Venue: Hotel Yak&Yeti
Report : BarshaP/SupriyaT
Caption: VishnuK/PratikshyaR
Date: 23 Oct, 2009

The mail “D2 Cultural Night” from Vishnu Kshettri gave the lowdown of this year’s cultural program. D2 Hawkeye Services have been organizing a cultural program on last quarter of each year. The first ever cultural program was organized in 2007 at Hotel Yak & Yeti. The trend continued and second such event was held on 22nd November at Rastriya Sanskritik Sansthan. This year, the program was slated on 23rd October, once again at Hotel Yak & Yeti.

Prior to the cultural event, we had presentations by the company’s CEO, Mr. Chris Kryder. Chris congratulated Mohana Lohani and conveyed his gratitude for her immense effort during building migration. He also appreciated all the employees of D2 for their hard work. His speech gave a feel of satisfaction to all D2 folks. The presentation title “Great Awards” by Rudra Pandey took D2ians by surprise. His witty and entertaining presentation set the mood for the evening.

After a tea-break, the much anticipated D2 fest started. JennyA and AkashS took hold of the stage. The event continued with a traditional Manjushree dance performed by a group of girls who displayed precise movements and perfect coordination. The event moved on with a surprise skit entitled “Nepali IT” conducted by RudraP, SantoshK and ShameshJ. Then, there was couple of songs followed by series of folk and comedy dances, which was wonderfully performed. Also on the stage was the next pair of MC, RebikaD and AbhishekG, who was no less amazing in their presentation. The other performances included a series of folk, pop and rock songs and a couple of highly entertaining dance. Supriya Tamrakar and Ganesh Thapa was another pair for MC, who tactfully handled the situation and entertained the crowd thoroughly.

The cultural program had following line up:

Manjushree: Nepali Classical group dance
Participants: Alka Bajracharya, Sweta Shakya, Chetna Shakya and Mona Shrestha Nyachhon

Nepali IT: Surprise Skit
Participants: Rudra Pandey, Santosh Koirala and Shamesh Joshi

Folk medley: Performance based Nepali Song
Participants: Anish Gopal Vaidya, Chandra Man Shrestha, Samir Tuladhar,Rajendra Subedi, Nishikar Sapkota, Bharat Satyal and Asim Shrestha

Ma Maunta ma: Nepali Song
Participants: Siris Bajracharya, Chandra Man Shrestha and Rajendra subedi

Asharai Mahina ma: Nepali Song
Participants: Kamal Karki, Chandra Man Shrestha and Rajendra subedi

Khutta ma nil parla: Duet Dance
Participants: Surendra Adhikari and Barsha Poudel

Jimkaideu Pareli: Nepali Folk Dance
Participants: Alka Bajracharya, Bikesh Vaidya, Shreejana Prajapati, Chandra Kishor Gauro, Eliza Shrestha, Chandra Man Shrestha

Without a title: Skit
Participants: Santosh Koirala, Bidha Rimal, Anup Sharma, Sudeep Khatiwada and Bhimsen Neupane
—-Snacks——
Mukh ma paan cha: Comedy Nepali Medley Dance
Participants: Bhimsen Neupane

Sanjha Ko jun sangai: Nepali Song
Participants:Bishwadeep Kc, Susan Shakya, Ravi Sharma and Vinay Lal Shrestha

Kaha Hola Gharabar: Nepali Song
Participants: Pradeep Gurung, Susan Shakya, Bishwadeep Kc and Ravi Sharma

Ghar ma chhe: Nepali Group Dance
Participants: Jasmine Bajracharya , Shamesh Joshi, Sudeep Khatiwada, Sushmita Pote Shrestha, Rajendra Banjade, Pratikshya Regmi, Badri Adhikari and Barsha Poudel

Instrumental: Fusion Dance
Participants: Bidha Rimal, Chandra Kishor Gauro, Shilpa Shrestha, Rajiv Shrestha, Upasana Rai, Asim Khanal, Mamata Ohja and Prajawol Shrestha

