I rarely watch opening ceremonies of big events. The
last time I sat in front of a television screen that broadcasted an opening
ceremony was in 2012 during the Olympics (that ceremony was not good at all).
However last night, I sat down with mom to watch the opening night of the 12th South
Asian Games 2016. The reason – two of friends were in the performing crew.
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| Credit: Mumbaimirror |
I had no expectations from the ceremony. I knew
there would be a few musical items and some dances ---- things, which are
nothing to write home about. I watched the whole broadcast, from speeches to the
finale performance. Even though nothing spectacular happened in the show and I
couldn’t even spot my friends, something left me quite impressed. So impressed
that I decided to pen it down here.
The cultural part started with three consecutive musical
performances. Singers like Papon, Zubeen and a few others excited the
spectators as drums rolled into the performing ground. A dozen different drums
were played on stage and marked the beginning of the dances. As soon as the
drumming stopped, hundreds of men rushed into the field and circled around the
stage. Those hundred men, I realised, were wearing different dresses. I noticed
them separating into groups and then it occurred to me that all of them were
going to showcase a different dance of India. I wondered how they were going to
play the music for the dancers. It would be a mess to mix the music of Bihu and
Kathakali and Bhangra and whatever dance forms they were planning to perform. India’s
music and dances are so diverse that putting them together in a same stage at
the same time is almost impossible.
I concluded in my mind that things were going to end
embarrassingly. A few women carrying some peacock like feathers took the
central stage and the rest stayed on their position in a half circle. The whole
ground was covered with dancers. The music started and the camera zoomed into
the peacock dancers. I safely guessed that the song being played belonged to
the peacock women since their steps matched the music’s beat. The dance looked
good with the feathers adding charm to their performances. But I was worried
about what the other dancers were doing. I couldn’t imagine them dancing to the
current song.
The camera switched into a wider view and then I
witnessed the impressive thing.
Everyone on the field was dancing and everyone was doing their own dances. A
group was doing Bhangra, another was dancing Bihu and a few others whose dance
forms I didn’t recognise were dancing too. And the music wasn’t even theirs.
All of them were dancing differently to the same beat. Throughout the whole
performance the music only changed once but the dancers never stopped. It was a
beautiful scene to see so many dance forms of India swaying together to a
single beat. And in that instance, it hit my mind that this is the India I had
always dreamt of. Extremely diverse but sharing the same heartbeat.
Time saver tip: The cultural performances do not start until 1.20.00
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This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
