“Come on Dnyanesh, you just can’t write a romantic poem out of the blue. Just tell me who’s that girl? Tell us about her” asked Gauri
“Brown eyes, short height and a cute smile with some Gen-Z traits like listening to remake of old songs, that’s all I can spare, don’t ask for more”, I replied.
“Wait what? She listens to that musician? Dude just drop her, how can you like someone with such a pathetic music taste?” Said Gauri
“नाही पण seriously, कसलं नशीब ए तिचं. आमच्यासाठी नाही बाबा कुणी कधी अशा कविता वगैरे लिहिल्या! सांग ना काय नाव आहे तिचं? Or shall we guess?” Vedika added.
At the four wheeler parking of DESPU’s building in the BMCC campus, 3 confused souls were thinking about what exactly to do in the cultural fest until the topic changed to that specific girl who wasn’t there at the moment. Gauri and Vedika thus started a great conversation that was so hilarious it made it to the top of this blog.
Mandar came around with Shiva and Natasha. After a while, Pournima and Aishwarya also joined. A group of girls led by Priya were practicing their dance. I went to add some points only to find myself, Pournima and Mandar eventually participating in the group dance. That was a moment’s business though, as the entire dance was cancelled, but we did have some fun that day.
Gauri and Vedika had already left before Priya had arrived for their dance practice. I went to them for their bluetooth speaker, practiced a few songs and then we left.
The next day, there was an induction programme at college. I led the PGDBF batch as a CR, but I don’t really think I did anything. Something was playing in the back of my mind. New beginnings were seeded in 2 pots, both being equally important. On Saturday, I practiced along with Gauri, Vedika and Mansi. Some rascal had locked us for a while in classroom number 405. The girls were a little anxious but I was having fun in that moment.
The organizing team said there was going to be a stage practice of performances on Sunday. I came on Sunday only to find the stage was yet to be set. I returned home. The 3 girls Gauri, Vedika and Mansi practiced their dance all day long in the same classroom. I went there in the evening and the stage was still not complete. I had a practice session with the 3 girls again and we all left together.
It all started with the announcement of cultural fest. The B. Tech guys had taken over the entire responsibility of the fest since the beginning with 3 of our PGDBF girls, Sonali, Vaishnavi and Rutuja being in the organizing team as well. In the very beginning i.e. two weeks prior to the event, I had come up with a plan of dance-cum-act which did not work out. I focused on my singing performance instead. The events described above were from 6 days ago to the fest, to a day before the fest i.e. 12th to 17th March 2024. Many things changed in between.
The fest started on 18th March in the afternoon. On the first day, the dress code was traditional. I performed a poem at the open mic session, which got a decent response from the audience. The 2nd day was really a fun when the dress code was Bollywood. Me, Shiva and Mandar became random South Indian characters wearing lungis. Shiva did look like an authentic one. Rabina had become Geet from Jab We Met and she was just the right fit in her costume. 3 more girls who did a spectacular job in choosing a costume and looking like a character were Mansi, who became Meenamma from Chennai Express, Aishwarya who became the retro Sharmila Tagore character and Pournima who had become Sheila. PGDBF batch literally won the Bollywood Cosplay but nobody praised us, nevermind.
On the same day, there were fun games where I guessed the movie characters right and got a chance to feed Om and Rabina pieces of apple dipped in salt. Indeed a great memory when Rabina said “Maine kya bigada hai tumhara”. There was another Bollywood quiz won by our team including Me, Pournima, Aishwarya and Mandar.
Third and final day was the day of performances. For some reason those B. Tech guys put my performance first. I chose a good costume set. More than the song, I liked the way I controlled the crowd in the beginning and the way I urged them to enjoy every performance including mine. I did not sing as well as I thought I would, but the response was decent so it’s okay. These 4 girls, Mansi, Vedika, Gauri and Vaishnavi set the stage on fire with their performance. Aishwarya stirred everyone’s soul with her “Mere Dholana” while Rabina brought laughter riots in her act. Apart from ours, these two guys, Yugandhar Kulkarni and Vaishnavi Sonawane who performed Bansuri play with classical dance were outstanding. The solo dance followed by Rabina’s act was the best performance ever. One thing that was the most celebrated, was Shiva’s DSLR camera!
The performances were followed by DJ Night. Everyone danced like crazy. We all had dinner together and clicked photos.
I missed college life because of my curriculum back in my graduation days. I’m really thankful that I have these moments to cherish. Moments like one described in the beginning, being locked in the practice session, winning the Bollywood quiz and many more. These will become random memories to bring a smile 5 years down the line.
Warm Regards
Dnyanesh Make “The DPM”
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