05/03/10
Tonight was the North Eastern students Guest Night. I have to say, it was far more organised and professional than our own Grand Shambles. But then, that wouldn't have been hard in all honesty. They followed about the same schedule as we did, with a welcome address, cultural program, dinner and dance. Their chief guest was Deepak Pental, the VC of the University, who, I am sure those of you who remember my earlier blogs will see no change in my opinion, was characteristically late and completely boring and ineffectual. He is such a drab man. Nothing in comparison to all the turbaned stature of Navjeet's father. He exudes 'imperial'. Deepak exudes something along the lines of 'a wee cup of tea'. He is small, wears drab brown clothes (the male equivalent of your granny's), has a droopy expression, a weak smile, unmemorable voice and action, shuffles, and is quite saccharine and silly. He isn't even old. I could forgive an old man. Not a middle-aged one. Sigh.
So of course, he was late, and I had to sit waiting for about two hours getting my legs gnawed to pieces by mosquitoes. I still have the scabs. Not cool. Our mess men were wanderign through the crowd keeping everyone sustained with veg croquettes and fizzy pop though and they laughed when they saw me there. Eventually everything got started though, and the night opened with the cultural dress show. I was most taken with the different Naga and Mizoram dresses. The Naga dress is a patterned woven scarf/skirt that is sort of like a kilt in size and function. It come in varying patterns, depending on the tribe to which the wearer belongs, and whether it is a particular festival, or if it is a married/unmarried woman. They have long strings of jade and ivory beads as well. The Mizoram dress has tall head dresses of flowers and pompoms and peacock feathers. One of the head dresses had two prongs sticking out the sides with long strings of green beads and this one was for more auspicious occasions. After the cultural dress show, there were various dances from the states, including a brilliant one that is done at Assamese New Year. There was a group of boys, all using their own instruments to make the music and singing the lyrics (there was one particular one, Raj, who could REALLY sing, and who I would have happily listened to all night), and then the girls came on to participate in a group dance. It was very joyful, and there was one move that did remind me sort of the funky chicken. The Naga and Mizoram dances were fun as well, lots of stomping and jumping involved. Some of the girls put together a Western Revue dance that was also really well done. They had obviously practiced for a while, as they could even all do the Beyonce Single Ladies dance. I was impressed. After the dances, the girls had got a local group in, The Skinny Boys, who were all either North Eastern or Korean (they tend to be the other cool kid group around here) and who were all girls. They were really very good, and the lead singer and the drummer were particularly good. It was a really nice way to wrap up the programme and wait for dinner. After dinner we had paan (got to love paan). I have learnt to ask for mitha paan now if I ever want sweet paan. Though I tried it with the betel nuts for the first time and I had to spit them out as I couldn't even try to chew them they are so hard. By the end of my second one my teeth were a nice red colour. Thankfully, everyone else's were too, so it wasn't a massive issue. After the dinner there was a DJ (a good DJ at that!) until half twelve and we danced like loonies for about two hours. Met a few more really nice girls, including one from Assam who does physics, and who offered me to stay in her house if I go to Assam in May.
I left feeling incredibly happy. It was probably better than our own Guest Night.
Also, note on the fashion of the North East girls - they know how to dress. Buggered if I know where they find these clothes, but god are they fashionable. One girl was in a black, blue and bright pink swirl pattern chiffon playsuit. A playsuit! A chiffon playsuit!!! In DELHI!!!!
All is not lost.
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