Let The Record Reflect The Records We Set

[Post title refers to: Lupe Fiasco, "Never Forget You"]


Oh no! Another big gap between my last post and this. Between family stuff, work and playoff basketball, my brain has been fully consumed. Speaking of playoff basketball, how ca-razy would it be if we saw a Grizzlies-Hawks finals!? I mean, it is not going to happen, but the way these teams are playing right now I just can’t get enough! My early season call was a hopeful one for a Thunder-Bulls matchup. I am still holding on for that. But I am sure you didn’t come to my blog to read about my perspective on basketball. So, back to bhangra. Actually before I get back to bhangra I have to share an idea! I’d like to analogize bhangra team personalities to basketball team personalities. I don’t actually mean I’d like to as much as I mean I would like other people to.

So, riddle me this: who gets to be the Lakers? Sher? APD? KJ? Who on those teams is like Ron Artest? What team is tryna build up the reputation of being hard like the Mavs? (Clutch defense at the end of tonight's game (Game 1) by Jason Kidd yeeee). Who is the JJ Barea of your team? I know some of ya’ll haters make fun of the short kids. Who always puts him/herself in the front in formations (Kobe (I am a Kobe hater for days and days and days))? Who recently realized maybe they shouldn’t put themselves in the front (Lebron) and gave way to the real star to shine through (Wade)? Who performs awesome in the first half and then goes 33% in the second (Westbrook)? Who gets flops around and feigns injury (Peirce and/or Fisher)? Ah, I could go on for days. A quick high five to Kenny the Jet for calling Phil out for not knowing the substitution rule aaand I'm done.

As a reminder of where we left off—Bruin Bhangra 2006! Am I really still talking about Bruin 2006? Who would have thought I could drag this out into so many posts. For those of you fully uninterested in this stuff and wondering when I am going to get to my thoughts on the scene instead of constantly talking about myself—it is coming. I don’t know when, but I will get there eventually. Until then, I hope you are enjoying the story!

Alright, Already, The Show Goes On.
So showtime had arrived and, unfortunately, we were first in the show. There was a lot of semi-hype around LBC that year. One reason for the hype was that LBC was not in the original Bruin lineup. The rumor is that we didn’t actually get in to the show. I don’t know the full details of what happened but my recollection is that when the lineup was released, LBC was not on it. And then there was some discussion/drama on Punjab Online and for whatever reason we were added. Someone correct me if you remember differently! So, before the performance, we had a good group of people chanting our name, getting us pumped for the dance.

As we were waiting in the wings we were all clumped up, getting excited. Gurjit’s brother, Sukh, aka Cooks, was also in the back with us because he was our “flag guy”—the guy in the intro waiving the flag. Dude was mad nervous about being the flag guy. He would waive the flag around and ask if he was doing it right, if we wanted him to do it differently, etcetera. Funny story: He realized right before showtime that he had forgotten to wear a belt and that raising your hands while waiving a flag around in semi baggy jeans in front of thousands of people could lead to a potential mishap. Thankfully, it did not.

So while Cooks was practicing (yes, he was really practicing) I happened to look up at the exact moment he was perfecting his waive and got poked right in the eyeball. I couldn’t see! Everything went blurry! I had a freak out moment and had a serious flashback: once my senior year of college I was at hip hop practice and poked myself in the eye with my own thumb while doing some choreography. I had to make an emergency ophthalmologist appointment (okay fine, my sister made it for me) and learned that I scratched my own cornea. I had to use special eye drops and refrain from fast, spastic movements for two weeks. If you know me, you understand how difficult this is. So after getting hit in the eye with the flag I freaked out for like 2.2 seconds. Cooks still feels bad about this (no really, he does—he is the one that brought it up like three weekends ago, prompting me to write this paragraph). Turns out everything was fine.