Gurasai Fulyo: Nepali Song
Participants: Pravinda Ranjit, Ritesh Khanal and Ravi Sharma

Maski Maski: Nepali Song
Participants: Naresh Bajracharya, Pravinda Ranjit, Ravi Sharma, Bishwadeep Kc and Vinay Lal Shrestha

Pashupati Ma Kamala: Who Says QC can’t Dance
Participants: Hitesh Karki, Sanjeet Baidya, Manik Madhikermi, Pramod Kumar Rai, Awanish Ranjan, Aashish Tuladhar, Subin Shrestha, Aashish Adhikari, Prabhat Man Sainju, Abhishek Shrestha, Mahesh Kansakar, Shilpa Gorkhali, Sushmita Pote Shrestha, Shilpa Shrestha, Eliza Shrestha and Mamata Ohja

Shiva Anthem: Nepali Intrumental music performance:
Pravinda Ranjit, Ravi Sharma, Kapil Pandey and Bishwadeep Kc

Dalli resam: Nepali Song
Participants: Ritesh Khanal, Pravinda Ranjit, Ravi Sharma and Kapil Pandey

Timi Nabhaye Jindagani: Nepali Song
Participants: Suyesh Nepal, Pravinda Ranjit, Ravi Sharma and Bishwadeep Kc

As expected from two consecutive D2 cultural nights, the third D2 Annual Day was also a big triumph as a consequence of hard work, commitment, and dedication of the D2 Hawkeye team consisting of organizers, participants, MCs and everyone who worked behind the scene. “D2 Annual Day” just couldn’t have been a possibility, if it was not for the tireless efforts from the wonderful D2 employees and their graceful performances. In fact the performances were so good that the excitement seemed to grasp the audience long after the show was over. The efficient organizing committee, the MC’s magnetic charisma on stage: capable of grabbing the audiences’ attention throughout, the brilliant performances from the performers, and of course, the wonderful audience – all of them as a whole contributed the best they could, resulting in a great organizational success of what is called the “D2 Annual day 2009”.

Please click on the image to see its large version.

01 Perhaps worthy of collecting	02 Green Room
03 equest earnestly	04 Listen me now and I shall hear & see thou
05 You will see my act in a while	06 The most beautiful smile of the evening raises the curtain!
07 Manju of shree	08 One Manju & other threes make a Manjushree
09 Anish not only sings but he makes BULL to dance	10 West meets East
11 Where shall I go!	12 Maunta le aljhayeko Siris
13 Ashare mahinama eklo bho mero man kasari bujhaune	14 Khutta ma nil pare parla Barsha lai na nachai chhoddina
15 The Jhimkaideu Aggroup	16 Rudra in Press Conference for next move with Joshi and Koirala
17 Eku-Eku can rock D2	18 Sajha ko jun sangai
19 Bishwadeep still moves on…	20 Kaha hola gharbaar Pradeep transforms design into art
21 Fusion dance	22 Katthak vs Modern
23 Pari with Hari	24 He is singing also could do MJ..if…
25 nsung Heroes	26 Maski-Maski na hida nani bigrela mero bani
27 Rudra on drum lesson	28 he bribable – Ghar ma chhe chittikka
29 A venal beauties	30 Markaideu kammar
31 Taken away	32 Tai pani kahilekahi…….
33 5 Kamala says one two three four and go	34 Kamala… see my Kammar
35 In the name of KAMALA	36 Finally RuPa finds the QC Kamala
37 Timi haru jasto nakkali maiya hamilai k ko khacho	38 Timi navaye – ma eklai gauchhu – Suyesh
39 They shot an arrow into the blue & green	40 Not bad at all
41 Dos..ta..naaa	42 o..o she is mine
43 Closed in	44 Santosh having stage call
45 Here comes the mingle	46 Abhi n Rebi they were sweet like Jilebee!
47 Message has been given	48 That is Riiiiiiiiiight
49 Soothing Supriya	50 Houseful
51 Young Customers	52 Interval
53 The fives	54 Couldn’t control myself
55 Cheers	56 That was not BaD
57 Delighted the 2	58 Beauty let’s rock the stage
59 Rudra’s cinematography	60 Friends are fine
61 Refresh	62 Yeeesa out of maunata
63 I M da Codi–nator guys	64 Vinaya and Ravi keep themselve busy
65 I’ll b here next year dear	66 Akash barshana please
67 It’s the time to disco	68 I too Chham chham can do…
69 Ganesh saw someone	70 Gau ki goris
71 Picture speaks thousand of words	72 Mogyambo khush huwa
73 Too good to Dance	74 I just can not leave her alone!
75 Oh yea OOh yea	76 Here I come
77 OMG	78 Jubilancy
79 Clap and sing	80 The MJ move
81 He was good……	82 The venue of the Annual Day 09
83 Thank you very much and Raise a Siege…

