Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Color Color Color Color
yeah, lots of them..from the trees..Went to Smokies last weekend to capture some fall colors pics and also go on a 5 mile hike. Needless to say, it was wonderful! Here are some pics of that..
http://picasaweb.google.com/yv.vikas/SmokiesSnaps
http://picasaweb.google.com/yv.vikas/SmokiesSnaps
Friday, October 27, 2006
Our Diwali Event
Had our Diwali event last week on Sunday, Oct 22nd... This time, me being the President of the Indian Students Association in my university meant much more work and running about for Diwali. Luckily, we have a good committee team and lots of volunteers from the new students batch with lots of enthu in them.. Dunno how many sleepless nights we have had before the event. Practice for all the programs started at a slow pace, and then built up in the last week. My head has gone bonkers after continuously listening to the fashion show song which was mixed and matched by me. BTW, I have taken part in a fashion show 4 times after coming to UT. I think thats one career option which I can take up if I am jobless after my MS!
Anyways, so while all the practice was going on, we also had to distribute fliers everywhere for advertising the event. The local newspaper contacted me and my roommate for an interview and published it before the event. The Funny part, I am called as "Yv" throughout, they thought thats my last name! I Bet even the Chinese cant pronounce that properly! Here's a link to that article.
So things were getting busier by the day. We had our final rehearsals at the auditorium on Friday. Most events looked good, there was also a Desi rap performance which rocked! Our Fashion show still needed some work to be done, both in the formations and in my music. Yet another night-out listening & mixing that song...
Saturday, the day before the event - we kinda relaxed during the day, there was a home football game which UT won by a close margin against Alabama. Their performance is much better this time than last year and is in the Top 10 now. Anyway, after the game, went back to our rehearsals and I also had to work on a video about India. After much brooding over the song selection, chose a fusion piece by Talvin Singh and started collecting the slides for my video. Never knew Windows Moviemaker is such a good tool!! Sat for the video till 5 in the morning, went to sleep for a while and got back up by 7. Added a few final touches to the video, showered & dressed up, and got ready to leave home by 10 AM.
D-Day: (Diwali-Day) We were in the Audi by 10.15 AM and moved some of the drinks and food supplies like plates, cups etc.. to the lunch area. We were waiting for the decorations group to arrive, and they could come only by 11.30 AM. They started work immediately at the auditorium. The food also came that time, and by the time we set up everything, there was already a queue of people for the food! By 12.15, started issuing tickets and boy, there was a pretty big crowd for the food!! More than 220 people ate the food while most committee members had to remain hungry as the food got over in time (in between, even the plates got over and there some panic for a short while before new plates came), around 1.45 PM. By then, the stage was set up, the lights, sound team was ready, the hosts were ready, and I hadn't prepared my speech yet! Thx to Arpit who suggested a few sentences, I put them together.
The show started pretty much on time, only 10 mins late which is pretty good by Indian standards! Started with the Diya ceremony which went very well, followed by National Anthems, and then my turn to speak! Blabbered a few sentences quickly and got off stage, have to check the video to see how stupid I looked...anyways, after that, there was a talk by the chief guest, and then the cultural events started. Things went pretty smooth after that, and before we realized, it was almost 4 PM and the last program was left, the Fashion show. Before that, my video was presented and some people liked it. So, not a wasted effort. Fashion show also went pretty well and by 4.15 PM, the event was over. The feedback for the event has been good and everyone liked it! A big burden off the shoulders and a job well done by each and every person. I enjoyed every moment of this Diwali preparation! Now, Its back to studies and exams! and the trip to India I am waiting for so desperately!!
Anyways, so while all the practice was going on, we also had to distribute fliers everywhere for advertising the event. The local newspaper contacted me and my roommate for an interview and published it before the event. The Funny part, I am called as "Yv" throughout, they thought thats my last name! I Bet even the Chinese cant pronounce that properly! Here's a link to that article.
So things were getting busier by the day. We had our final rehearsals at the auditorium on Friday. Most events looked good, there was also a Desi rap performance which rocked! Our Fashion show still needed some work to be done, both in the formations and in my music. Yet another night-out listening & mixing that song...
Saturday, the day before the event - we kinda relaxed during the day, there was a home football game which UT won by a close margin against Alabama. Their performance is much better this time than last year and is in the Top 10 now. Anyway, after the game, went back to our rehearsals and I also had to work on a video about India. After much brooding over the song selection, chose a fusion piece by Talvin Singh and started collecting the slides for my video. Never knew Windows Moviemaker is such a good tool!! Sat for the video till 5 in the morning, went to sleep for a while and got back up by 7. Added a few final touches to the video, showered & dressed up, and got ready to leave home by 10 AM.
D-Day: (Diwali-Day) We were in the Audi by 10.15 AM and moved some of the drinks and food supplies like plates, cups etc.. to the lunch area. We were waiting for the decorations group to arrive, and they could come only by 11.30 AM. They started work immediately at the auditorium. The food also came that time, and by the time we set up everything, there was already a queue of people for the food! By 12.15, started issuing tickets and boy, there was a pretty big crowd for the food!! More than 220 people ate the food while most committee members had to remain hungry as the food got over in time (in between, even the plates got over and there some panic for a short while before new plates came), around 1.45 PM. By then, the stage was set up, the lights, sound team was ready, the hosts were ready, and I hadn't prepared my speech yet! Thx to Arpit who suggested a few sentences, I put them together.
The show started pretty much on time, only 10 mins late which is pretty good by Indian standards! Started with the Diya ceremony which went very well, followed by National Anthems, and then my turn to speak! Blabbered a few sentences quickly and got off stage, have to check the video to see how stupid I looked...anyways, after that, there was a talk by the chief guest, and then the cultural events started. Things went pretty smooth after that, and before we realized, it was almost 4 PM and the last program was left, the Fashion show. Before that, my video was presented and some people liked it. So, not a wasted effort. Fashion show also went pretty well and by 4.15 PM, the event was over. The feedback for the event has been good and everyone liked it! A big burden off the shoulders and a job well done by each and every person. I enjoyed every moment of this Diwali preparation! Now, Its back to studies and exams! and the trip to India I am waiting for so desperately!!
