‘Allah ke bandhey has de, allah ke bandhey, jo bhi hoga…’ that seemed to be theme for the evening of 5thmarch. After a grueling day I was still tolerable, all credit goes to Kailash Kher, who was to perform at an awards function of one of the management schools in pune. On the previous night ‘A VERY DEAR’ friend of mine handed over a pass for two for his performance, I was so thrilled. He is one of my favorites with true soulful voice of a sufi singer.
A very sweet and trusting friend said yes to me instantly, and both of us started looking for a white kurta to go with blue denims, for that was the dress code for the evening! We managed to rummage through our wardrobes and found something that could work.
My friend’s driver (rock star) is a neighbor’s delight, now you would wonder what is he doing in this story. Hold on, he has a major role to play. We started off he does not remember directions for nuts, he is always immaculately dressed in linen (we look underdressed in front of him), he smiles while you are holding on to your life and wears exotic flower perfume to numb your senses enough.
My headache was at its peak and I was wondering how am I going to survive the evening. We started of great covered more than half a distance discussing our post concert plan. I had a customary attendance at one of acquaintances birthday party. He had invited close friends around 200! Our man was now wondering which turn to take so we made two attempts to get into a ditch. A smart thought of asking the passersby stuck and we did so.
The venue was lit up and there was some activity going on the stage but whoa, where is the crowd? I said, what a undisciplined school. Its almost an hour into program and students have not turned up? No one asked us for passes, no one checked the dress code (there was no one around) we strode to the first row and occupied the middle seats to get a good deco of kailash my hero for that evening. The compeer was crowing (or was that the mike) a kathak performance started, it is customary to have less known artists before the main arrives we thought so. Suddenly there was shrill cry, where is the next girl? Why isn’t she here? You guys must take this seriously.
Now we were getting worried. Is he taking the audience for granted? This is supposed to be the back stage talk. My sweet friend looked at me with a BIG question mark. Sheepishly I suggeste, may be we should asked someone when the performance is going to start. By then two young lads had taken up seats next to us.
My sweet friend: hi, when is the show going to start?
Lad: (BIG SURPRISE ) actually mam, its tomorrow.
My sweet friend: (BIG EMBARRASMENT) this?
Lad: this is dress rehearsal.
A Burst of laughter, that was me, an apology, another loud laughter now from my sweet friend, we ran towards the exit. The rock star, felt superior to us idiots.
Once again we took wrong exit, and rock star promptly got down with his newly acquired supreme status and got the directions. There was big THUD. We looked through rear window a stout young man was vigorously waving and making animated gestures. Rock star got down, me followed. The stout man picked up his bike; we had dashed it while reversing. The damage was, a broken indicator and front guard. After some gentle negotiation we settled for Rs.500/- and started our journey back to the next program- the budday bash. Another, wrong turn into a temple but we made it to the lawns.
200 hundred young things, deafening music and aggressive dancing, this was enough to freeze us.
Me: Sorry
My sweet friend: he he he
Me: I think the voice on the mike is my acquaintances, the birthday BOY.
My Sweet friend: hmmm
Me: I do not dare to go towards stage
My sweet friend: ok
Me: May be we should just sit in the lawn and enjoy the pleasant breeze
After second shock therapy my sweet friend was slowly coming to senses. We chatted on growling stomachs. Waited patiently for the stage mania to get over. The patience got better of us and in half hour we were at the stage. There he was, wish him fast and run. No luck. We were made to sit RIGHT in front of the stage to witness young things performing one after the other on some strange songs. We clapped, stomach was still growling. We ducked and ran towards spice garden.
Food, get us food. Was I hallucinating the band of servers similar looking, I thought I must quickly eat. Knowing our collective appetite we ordered two starters. Second arrived when we were almost done and happy. My sense of humor kicked off, the fishy fish was not to be eaten, the server apologized.
Cute server: mam, this fresh, morning got from Bombay, I tasted also a bit.
Me: (shocked) you tasted? Eat all of that.
Cute server: (now very worried) mam, very little.
Me: (burst of laughter) when did I complain? just pack it.
Cute server: (very relieved) thank you mam.
We laughed some more. My headache was gone. My stomach was full, my sweet friend was happy. We strolled back home to sleep in our cozy beds.
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