Experience sharing
Manjushree Group Share their experience:

AlkaB: When I shared the idea of Manjushree with the dance organizers, they liked it very much since it was different and challenging that what we’ve been doing before and ChetanaS, MonaN and SwetaS came forward to perform this dance. All the mudras and those 1-2-3-4 footsteps with right expression were not so easy. The practice session was always very pleasant since the girls used to joke around a lot about how it was going to be on stage. Chetana would not have her specs and she can’t see anything without them, Sweta use to have soft expression with smile when we were suppose to have angry expression. As for Mona, she would show us how her expression is going to be and would push Chetana out of stage when they were exchanging their positions.

SwetaS: In the first few days of practice session, it was quite difficult for me to grasp the steps of Manjushree charya dance, as it was not my cup of tea. I was almost hopeless and thought it would be almost impossible for me to perform the dance until our guru Suraj sir lifted up our spirits. He has been so passionate with us and made us understand the Manjushree song. Having understood the words and their meaning, it was much easier for us to feel the song and perform to its rhythm. Yes, we finally did it. It was like mission accomplished!

MonaS: After a very long gap, this was my first performance. I enjoyed every practice sessions, preparation times and the final performance on the stage. Sweta saying – “K garne, malai risaunai aaudaina…” , Alka saying – “Yo sabai chasma laune le stage ma malai k garne hola?” , Chetana – “hamro manjushree ko helmet khoi? ” and … These memories will remain forever. Preparations for expressions at the restroom, office canteen with hand gesturing were really very funny. Thanks to all the organizers, office and the team for the benevolent moment. Thanks to all the viewers for appreciating our performance.

ChetnaS: During the rehearsal I must thanks my team for making it so hilarious and how can I forget dance teacher and Sweta for their patience, teaching me the steps again and again. I must say that the enthralling performance on the day was all because of our team spirit. It once again proved that team work worth.
Overall, it was an awesome experience with such helpful, supportive and encouraging dance mates. We had lots of fun and fantastic time together. On the annual day, we weren’t thinking much. All of us were quite cool and back stage we were doing Shakira hip shaking, funny. The Manjushree dress was out of this world. We looked like Nagranis. Our performance went smooth and graceful. Thanks to all the viewers for appreciating our performance.

NareshB:It was a great experience when I was on the stage singing a rock song in front of the enthusiastic crowd. I enjoyed a lot myself and hope you all enjoyed it as well. I am very much thankful to all who made my performance alive.

