I originally intended to hold true to the classic saying that if you dont have anything nice to say, then dont say anything at all, but this takes me over the edge.
rangla punjab is THE WORST competition out there. it started off fine with the committee adjusting to our travel plans and getting us from the airport relatively quickly (about an hour and ahalf). from that point on everything was a disaster. after trying to contact our "liaison" we decided to just do our own thing and explore seattle (shoutout to ajit). We were told that the mixer was scheduled to start at 6 pm, but then around 5:50, committee members were scrambling through the hallways tell teams that the mixer wouldnt start till 7. Thats fine, we understand an hour delay and that no big deal. We got to the mixer at 6:45 ish and did our thing and chilled for a while. We chilled a little longer. and then some more. then around 8:45, the mixer finally started going. This wasnt entirely the committees fault, other competing teams def share the blame for this. Its disrespectful to other teams to show up nearly two hours late, and its a pain in the ass for those trying to cope with any form of jetlag. Back to the mixer. It was awkward. There was no sense that the committee wanted us there, or wanted us to have fun. Show order was picked by having teams draw their lineup spots from a hat. That order was decided by the order in which you bull rushed the committee member with the hat. It was what it was, nbd, we danced after that and called it a night.
It wasnt till saturday when poo really hit the fan. Tech times ran a solid 2 hours late (and im being generous by saying it was 2 hours). There were no committee members at the hotel, no liaisons in sight, and no one answering any questions. After waiting in the lobby of our hotel for a while, we finally got to the venue where we found the committee and the liaisons! All of them were sitting there doing nothing (besides just hanging out and chit-chatting to one another). Overall, tech times ran fairly smoothly, which we were very thankful for. We got back to our hotel did our thing and then waited for our ride back to the venue. We kept getting mixed responses saying that we werent getting picked up when we asked, and that we were going to have to wait, or that we were, and it was very confusing, so we just went to the lobby and waited. The show started around one and a half hours late, and no one was running back stage. They decided to have a judges meeting about an hour before the show was going to start, which is nice, but they took captains from 3 teams and then made them wait for about 20-30 minutes while they did nothing about getting the other captains, but insisted the meeting couldnt start without them. the show finally started, and ran pretty smoothly. we decided ourselves where we should be and when, but it worked out. after the show, our team got all of our props/vardiyaan together and sat by the venue waiting to get taken back to the hotel. several committee members drove by said they couldnt take them back to the hotel because they had to drive their friends to the after party and left. our team waited, waited some more, and then decided that its only a mile and a half so theyll just walk. as theyre walking back the lone transportation van pulled up next to them, they put their props in the van, and asked the driver to wait at the hotel so they could unload it themselves and make sure they dont loose anything. the committee members said she couldnt wait because she was going to the after party. while scb was walking back, I, along with 2 other scb members, watched the madness at the judges room. after it had been going on for around 45 minutes, I asked a committee member how much longer the team that was up was going to take, and she said she didnt know (in a very rude way), i asked if we could speak to the judges at the hotel and she said no (also in a very rude way). we finally got to speak to the judges (about another 30 minutes later) and then walked back to the hotel. Our flights back were at 6 am, so we had to leave from the hotel around 4 am. committee lost the keys to the van to take us, complained that they had to take us, and were in questionable states. the driver of the car i was in said "thank god im sober" to which i replied "why, who isnt sober" to which she replied "i wasnt a little bit ago" to which an scb member replied "we have 3 people who havent drank in the car, we can drive" to which she replied "no, its okay, i usually drink way more than i did tonight." nuff said.
This committee had great intentions. I truly support the cause the competition is working for, and I hope your night was a success. But overall, the committee was clueless about anything going on, never gave clear responses, was completely rude to everyone on our team, didnt provide anything for the teams, completely unreliable, and completely absent throughout the weekend.
This next part is completely my opinion and does not reflect the opinion of my team. Please do not start disliking or knocking my team(s) because of my opinions. It is okay if you dislike me though.
To the team that caused a riot after the competition. You are a disgrace to bhangra as an organization. It was absolutely disgusting how you reacted to the results of the competition. You were not only disrespectful to the judges, but you were disrespectful to all of the teams you competed against that night. I could never imagine cursing and being so absence in front of my parents, someone else's parents, or anyone for that matter. I really dont care if you deserved first, or if you even deserved to place. I promise you that every single member of every single team that was at Rangla will remember you for one reason (and it will not be your performance). You did not deserve to be on stage with the teams that competed that night, and I personally will discredit you guys as a team representing the bhangra community.