Pump up the Jam.
The performance was amazing. That Nas intro still gets me every time. At about 5:50 is where I come into the dance at the back of the triangle formation. Oh that triangle formation. I remember that as we practiced in the Walnut Creek Bart station I suggested that I come out in a triangle formation because I had seen something similar (but totally not the same) in a performance in Michigan for the Indian Students Association (the Dola Re entrance formation for my Michigan people reading this). But spatially, I could not figure out how to move the triangle and how it would work. PJ from Khalsa Junction was at this practice and he contributed to the idea, helping us figure out how to move it. He remembers the story as HIM coming up with the triangle but let’s not give him too much credit. So I will say that, collectively, we all came up with the triangle spinning. And BAM, there I was.

I will never, for the rest of my life, forget the feeling I had when I heard the crowd’s reaction to my appearance. It was the loudest and most impressive crowd response I have ever encountered. It made me feel excited, happy, proud, and humbled all at the same time. I have butterflies just thinking about it. So I danced my little heart out. And then I couldn’t wait to see the video.

Of course, watching the video back I self-critiqued like crazy. All the little parts where I was doing the move slightly different than everyone else, or the ending where my leg was coming in when it should have stayed out. That kind of thing. I picked the performance apart and I braced myself for the feedback. I was convinced that people would say they didn’t like it or that I danced too differently from the rest of the LBC guys, or whatever other critique they could come up with. But I was the only girl dancing with an all guys team, I was fully prepared for any criticism that was heading my way and I knew that ultimately, a lot of it would make me a better dancer. But in that moment, all I wanted to do was watch the rest of the teams dance, cheer my friends and fellow competitors on, and enjoy the show with my team.

You win some. You lose some.
And then it was time for them to announce the winners. All the teams gathered on stage, dancing around and holding hands before the top three teams were announced. Third place, NOT LBC. We cringed, but were slightly excited. Second place, NOT LBC. We cringed again, and were a little less excited. First place, NOT LBC. I won’t lie-we were disappointed to say the least. But for us, it was more about respect, having fun and putting on a good performance. We called ourselves the “People’s Champs,” and I still think we look back and think we earned that title in 2006. We shook the “loss” off and did what we normally do—prepared ourselves for the after party.

Oh, Bruin after parties. We walked from our hotel to the after party (I wore white shorts, a red shirt and red wedges to match my performance outfit exactly like the corny person that I am) and found a long, long, line at the venue. Being the overly assertive person that I am (okay some people might call it aggressive) I marched right up to the front of the line and explained to the organizer that it was ridiculous that they were refusing entry to competitors but allowing non competitors in through the front. I expressed how disappointed I was that our team was being held outside while all of our friends were inside. Funny how life works out: the person I was explaining all of this to was Poonam, who I later befriended and now still see at competitions from time to time. At the time, however, I had no idea who she was and explained that we just wanted to dance our faces off.

Reflection eternal.
After Bruin 2006 I wondered if I would continue to dance with LBC; if they would want me to continue to dance on the team and if they were sick of my constant request to practice, my lame jokes, my annoying, non-stop emails. They were. They still are. But five years later, I am still around. Emailing them nonsense all day, telling them that we should meet up and practice, writing theses on why we should dance again, and so on.

A random note: While I am at it, I figure I should use this post to also dispel a rumor that I didn’t even know existed until last year--the rumor that I performed at Bruin and continued to dance with LBC because I was dating one of the members. I nearly spit my water out when I heard this. In my head, it just made sense that everyone understood that we had a brother sister relationship. We fight like we are family and we love like we are family. And probably much to my parents’ wedding-talk-loving dismay, I am not, and never have been, involved with anyone on LBC. Just had to get that off my chest.

That just about wraps up Bruin Bhangra 2006. But a little pump before I stop—this year’s Bruin Bhangra show is coming up at the end of the month. If you don’t already plan on going, you should change your plans and go. Buy tickets. Go to the pre party, the show and the after party.  I don’t care how old you are or where you live. It is worth it. Come find me and say hi. I will be wearing something bright. And waiving with both hands. At nobody in particular.