Jasmine Bajracharya: We were 8 people ready to dance, Badri, Bhuwan, Sudeep, Sushmita, our own coordinators, Barsha and Pratikshya and me. When we listened to the song, we laughed a lot at its lyrics. It was about the married guys flirting with the young girls. Nevertheless, the music was rocking. We had determination that we could rock the stage. Despite the hectic schedule of the office, the dancing crew managed time to be on the practicing floor. To be truthful, we hardly had all the participants practicing at a time.
The worse thing happen in the practice session was Bhuwan got his ligament dislocated. The final date was close and he won’t be well very soon. We were worried whether we can get another guy or not and the team had already practiced half of the song. Thank God, we found Shamesh. We had daily practice session in the lunch breaks and after office. The dancing members were very supportive; we corrected each other’s step. The funnier moves of the dance were funnier with our amateur moves. Regardless all the tides and turns we were successful to reach our determination.

Kamal Karki: When was proposed to sing a song I was in dilemma whether to sing it or not. I thought for a moment and I decided to sing. I had very tough time to opt the song. Then I preferred singing – “Asarai Mahina ma”, one of the favorite song of mine. In spite of the busy routine I could hardly manage myself in the practicing floor. However I handled the song in the stage.

Surendra Adhikari Share his experience of three consecutive D2 culturalnights:

2007: Yak and Yeti: The whole program, was wonderful as it was D2’s first cultural show from its own employees. Many of us never expected that the event would be so great. I danced in single and took part in a drama. I was successful to leave memory to audience as one of the best perfomers not only in dance but also in drama. It would have been great if there had been invitation for our families to see our performance.

2008: Nachghar: The events were wonderful and all enjoyed the hours we spent there. As a performer, I was happy to show my item to my family and friends, Nachghar had ample of space to accommodate the mass. The most memorable time this year I ever had was the dance I performed with Pallavi was really wonderful as we were successfully able to keep audience attention towards us in the dance with the Newari song, for which we had to work hard to understand the words of the song as we both nor the choreographer understood Newari.

2009: Y-Y: This time the event was memorable as the program ran smoothly and almost everybody enjoyed more than expected. The main features I must appreciate this time were a) good management of time, b) short events, c) infrastructure and d)drinks and dinner. The whole program I would say was short and sweet and audience enjoyed a lot. Events were excellent and performers did very well. For me, the song was very fast and I had to struggle much more than I expected to catch the faster beats. I must appreciate Barsha’s (my partner) courage and effort who joined the dance after the first round choreography was completed and only a week was left to learn and practice during the days when office work pressure was high.

Anish Gopal Vaidya: Yet another festival in D2, and as always, it was great to be a part of.

I thought about doing something different this time. As in the previous two events, Rajendra and I got together and worked out the songs, and finally we chose 2 folk songs and combined them to form a folk medley: one ‘Herda Ramro…’ by Kumar Basnet and another ‘aiyau aiyau’ by Raamesh. We requested Chandra Man, Sameer, and Sangharsha to join us (Sangharsha could not be part of the performance team). Later, during our practice sessions, Siris suggested us to include an act as well, considering the nature of the song. We agreed on the idea and included Asim Shrestha and Nishikar in our team to be the ‘Goru’ and the ‘Goru dhapaune’ respectively. Later, Bharat joined us as another Goru to complete our team. When we performed, it was an enjoyable performance and I hope that everyone enjoyed it watching as much we did performing. Singing with Siris dai and then with Kamal was also a good experience.

Comparing the three festivals so far, I believe the first one was the best. I sang two songs, accompanied by Rajendra and Ravi – one of them my own composition. I also took part in a dance (a bhatti dance), which was one of the most enjoyable performances I ever took part in. Everyone was supposed to be drunk at the end of the dance and I believe I did it very well. The skids, the dances, and the songs were all very enjoyable.

In the second cultural show, I did not perform very well in my songs. One of the songs was not complete whereas the other one was not up to the mark. The overall program stretched too long, though the performances were good. The best part of the program was invitation of the family members.

During my school and college days, I seldom took part in any of the annual shows or Parents’ days. I remember singing in one of the Parents’ days in class 6. After joining D2, I have already taken part in 3 cultural shows. So this is great going for me!

I believe such cultural shows are good for you, as a participant, in various ways: team spirit, getting to know each other, exposing your talent.