Party at the Eagle Bar (Issue 34, 2010)
La Trobe students at the Eagle Bar
What happens when you suddenly hear a Bollywood song that you like while listening to Western music? You start tapping your feet in a different way. Your dance moves change.
Abishek Awasthi, the president of the La Trobe University Indian Students’ Club and other members of the club decided to have everyone from La Trobe doing the bangra steps and dance in Bollywood style on 21 May. Most of you may be aware of the Bollywood Night that took place at the Eagle Bar at La Trobe University, organised by the Indian Students’ Club.
Those who attended are sure going to remember this night for a long time and all those who missed it, missed a wonderful event that doesn’t take place too often. Well, first let me clear the doubts and misunderstandings of people about this night. This wasn’t a party night that needed an Indian dress to be worn and wasn’t just for Indians. Some might have been confused about that and didn’t turn up just for this reason. All that was required was to attend the party and enjoy some great Bollywood music.
The Bollywood night started with an average flow of crowd. The party was supposed to begin at 9 pm and at 10pm there were hardly 50 people on the floor, the majority of which were non-Indians; it’s common for Indians to be the last ones to come to a party. You see, you get this VIP feeling.
But there were a few groups of people who were just hanging around and clicking pictures. Some were beautifully dressed in Indian clothes which certainly made the place look more Bollywood. I was starting to feel that my $10 ticket would go to waste if it keeps going like this. But the members of the Indian Students’ Club had a different plan.
At about 10.30pm, the most famous Indian music DJs in Melbourne, ORJA, jumped in with a rocking Bollywood number. The crowd suddenly erupted into cheers and excitement. I could see people calling up their friends and asking them to come to the Bollywood night. I went outside to say a ‘Hello’ to one of my friends and saw a swarm of people coming in. There was a huge queue of people outside the Eagle Bar waiting to get inside. The party was alive now. Song after song played with an amazing mix of Western and Bollywood music. The DJs chose the music so well that it suited everyone. There were Bollywood songs remixed with Western songs like Gasolina, Boom Boom and many more.
Around 11pm, the dance floor had nearly 300 people grooving on to Bollywood tunes with still more people coming in. The songs were not just in Hindi, but also songs in different languages of India like Punjabi, South Indian, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati and many more that set the dance floor on fire. The night was even more brightened by the DJs playing some top numbers in Punjabi. It seemed like there was no end to the night. Well, nobody wanted it to end anyway. But, at around 1am, the ORJA DJs played their last song, Papa Kehte Hain (a 80s song which is still one of the best ones from Bollywood). It couldn’t have ended in a better way than this.
The Bollywood Night was a great success and I hope we get to see many more like this at La Trobe. It was one night at the Eagle Bar where there was no Down Down Down or You Spin my Head Round but Aahun Aahun and Balle Balle all the way. Pure Desi (Bollywood) I would say.