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.