Pakistani Student Associations Host Lively Culture Show 2009
By Saad Siddiqui
Pictures by Faiz Ahmed

A spectacular Culture Show put up by the Pakistani Student Associations (PSAs) of UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and USC on Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Pakistani Student Associations (PSAs) of UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and USC hosted the SoCal PSA Culture Show 2009 on Sunday, April 12, 2009. About 750 people flocked to the Bovard Auditorium at USC to witness the lively proceedings.

This year, the theme of the show was family. The title was “TheMaliks: Aik Umrican Kahani, Hamara Joota Hai Armani.”

Dances and skits portrayed the theme of the show and how Pakistani families shape up after moving to America. The show began with an introduction to the families in the skits. It was a video called “Meet the Maliks.” Bashir Malik and Ruqaiya Malik, who played the role of the parents, were introduced in the very first scene of the video. Bashir and Ruqaiya were played by UC Irvine’s Ibrahim Hafeez and Eileen Shah respectively. In the same scene Umer Malik, the son of Bashir and Ruqaiya, was introduced along with Zamaan, the servant of Bashir and Ruqaiya.

In the second scene of the introduction video, Afzal and Madiha Malik are introduced. The two are the grandparents and were played by UC Riverside’s Tabish Naz and Ayesha Ahmad respectively.

Overall, the introduction video serves as a hilarious preface to the 2009 culture show and sets the mood of the audience for the highly entertaining evening.

Following the introduction scene comes the very first skit. Madiha and Afzal are seen sitting and watching TV and getting accustomed to life in the US. Afzal sees how different television is and comes across MTV. He sees a hip hop dance which leads into the intercollegiate hip hop dance. The very first scene makes the crowd laugh as Afzal’s nature seems to bear a remarkable resemblance with the nature of an elderly person back in Pakistan.

Following the hip hop dance, a few cultural dances that remind the audience of Pakistan and its rich culture, are performed.

As a matter of fact, UC Riverside presents a stage scene that reminds the audience of what old times were all about. Madiha and Afzal have invited their friends for chai and they are discussing life in America. At the end of the scene, the grandparents decide that the time has come for them to move to America because of the fact that their family and friends have all moved to the United States and there isn’t much left in Pakistan.

The scene is followed by a dance by UC Riverside. The dance is enacted on popular songs from the past that evoke nostalgic feelings in the audience.

After the oldies dance by UC Riverside, other schools follow up with cultural dances of their own. These dances are different from the earlier ones and are a reflection of newer times.

Fast-paced dances with bhangra music are then performed. They are more appealing and akin to the present times.

UC Riverside then presents a shaadi dance based on a famed song of Adnan Sami. The song reminds the audience of wedding times and shows the times of Pakistani culture at the present time. A stage scene follows the dance.

In the scene, Afzal’s sister, Billo who is played by Areej Rajput of UC Riverside, has a traditional conversation between a sister-in-law and a wife. Billo is shown as a mean character and the scene ends up acquainting the audience with a present-day Pakistani family.

Other schools like UC Irvine follow up the scene with a fast-paced coed dance. The dance demonstrates that Pakistani culture has evolved into a modern state and times have moved along into 2009 and people are living in the 21 st century.

To cap off the dances, UC Riverside stages a pop dance that presents the present day Pakistani music.

After the pop dance comes the engagement scene in which the grandparents are seen reuniting with their family and successfully moving on to the United States of America. Shortly after, the closing ceremony follows and representatives of all schools participating in the culture show come onto the stage to be warmly applauded by the audience.

 

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