Bombay in the Bay moved to earlier date

Junior Rohith Krishna is frustrated. Not because he didn’t get his desired SAT score or didn’t ace his last Calculus test, but because he will have to miss out on the annual Bombay in the Bay show this year. The reason? He’ll be competing at a speech and debate tournament at Berkeley in mid February.     

For the last few years, Bombay in the Bay has occurred every April in the McAfee Center and has been the Indian Cultural Awareness Club’s (ICAC) main fundraiser for charity.

This year, however, scheduling conflicts have bumped the show to Feb. 15, causing unforeseen difficulties for performers and ICAC officers.

“We are still trying to [find a later date], but the office has made it clear that we are not going get it, so the show will most probably be in February,” co-president and senior Raj Thakker said.

The school plans a master calendar at the beginning of each year. The decision to move the spring musical later in second semester meant the best available date was two months earlier than usual. 

“The way the calendar is devised is that whole school programs have priority when planning the calendar, so whether its music events, the musical, or the play or concerts,” assistant principal Kerry Mohnike said. “Then, after that, then the McAfee is open for club use or other activities and then the public.” 

ICAC officers say the earlier date of the show this year not only requires the participants to start preparing during first semester, but it also puts added stress on seniors. College applications will not be finished until the middle of January, giving the officers and other seniors only half a month to get most of the work done.

The show also clashes with the Spanish department’s Mexico trip and the invitational speech and debate tournament held in UC Berkeley.

ICAC treasurer and senior Rohan Hardikar has been to Berkeley for speech and debate the last few years, and says it’s one of his favorite tournaments. He also believes that the date change will be a big problem for students who want to do both speech and debate and Bombay in the Bay, especially because about half of ICAC is in speech and debate.

Junior Rohith Krishna hopes that the date can be moved  back too.

“I don’t know what the scheduling conflict is and whether they can solve it, but I’m just hoping that there’s some way the ICAC officers can get it resolved,” Krishna said. “Obviously [the conflict] is out of their control, but if they can find a way to move it out that would be great.”

Krishna said that with the current date, he plans to participate in the speech and debate tournament instead of Bombay in the Bay.

Spanish department head and Mexico coordinator Arnaldo Rodriguex is puzzled as to why the two events are even clashing. This conflict has also take a toll on the number of students participating in the Mexico trip. This year, as of Sept. 30, only 10 students have signed up in comparison to the 40-50 students in past years.

“Bombay in the Bay has been happening at the same time for the past six to seven years,” Rodriguex said. “It should have already been marked on the calendar.”

Despite the many issues with this new date, the club officers are trying not to be discouraged and are already planning ways to make the show better than ever.

“This year we are trying to incorporate different themes for the skit, not just the typical Indian guy meeting the Indian girl and falling in love,” Hardikar said. “We might do something based on a movie plot and have Hindi Film themes.”

Despite the date change setback, ICAC officers still believe that the show will turn out just as well, if not better, than shows of previous years.

“We have less time for everything to happen, but I think we will still be able to make the show good,” co-president and senior Sachi Verma said.