Satrangi Show Review - Jan 21

BharatBeat went to see the first winter recital of the Santrangi School of Fusion at Kean University. In one word the 2+ hour extravaganza was just outstanding.

Let me start off by giving my disclaimer that I may sound prejudiced because my daughter was performing with this team last night and thus my expectation was high to begin with. Yet every aspect of the show was just outstanding, regardless of whose child was performing. The entire presentation did not disappointment your Bharatbeat team!. I sat there thrilled to see the cohesive efforts that this team put together!

Where do I start? I've known the Satrangi team for over 11 years now as my daughter was one of the original dancers that performed when this team was just in it's infancy. This original team performed almost every weekend at many South Asian celebrations across New York/Jersy. Yet I digress, this blog update is not about the past it's about the performance of last night!

Over 150 team members from the age of 4 to adult put together a show which could best be described as combination of the Indian slant on Romeo and Juliet.. Unrequited love across generations!


The costumes, choreography, the energy, the passion displayed by this team was  unbelievable. It seems this team when they hit the stage just turns it on to the next level of perfection and entertainment. Since my daughter was part of the team that performed, I knew the tireless multi-month efforts that this team had put forth to put on a production of this magnitude.

I know from experience that the kids (and of course adults) that performed are true NRI's. Many of them have never been to India, yet the passion and dedication that they show for the Indian culture comes out in their art of dance.

Many of them I'm certain are born in America and have not made may trips (if any) to India. The parents of these kids have dedicated their time, money, energy and encouragement to these kids to learn very complex dance steps. There were at least 20 to 30 parents that volunteered to do makeup and prepare this huge group of dancers to be ready to put together this extravaganza. Many parents have been doing this for months! I remember when I used to do this and let me tell you volunteering and preparing these kids to perform is no small task and it is not without these parents dedication that the show goes on!

The costume changes, the makeup, the organization of the Satrangi team is just beyond belief. My dear friend Rohit Baxi has truly hit the big time now with this performance. When the show is shown globally on Zee TV, it will surely be the icing on the cake to reward him and his team for the hard work and dedication that his team executes for every performance.

Congratulations to the Satrangi School of Fusion on this amazing show that they put on. BharatBeat looks forward to seeing future shows of this team who we consider to be a true example of NRI's with attitude!

If you would like to comment on this review, let us know on our Bharatbeat Facebook page and give the site a huge Like.

Kalmadi CWG Scam - A mockery of judicial system

First of all our Judiciary system is at fault, why arrest someone and later let them go on bail? is this all part of a well staged act? first few times CBI will oppose any bail petition and then they wont, why? god only knows. We believe it is part of this corrupt government's game plan which is, if you are accused and if media is pounding on the issue, arrest the accused, put him/her in jail for few months so that media will loose attention on them, slowly grant bail and get the accussed back on track. Well first we got independence from British and now we may have to fight for independence from an Italian family.

Click here to read the full article.

SpiritPop and BharatBeat

Take a look at our youngest BharatBeat Contributor's blog: SpiritPop..

XMAS Day - Movies and Indian Behavior

BharatBeat went to the movies on Xmas Day (evening)  to see with family and friends to  see the new Bollywood buster hit movie "Don 2". This posting is not about this excellent movie, but the abhorrent and careless/in-sensitive behavior of the natives that go to Indian Movies. I was apalled at the embarassing and rude behavior of the parents that bought their infants to this movie.

From what my dear wife tells me this is the norm. So I guess having crying infants, and toddlers running amok is normal for Indian Movie goers.. To me this is just ridiculous..

She also told me over and over again, you can't expect normal behavior of parents at Indian cinema as opposed to what you see in American theater goers.. Why not??  She also told me to just ignore and don't make a scene..I just couldn't help myself to applaud the parent who finally picked up his roaming son who was going up and down the stairs 10 times during the entire move.


From the time we sat down to the on our nice seats at Regal Cinema in North Brunswick, NJ time the movie finished, I truly felt that I was in some time warp or in "India" where there are no respect for other moviegoers or parental discipline (common sense anyone?) shown by the 50 or so parents that bought their infants to this movie.

Knowing full well that the kids would cause chaos with crying and not staying in their seats, why would they bring their infants and/or toddlers to the movies? It's truly amazing that these parents would show the same lack of basic common courtesy and respect for other moviegoers. Do they do this  if they went to see any American movies?




