Dreams...

September 28th 2008 - A memorable day of my life Yesterday was a dream come true. It was my first performance on stage with the guitar, in front of an audience of around 300 people. Flashback to a day, which I vaguely remember. It was in Army School, Delhi. I was in my 5th standard and it was my music class, that afternoon. The teacher taught us "Jingle Bells" and everyone present in the class was supposed to come forward and sing it. I saw my fellow classmates trying their best to stimulate their vocal chords, and the audience having a real good time ridiculing every effort which the singer made. I too was enjoying the laugh, until that eventful moment, when I was chosen as the next guy to be slaughtered in the class. Till that day, I had never ever attempted to hum, let alone sing. As I stood in front, I froze. Being the center of attraction of around 35 pairs of eyes, each waiting to pounce upon a single mistake, sent a chill down my spine. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot...

September 20th 2008 - A pleasant Saturday evening What does a dancer, most importantly need, in order to dance? A sense of rhythm? May be not, as I found out. 8 p.m in the evening. Me and my sister were really excited at the prospect of watching a classical dance show, at one of my favorite amphitheaters in Pune - Tilak Smarak Mandir. This was a personal invitation from my friend, one of the performers in the show, and I was real glad that I could actually manage to attend, considering the jam-packed schedule of my weekends. We reached the auditorium in about an hour and by that time, the show had already started. The theme was "Jai Jai Maharashtra Mazha" and the dance was aimed at depicting the grandeur associated with all the major festivals which are celebrated in Maharashtra. We were in for an absolute treat. The dancers from Sadhana and Chinmayee Nrityalaya were just superb. Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Holi, RamNavami, Shivratri - all festivals were celebrated on stage in...

September 2nd 2008 - One day before Ganesh Mahotsav. I left for home from my office in Kalyani Nagar, at 8:30 in the night. I had a couple of calls and sms from my friends, all telling me about the heavy downpour that had lashed Pune in the evening. My judgement told me to wait until the rains stopped and so I did. Pune had recorded half the amount of rain it had received in the entire month of August, in just 3 hours of rain that evening. Not surprisingly, the drainage system for the roads was full beyond capacity and as a result, in just 5 minutes of driving my bike, I found myself on the highway, stuck in an impossibly long traffic jam, with water upto knee level. With blaring horns, jam packed vehicles, angry stares, confused pedestrians and loads of abuses being hurled at anything and everything around, I didn't need a dictionary to understand the meaning of the word - "CHAOS". And it didn't take much time for me either, to join it. A rickshaw walla stretched his...