The four days of SPICE -- Day 3, Second Half

Preparing for the Dance was hectic. We, the M.A.M.C. unit, had Orange as our theme colour. We presented a fusion of Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Contemporary dance to a medley of three music tracks, some narration and Vande Mataram. So we had different costumes for each dance form. The two Bharatnatyam dancers had the traditional costume in orange, gold and black. The two Kathak dancers (including me) had the two-piece version of the traditional costume: orange top and lehenga with golden dupatta across the front, above the head and around the back, with golden cummerbunds. The Kathak and Bharatnatyam dancers wore traditional jewellery and long plaits and the requisite number of ghungroo which was of course much more (>100) for the Kathak dancers. The decorative painting of the hands and feet in red colour was also done. Make-up was done in natural shades. For the four Contemporary dancers, the costume was orange bandhgala with a golden V in front and orange leggings. Their hair was done in buns and make-up was done in natural shades except for some green eye make-up. As with all other events, it was a rule to wear the SPICE Club badge over all costume in this event also. As one teacher commented, we looked 'all gorgeous'. However, that was the least of our concerns as the bell rang for the end of break and we fervently rushed to the auditorium. I actually ran there barefoot. I actually had taken a lot of additional time as only one person could manage my massive amount of natural hair and I had to wait till she had finished with everything else she was doing. :P
The event began after the short introduction of judges, who were, like the singing judges, eminent personalities from outside the present Carmel family. However, the short break seemed like an eternity. Next was a moment of frenzy, as we had planned to start and end with on-stage formations. However, there was no provision of raising and dropping curtains during competitions, so we had to make up entry and exit plans then and there. When it finally began after last minute advice (and threats from our Animator about beating me up if I didn't dance as well as I did the previous day at the Campfire :D), I decided to drop all my thoughts and nervousness and give it everything I had, and smile as much as possible. It was over before I knew it. We nervously sat through the nine other performances, gauging our chances. I had made no mistakes, in fact no one had, so it totally depended now on our basic abilities and the concept. Finally the results were being declared, and I hid my face in my hands, listening to my heartbeat quicken. "...Kharagpur, and bagging the gold, the host school, Carmel M.A.M.C.!"...my mind went blank as my teammates screamed. I opened my mouth to join them, but no sound came out. I ran to join the group hug, and as I found my voice, I cried. And then our unit shouted like there was no tomorrow.
In the short break that followed, we couldn't change completely out of costume. We only removed some of the accessories and the ghungroo. Then, for the second session of the day, Sr. Seeja A.C. from Kolkata, who is also involved with the Carmel Eastern Province's NGO The Ashadeep Trust, spoke. She gave an extremely humorous and interesting talk on "Peace For Social Change". It took away much of our tiredness. Then we changed out of our costumes and attended Evening Prayer, conducted beautifully by Kharagpur and Kutra units. After a dinner of rice, dal, curries and fish, we had the Collage event where five students from each unit were shuffled into mixed teams. The theme was 'Make Earth A Home To Live And Give'. The results were declared the next day: no one from my school was there in the winning group 7, but we had members in the other winning groups.
Only one competitive event was left, the Skit to be held the next day. We relaxed, and the Skit girls rehearsed later into the night while others slept somewhat earlier. I slept really soundly. So soundly, that... well, that's another day's story.