Ahh yes, your arangetram. Probably one of the most stressful, yet rewarding experiences in someone's life. And for anyone who is lucky enough to go through the entire arangetram process, you know all the struggles, challenges and unexpected turn of events that happen during the road leading up to your big day.
For anyone that doesn't know, an Arangetram is an Indian fine arts debut, and is done when the person training in whatever classical art form (dance or music, either vocal or instrumental) gives a solo performance showing all they've learnt after reaching a certain level of training. It's a big day in anyone's life, and is a huge accomplishment.
For me, my arangetram marked only the beginning of my dance journey, as a member and captain of an Indian classical dance team. Though my arangetram journey was absolute chaos, I'm so glad and fortunate to have had an arangetram. February 2nd, 2016 marks the one and a half year anniversary (or arangaversary) of my arangetram in India, and I somehow forced myself to watch my entire video to write this article.
1. Awww cheesy instrumental music
2. Love it.
3. Wait, this song is really nice... I wanna see if I can find an audio version online.
4. Kinda wanna choreograph something to this song now.
5. Wow, I thought the venue looked a lot nicer...
6. My portraits look so good! I should really find those, I have a blank wall in my room where it would look really nice
7. Awwwww all my family
8. Wait who is that??
9. Do I know that person??
10. Must have been dad's cousin's husband's sister's daughter...
11. Wow I seriously don't recognize half of these people...
12. Is that a bad thing?
13. You just know they are saying "I saw you when you were a small baby! Do you remember me?"
14. Like obviously not if I was that small...
15. I miss my cousins...I really need to call them
16. Dang that saree is pretty!! Gotta get me one of those next time I go to India.
17. Let's just fast forward to the beginning.
18. Awww, Aunty is so cute
19. Need to call her...and give her a copy of the arangetram video
20. Oops
21. I should've kept count for how many people's feet I touched (sign of respect)
22. My MC was so cute
23. FINALLY IT'S STARTING
24. jk... slokam (prayer song) first
25. Finally pushpanjali (offering flowers to the lord)
26. God my make up...what the hell is going on with my eyebrows?
27. Wow, I'm 30 seconds in and I'm not even sitting...way to go
28. at least I held that pose well...
29. damn the pictures make it seem like I was dancing so much better
30. Finally pushpanjali is over
31. Is it bad that I get bored watching myself dance?
32. Oh my gosh, we're on to my Shiva Tandavam
33. This piece was the reason why I didn't have fun that summer...it was so hard to learn
34. Didn't know I dedicated this piece to someone...mom probably did that
35. This is actually going surprisingly well...
36. Haven't messed up so far...
37. I wish I was that flexible...
38. I need to learn this piece again...it shouldn't be too difficult
39. Oh boy, the best friend speech
40. Thanks for telling everyone I skipped physics senior year...you know my parents still hold that against me
41. Damn girlfriend, why do you look so good all the time? Leave some beauty for the rest of us dude
42. I miss her <3 Need to call her
43. Awww dance family. Love y'all
44. Natyalaya girls 5ever
45. LOL MC so cheesy <3
46. OMG Fav Piece <3
47. I miss this piece so much
48. I need to see if I have the audio recording of this
49. God I'm so cute <3
50. I hope I handled that orchestra mistake well...people didn't notice right?
51. Pls cameraman, no more closeups of my face
52. Awwww sibling speech...my brother's so cute
53. Awwww Sanjit I miss you too <3 :')
54. I need to call him...
55. Let me make a list of all the people I need to call
56. Why does this slideshow of my childhood pics exist??
57. Wow, thanks bro, basically every picture where I look horrible
58. WAIT JK BABY PICS
59. I was one cute baby
60. Awwww first dance photoshoot <3
61. I had one amazing childhood that's for sure
62. Oh boy, varnam time
63. OOOO Costume change...spicing things up now are we
64. I don't know if I even have the stamina to watch the whole varnam
65. How did I have the energy to dance for 35 minutes straight?
66. How much longer? When will this piece end
67. I definitely was making stuff up on the spot...
68. Don't think anyone could tell
69. I can't watch all of this...gonna skip through this section
70. Singer was off-key here...
71. OH MY GOSH THIS JATHI WAS THE DEATH OF ME
72. It took me so long to learn this footwork
73. I need to see if I can still do this
74. Will I get a noise complaint if I start dancing in my room??
75. Who cares, I live life on the wild side ;)
76. I CAN STILL DO THIS
77. I feel so proud <3
78. Okay more forwarding through the varnam
79. Finally reached the charanam...the end is kind of in sight
80. That was an awkward transition
81. I hope I covered that orchestra mistake well...
82. Okay I'm just gonna forward to the end
83. YAY Varnam's done
84. Is it bad that I can't even sit through my own arangetram?
85. Awww cute, orchestra medley
86. I love how I had my family sing at my arangetram
87. This really was a full family effort
88. Don't know where I'd get a better family <3
89. Awww Vinitha Aunty's speech
90. I love how that her speech was so personal
91. Dang, it's scary how accurate her speech is
92. I miss teaching
93. Maybe I can see if I can start teaching again next semester
94. Awww handing me the plaque
95. I need to see if I have some nice pictures of me and Aunty
96. Love you Vinitha Aunty <3
97. Time for Lakshmi Padam
98. This was my best piece
99. I really hope I did this justice
100. This piece is turning out really well!
101. I'm owning this piece
102. I feel like a boss
103. BRB Power cut during the arangetram
104. Only in India, right?
105. Finally, Thillana
106. I really didn't like this piece
107. Whatever it's short...that's all that matters
108. Goddamn I need to sit more
109. Yay!! Mangalam...
110. Best 2 minutes of the arangetram
111. Because it's the last 2 minutes LOL
112. This song was nice
113. YAY FINALLY DONE
114. You can see how much joy I had when I was done
115. Dude seriously what's going on with my eyebrows
116. Aww my speech
117. This was actually pretty good
118. Really wished people laughed at my jokes
119. Parents speech
120. Ugh my parents are so cute
121. I can't believe how much my family put into this event
122. You can really tell how much they all love me based on how much they did for my arangetram
123. I would love to do this all over with them <3
