Oasis

Every year, BITS puts on a cultural festival where they invite schools from all over the country to come participate. There are professional shows with Indian pop starts, dance competitions, jam sessions, art showcases- all sorts of stuff. 40 schools sent students (around 1000 students total) so it was a bit crowded here. Classes were canceled, students from other schools were camped out in the classrooms, and there were events, non-stop, for 96 hours.

There was a program for the week, but I quickly discovered that it was more of a vague idea of the sorts of things that might go on, rather than an actual plan. Many of the things I tried to go, I was never able to find. Sometimes I would randomly stumble onto to something I had wanted to go to at a different location, on a different day, and at a different time. And, often- when events did happen- they weren't as advertised. The western acoustic jam, for example, was all synthesizers and electric guitars. So, I quickly learned to not get all that worked up over schedules and just wander around vaguely and see what I ran into.

On the whole I was saddened by how most of the students just seemed interested in trying to copy western styles of music and dance. There was very little that didn't have an MTV feel about it. One truly Indian thing though, happened at one of the professional shows I went to. The performer was Lucky Ali- who is apparently a really big deal Indian Pop Star/ Bollywood actor. So at the concert, the students all rush to the front and are dancing. Well, I ended up getting roped into sitting with some faculty and this big deal guy in the administration is there with us and we are sitting on the second row. So, this guy gets mad that the students are all standing and blocking his view. I suggested we move to the balcony for a better view. But of course- it was also not at all cool that men and women were dancing with each other, so he starts telling them to sit down. And here is the part that I couldn't believe- they actually did! And keep in mind- a lot of these students didn't even go to BITS. They were from other universities. They had no idea who he was and knew that he didn't know them. And when I say all- I mean all. He spread the word to every students- not just the ones in front of us- to sit down. It took almost the whole concert of him going- hey- pass the word to the guy in the red jacket- but he got them all to sit down. So around the time he got the last of them to sit down- the show was over. Then Lucky Ali came out for the encore- and everyone jumps to their feet. He started trying to get them to sit down again. It was so hard not to laugh at him.

Anyway- the pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/Oasis Sorry there aren't too many. Most of what I took didn't turn out at all because of the weird lighting.