Here's what I observed during the 3 hour movie:

• One toddler going up and down the stairs at least 10 times without the parent taking the child. I was tempted to give a standing ovation when the father finally carried the toddler after this tenth trip up and down the stairs. Yet somehow, I know, this would not be appreciated!
• Infants wailing through out the movie.. because of the loud explosions in the movie, many of the infants were crying.. Thank goodness the sound system drowned out most of this background noise!
• Parents holding crying infants by the exit, as they felt this was better than the child crying at their seats.Of coursed this meant instead of hearing the child wailing in the behind you, you heard the child wailing in front of you!
• Ongoing background chatter during the movie. I guess people needed to discuss the story line real time..
• Cell phones going off.. Silent mode anyone??

Some questions I have to ask:

• Are there no babysitters available to watch the infants or toddlers?

• Can't one parent stay home and watch the child if they can't get a babysitter? Hey that's what I did my kids were young! Keep in my mind that my friend who came to the movie has an infant and a 7 year old and he didn't bring either because he KNEW that they would be disruptive!

A little background on me: Specifically as a South Asian that  has not gone to see ANY Indian Movie in ANY NJ movie theater over 5+ years.. There is of course multiple reasons for this:

• Not many Indian Movies are worth spending $10 to see.
• The crowds at the theater don't have any sense of decorum or just common courtesy for other movie goers.. In other words just plain selfishness. 
• Except for a handful of theaters, majority of the theaters are not well maintained! 
• Most of the movies that are in theaters are typically available via streaming or via DVD almost a week to 2 weeks after release.. In normal lingo this is called the "piracy factor".  BharatBeat in no way endorses this!

So what's the worst thing you have seen when you go to see a "Desi Movie".. We of course don't mean what is on the screen!

Bharatbeat.com Weekly Round up second edition

FDI in Retail good or bad?

Given the raging debate over Indian Govt's decision to allow 51% FDI in retail, we bring you the view from both the sides and also our view. The Govt is arguing that this investment will create atleast 10million jobs. FDI in retail will help farmers secure remunerative prices by eliminating exploitative middlemen. Minimum 50% of the investment should go toward the backend infrastructure such as cold storage, transportation, packing etc which again will not only save the food and help farmers but it will also create jobs.....

Why This Kolaveri di sensation

10 million hits in just a week after the song hit Youtube. Packed crowd for the release of the single song from the movie 3 (moonu). These are just few records that this song is breaking and it is all set to break more. Yes, it is the 'why this kolaveri di' song from the movie 3 (moonu), sung by the hero of the movie Dhanush,.....

Mullaperiyar Dam - Who is right?

Another headache for the central govt is the tussle between the neighboring southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Its over a dam that was built long time ago and also has an agreement for 999 years between both the states. MullaPeriyar dam is in Kerala and has been leased to Tamil Nadu for 999 years.....

Click here to read the full article or you can go to www.bharatbeat.com and click on Weekly Roundup. Post your comments here.

Bharatbeat.com Debuts Weekly Roundup

Over the past few weeks there were several news items that really made me think of which one to write about and eventually came up with the idea of weekly roundup – a summary or my views of the interesting events that happened in the past week. I will try and keep posting every week a weekly roundup but there are forces beyond me that might stop me from doing it. But will definitely keep trying and here is the debut:

Beti B... Why is this hype

Well the media has been creating a frenzy over the news of Ashwarya Bachan getting pregnant and whether they will have twins or if she will deliver on 11/11/11… What a waste of time and energy. Well the Bachans are attention seekers and they always want the media light to be on them. So right from the beginning, they kept the media on their toes by giving one news/controversy after the other. If you think for a while, one might ask, what is so important in knowing when or how or where Ashwarya is going to deliver?...... Click here to read full roundup

BharatBeat wants you!

Today, we are going to go out on a virtual limb and reach out to our readers..

Answer Yes/No to the following questions:

• Are you a opinionated? 

• Do people say you have an attitude?

• Do you want your voice heard? 

If you answered Yes! to any of the above questions, the BharatBeat team is looking for you to become a member of the the growing team of BharatBeat.com contributors.


Regardless of whether you are an American Born Confused Desi (ABCD), or an Indian Born Confused Desi (IBCD), or a Desi at Heart, or just part of the  BharatBeat community, we are looking for contributors to our virtual blogging community at BharatBeat so you can join us  and speak your mind.

2011 was good to us and we are currently planning to go global in 2012!

Join the team with an attitude - BharatBeat!

Coming soon, we are going to have a blog dedicated to Indian Classical Music, and we have our man in New Delhi, who will be contributing on this blog (Welcome Sid!).

Your BharatBeat Team!