by Sonal Patel
News Writer
The excited chattering melted into whispering as the curtains of the Cullen Performance Hall twitched teasingly.
There was a heightening anticipation for the birth of the 16th Annual Basant Bahar, a four-hour-long cultural variety show organized by the India Students Association at the University of Houston. The crowd was rewarded when the stage burst into an array of colors, movement and music. The spirit of the Basant Bahar was alive.
But the enthusiasm that had shone brightly before the show rusted into devastation for many of the participants. This year, for the first time since the tradition was established in 1982, the Basant Bahar was halted by the UH Police Department when a series of fights broke out, apparently shortly after the intermission.
UHPD made one juvenile arrest and two adult arrests at the Cullen Performance Hall on April 25. The arrestees were later charged with disorderly conduct and various other misdemeanors. The adults, ages 18 and 19, were Asian males who were visitors to the campus, according to police reports. UHPD did not release any information on the juvenile offender.
"We had two security officers on patrol that night," UHPD Lt. Malcolm Davis said. "We resolved to stop the show after breaking up five or six fights in the lobby and outside the Cullen Performance Hall. We would dissolve one fight, but another would break out somewhere else.
"So much violence wasn't right, so we were obliged to close down the show for security reasons. Luckily, there were no serious injuries," Davis said.
The abrupt halt disappointed organizers, audience members and performers, as it was scheduled to continue an hour longer.
"Six more groups were expected to get up there onstage and entertain. It's ironic - we scheduled the most popular shows to be performed near the end. They didn't even get to perform," said Karan Vaswani, ISA spokesman.
"This is sad. No one ever expected this to happen," said audience member Nisha Bhakti. "I paid $7 to attend this, and I had expected it to be fantastic as usual, but this is extremely sad."
The ISA has publicized the show since November 1996. This year, the organization sold more than 1,200 tickets at $7 apiece. Its objective is to raise enough money to finance future ISA activities.
The Basant Bahar has been a tradition in the United States for 50 years and is popular with many in Houston's Indian and Pakistani communities.
The Basant Bahar was sponsored by small Houston-based businesses like Informatika, Starz Limousine and Horizon Travel.
"Every one of the members and performers had poured time and effort into the show and, as if it wasn't enough, some of the audience demanded their money back," Vaswani said.
"We paid $2,000 to use the Cullen Performance Hall, and at first, the financial loss was discouraging. After reviewing our accounts, however, we broke even."
According to Vaswani, it wasn't just the financial loss that the ISA committee was worried about.
"In all the 16 years of developing this tradition, this will be like a bad aftertaste in the mouth. For the future committees, it will be hard to persuade businesses to sponsor the Basant Bahar again," he said.
Vaswani said that next year, the audience probably will be more skeptical before they buy their tickets.
"This has been a loss to the ISA's prestige," he said.