Ragam '09 and all that jazz- Part 1

Ragam '09 was as promised bigger, better and all that, inspite of the Salsa Workshop getting canceled coz of some silly prank by some of the students( they put up a notice stating they are the Shiv Sena and if we're going to have a salsa workshop, we're all gonna be in 'Big Trouble'. The Director and faculty took it pretty seriously). Goes on to prove my theory(Chennai Chronicles 2, pt 9) about the curse.

So here's like a Ragam '09 in a Nutshell (albeit a big one, considering it's me who's making it) :

For starters all the proshows were awesome. Packed crowds, no glitches, security was pretty good and was very well-organized. Everyone danced their heart out and there were no incidents as far as I know.

I had heard Shanker Mahadevan was a great 'performer' and 'knew how to entertain the crowd' but never quite got what that meant. I mean, I knew that not all singers were good Live on stage, they don't quite have Ze Charisma and all that, but wasn't until Shanker M performed that I fully grasped what it implied.And I found myself telling people after the show 'Shanker M , yeah, he really knows how to entertain the crowd.',lol.



Benny Dayal although proving to have a slightly eccentric wardrobe(a checked pyjama with a shirt , a tie and pullover. no kidding. and yeah, with every song,he kept changing his headgear...which ranged from skull caps to rainbow coloured hats.)packed in quite a few songs in 2 hours time.Was great fun.



Breathe Floyd was super cool too. And especially enjoyed it coz...umm..well, I kinda have never attended a Rock show before. Yeah, well, in my defense, I do not like heavy metal/metal rock and most of the bands which played during the past ragams belonged to that category. Of course, I do enjoy the occasional growling when I'm in one of those moods(which frankly are quite rare), but listening to over two hours of metal, growling and screaming - not my idea of a good time.


Anyhoo, a tribute Pink Floyd band, was something i was willing to try. I haven't listened to too many but the ones I have, me likey.So off I went. and am sooo glad I did. The sound system, more than anything else, floored me.Was like I had my headphones on. And from as far as I could make out it was pretty much Pink Floyd ( and if u want a more expert opinion, bro, who had come down for this show, said most of them save for 2 sounded like the original). The stage lights were awesome too..all bathed in pink light (the lighting guy sure had a sense of humour ).


The guys were actually pretty old, all in their 4o's. Could just picture them in their backyards in their bermudas mowing the lawn, humming a happy tune. :). But man, they sure can play and sing. Must have ben quite a challenge for them to sing in the hot, sultry weather. Poor guys kept drinking bottle after bottle of water and wiping their faces with a towel every now and then.



Liked the decorations along the Rajpath, was simple and somehow interesting.

Hated the monstrosity they made in the Centre Circle, although at night it wasn't so bad.

They were two informal stages this time: The English ('Who needs Idols?') and the Malayalam (' Echusmi edhu collegilla?') which were pretty good. As in the mal one was in the Rajpath and the other a bit further off, so they were more things happening at different places;kinda helped the crowd wander about a bit.

Was even a 'Carnival' Stall this time, like a mini game arcade ( mini golf, darts etc). was new for this ragam, so it had only a few games, but were good fun and did attract the crowds (and from what i heard raked in quite a lot of cash too.) They had the comp flash game called 'helicopter', u know the one where it's all green and black and you have to guide the helicopter dodging all the obstacles and go the max distance. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why I suck at it. I mean, it's just moving your mouse up and down to move that silly helicopter but no matter how early i move the helicopter up when there's an obstacle down, it never goes up in time and manages to crash right into the rock thingy. I once made it to 1000 mts(?) but that's after, I don't know, such intense concentration, it'll put any yoga practioner to shame. Must say something about the state of my limbic system and the prefrontal lobe (things which i didn't know existed in my brain till I read(partly) 'Emotional Intelligence'. got bored one day, went to the bookshop and bought it. Don't ask me. i have no clue either why i thought reading 'emotional intelligence' could alleviate my boredom then.)

And oooh, the food ensemble was definitely better than last time. Cafe Coffee Day, Subway, a My Roll Junction along with the usual Broast, Oasis etc. I had sooo many Cool Blues, that my tongue was perpetually blue during those three days. I never had it from ccd before coz usually it's quite cold inside already, so i end up with a nice Hot choco-latte accompanied by of course, Ze Chocolate Fantasy or the Chicken Tikka Sandwich. But the heat was so bad that the thought of anything hot was enough to get one sunburned. Oh yeah, and there was Baskin Robbins too. All of which were great hits in the hot and humid Calicut weather.

Ok,This post has gotten way too long and I'm feeling way too lazy now:). Ill leave the rest for the next post. Toodles.

Photos Courtesy Bharath N.A and Vineet Sam John