Dandiya Night

Friday, 12 October 2007:
Dandiya Night in VJTI.
There was no reason why anyone should not have enjoyed this day. The Dandiya night which was scheduled to start at 5:30 in the evening started at some time around 6:30, but after it started, the dancing only got more and more intense by the minute until 8:30 when the Dandiya eventually ended.
The students of the IT and Comps division, united as always, formed two concentric circles moving in opposite directions, dancing to the tunes of the songs being played, some of them being traditional Gujarati songs while others were remixed Hindi filmy songs (which would have been completely out of place had this been a traditional Dandiya Ras). Needless to mention some of the group were very good dancers while others like me were so pathetic that they would have made a Hippo look more graceful in comparison. While I enjoyed every moment of the two hours worth of dancing I certainly irritated some of the better dancers of our group (boys and girls) one of whom couldn't stop shouting at me "left - right, both" (as if we were marching) when the two of us happened to face each other.
One of my friends also happened to have her birthday on the same day. I wonder what she thought about the Dandiya as her Big Birthday Bash. Another one of my friends was complaining that he was not well and could not attend the Dandiya. I, and some other friends insisted that he come for at least a few minutes. He came, the "few minutes" came and went but he remained for the whole duration dancing continuously and forgetting that he was supposed to be sick. I just hope he did not run a fever that night after the intense dancing.
So all in all I think everyone had a great time. I would now like to thank the Indian traditions for their foresight in making Dandiya a traditional dance in which girls and boys dance together, else the extremely "traditional" (or orthodox would be a better word) authorities in our college would have dropped a curtain between the Girls and Boys sections and separated the two again. For me that evening was special for more than one reason.

Of lectures and commentry

         Students of VJTI who may read this post (?) don't need me to describe to them how lectures are conducted in the age old institution. The EDC teacher for the IT division is a typical example of the sub standard faculty at VJTI. (In her defense I will state that this is probably her first stint at teaching, and the subject is very dry.) The only good thing about her lectures is that she is hardly bothered about what happens in the class, which means that we get ample scope to complete journals, study some other subject, or persue any other leisure activity of our choice. It was not much different today on 11 October 2007. What was special about the day was that there was an India Australia cricket match on this day and when India elected to bat everyone was keen to listen to the commentry rather than be bored by the EDC lecture. I am afraid that those who chose to listen to the commentry probably repented over their choice especially since India played the most horrid game of cricket imaginable, and those who listened to the commentry may have thought as an after thought that maybe the EDC lecture was not such a bad deal after all. Now even though the EDC teacher is not much perturbed over the lack of attention, I am sure that she would not be impressed if she were to spot any one wearing ear plugs and listening to the commentry while she is teaching. So while I sat in front, my friend Paresh sat behind me and listened to the commentry. I screened him from the teacher's view and he provided a ball by ball update which I in turn relayed to those in front of my. More often than not the update was tragic rather than entertaining and even though the Indian team collapsed for a pathetic total I don't think that the teacher had a clue of how far the students' minds were, reaching from VJTI to Vadodara where the match was being played. But narrating the experience here hardly describes the actual feel of it. You have to be a VJTI IT student to know.

(I do not believe that this experience is unique and probably other students in other divisions of VJTI and other colleges may also have had similar experiences, but it is quite likely that I may be one of the few people to write about it.)