The whistling noise of the wind outside the living room window and the ticking of the clock are accompanied by the dripping noise of the water in the bathtub, as I lay on a suede brown couch with my legs up on a cheap black Wal-Mart coffee table thumping away on this laptop keyboard. This is my sick day off. I have rashes on my back, an itchy crotch, and a swollen finger and all the while non-drowsy anti-allergy meds are making me sleepy. The workload has my heart beating away at a faster pace for the past couple of weeks and a hectic weekend with 15 hours of driving and a virtually sleepless night call for a physical and a mental break.
A year and a half later I returned to the state of Oklahoma where I finished my master’s degree 3 years ago. Many of the friends are not around anymore but a few have jobs close by and live in the area-- either in the college town or one of the big cities nearby—Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas. I drove straight to a friend’s duplex south of OKC, reminisced about grad school, looked at his year old wedding pictures from Nepal, had some good Nepali food, and spent the night.
The next day Roop and I made it to the college town where a cultural night was in order. Various area student clubs were taking part to showcase the ethnic dances and skits. Nepalese Student Association was one of the many. The two MCs on stage were from India and Cameroon. The Indian guy was practically screaming at the microphone and I could feel the pierce in my ears and such a moron he was that he called the recent Japanese disaster “a wonderful cause” while trying to explain the Japanese Student Association’s fund raising effort for the Red Cross. After all the drama he put on, he practically asked the president of the International Student Organization to thank the MCs at the end of the show which the president did.
I try not to be biased against the Indians even though India is a big bully neighbor of ours and cheap Bollywood hyper-dramas have been portraying Nepalis as gatekeepers for a long time. But when I run across characters like this MC, I find it very difficult to keep a lid on my dislike. I suppose I am an Indian-hater, even though I’ve been supporting their Cricket team from the day I learned cricket. My cricket fever got high during the recent world cup after a very long time of absolutely no cricket at all. Coming back to the topic in hand, Cameroon lady was very professional and soft spoken and I liked her MCing.
The show was quite entertaining overall. Roop casually put it “the quality seems to slide every year.” I debated whether it was the quality of the show or the fact that we were getting fed up year after year. Nevertheless, African Student Association showcased their talents with a regional traditional dance followed by a modern West African dance in spirit of the show’s theme of “Past and Present.” Indian Student Association danced to the tunes of old and new Bollywood songs. Nepalese Student Association performed dances in traditional Nepali clothes to the beat of madal in the old folk songs and to the beat of snares and madal in the remixed folk songs. Sri Lankan Student Association, Bangladeshi Student Association, Vietnamese Student Association, Indonesian Student Association, Thai Student Association all put on great performances and I felt quite cultured by the end of it, all the while a little skeptical to avoid absorbing false information while trying to entertain myself.
The reason for the skepticism was Thai students actually walked on stage with a flag, which I understand but the framed picture of their king is a little absurd. A guest show choreographed and led by Ben of Malaysia with students from all over beating on some humungous ethnic Malaysian drums was tremendous. He has been putting on this show every year for the past five or six years and it hasn’t ceased to amaze hundreds of students and locals in the area. Apparently, Ben got an opportunity to perform during the halftime show of Oklahoma Thunders’ NBA game in Oklahoma City last year.
Indonesians had a very interesting and what looked to be an authentic indigenous dance and they were the winner in the small group category. Nepalese Student Association with a membership of 42, just over 40 to fall into the more competitive big group category, clenched the runner up award while the African Student Association topped this group. I was a happy man to have defeated the Indians on the very same day they had made me happy by winning the cricket world cup.
I try not to be biased against the Indians even though India is a big bully neighbor of ours and cheap Bollywood hyper-dramas have been portraying Nepalis as gatekeepers for a long time. But when I run across characters like this MC, I find it very difficult to keep a lid on my dislike. I suppose I am an Indian-hater, even though I’ve been supporting their Cricket team from the day I learned cricket. My cricket fever got high during the recent world cup after a very long time of absolutely no cricket at all. Coming back to the topic in hand, Cameroon lady was very professional and soft spoken and I liked her MCing.
The show was quite entertaining overall. Roop casually put it “the quality seems to slide every year.” I debated whether it was the quality of the show or the fact that we were getting fed up year after year. Nevertheless, African Student Association showcased their talents with a regional traditional dance followed by a modern West African dance in spirit of the show’s theme of “Past and Present.” Indian Student Association danced to the tunes of old and new Bollywood songs. Nepalese Student Association performed dances in traditional Nepali clothes to the beat of madal in the old folk songs and to the beat of snares and madal in the remixed folk songs. Sri Lankan Student Association, Bangladeshi Student Association, Vietnamese Student Association, Indonesian Student Association, Thai Student Association all put on great performances and I felt quite cultured by the end of it, all the while a little skeptical to avoid absorbing false information while trying to entertain myself.
The reason for the skepticism was Thai students actually walked on stage with a flag, which I understand but the framed picture of their king is a little absurd. A guest show choreographed and led by Ben of Malaysia with students from all over beating on some humungous ethnic Malaysian drums was tremendous. He has been putting on this show every year for the past five or six years and it hasn’t ceased to amaze hundreds of students and locals in the area. Apparently, Ben got an opportunity to perform during the halftime show of Oklahoma Thunders’ NBA game in Oklahoma City last year.
Indonesians had a very interesting and what looked to be an authentic indigenous dance and they were the winner in the small group category. Nepalese Student Association with a membership of 42, just over 40 to fall into the more competitive big group category, clenched the runner up award while the African Student Association topped this group. I was a happy man to have defeated the Indians on the very same day they had made me happy by winning the cricket world cup.
Malaysian 24 Seasons drumming (2010)
Nepalese Student Association (2010)
