, I am talking of Ragam 10! Even as I sit here and type, I can hear those atrocious booms and bangs, rite now. . .
In my view, dance is an art, and art is human; which means, art was kidnapped, and murdered openly, at the Open Air Theater. I'm glad it didn't happen elsewhere, in some congested stage, at least art could have had some final air before it died . . . I was there with a freaking 5-mega pix camera, supposed to take night photographs of a freaking Naresh Iyer show, for the media committee. Me being a person who habitually take risks, borrowed the camera from Sunith, and went on with it. Into the O.A.T, somehow managed a 9 sq inch space to stand, that too pretty close to the stage, like some 3 foot away from the ramp (didn't know the power of the media badge till then!), and I even got a hand-rest to take shake free photos( which is nothing other than a foot-support of an inverted table) . There I stood, with some 3-4 drunk men right behind me, to copy-paste some moments of the show, into a camera which has got some serious night-blindness and has no image stabilizer.
Three shots and I'm into the game. Wow man, its such a pleasurable experience to stand in a crowd and take photos, where u have to hold the camera still, and keep on changing the zoom as the guy on stage moves around, and click at the right moments of his expressions, and all this u have to do with those drunkards hanging over ur shoulders. I was getting nauseated by the ambiance! Even the camera seems to be dancing at each click- so much of blur despite being rested upon the above mentioned ARM rest. After some 10 snaps, I noticed that all those were perfectly stereotypic. Tell me, if the guy doesn't show anything new on stage, how the hell would anyone take a different photo after all? He bored the crowd lyk anything, even he looked so bored, and he says we were such a wonderful crowd, and one of the best he ever had. I was lyk Oh my God, so THAT is his caliber. . .
Being a person who respects art, I quit the O.A.T before the audience would probably hurl stones and nilkamal chairs at him. I was thinking, that I would take a break, and return an hour later, for the Choreo nite. So I did. And who knew, that disaster was awaiting?
This time again, testing the crowd patience to the extreme, it started, and me at a better position to take photos, and damn.. "CHANGE THE BATTERY PACK" - says the clicking machine. Had Suman, my co-media mate, given me his cyber-shot as was understood earlier. . . Phone calls, no response, then someone lifted it, can't hear, finally audible, fake +ve response, and then I thought, "ente talelkudi enda wandi odunno?" I chose to sit and watch (yes,I got to sit there, thanks to Media badge again). And there comes the NIT team on stage, with some kind of an assembly line formation, with one guy in white, leading, and the rest all girls in black, but wait, even in the zero light condition b4 the start, I found some familiarity . Yes, its a UV dance show. Memories from LOYOLA, my Alma mater. . .
After a few cat calls, and the lead guy shouting to switch off the lights, the show started. The whole stuff works out under two UV tubelights, and any trace of visible light would expose the non florescent material, like the ppl in black, and there actions, which would otherwise be not seen in UV. It was simply "mindBLASTING", as Russel Peters said once. Splendid effects, excellently worked out, commendable coordination- a beautiful manipulation of the art form. Two minutes into it, and the lights began to flash. I don't know how it happened, but the show was spoiled, as the lights continued their sinful indulgence . Couldn't just bear it. I thought it was a mistake, a misunderstanding b/w the lights man and the dance crew. So I stood there, bearing the pain, till it finishes. Once the torture was over, I rushed to the water melon counter and had 2 full cups. Then we had the new team on stage. Again a UV show... The beginning was perfectly identical, like any two versions of a Kreyzig text book. Still manageable, after all uv is still uv na... But then the disaster struck again, the same disaster. The whole episode was then re-telecast: uv tubes set in front of the stage, dancers coming, the same formations, then the bloody lights start to glow, and the show ruined...
I couldn't bear the torture for more than 4 cycles, so I quit the show. And can you believe it, the biggest show in Kerala, and 4 dance shows ruined by a stupid lights guy?? Adding on to the list, we had NIT team finishing 3rd (out of 4 teams) in the fashion show, that too with Colleges as local as Feroqe college coming first. I dont feel like typing anymore.
It was all puffed up, then punctured, such a disgrace!!!
