It is never too late to get wild in life, one can do that whenever you want to! I went over to an A.R Rehman concert yesterday, it happened at the backdrop of the international airport in Hyderabad, which I must say is one of the best airports if not the best in India. It was supposed to be a huge concert with 50000 people expected.
The ticket prices ranged from 500 to 25000, which gives you an indication that if you buy the cheapest tickets, you are going to be in a hopeless situation of being able to watch the concert. Unlike the flight prices, concert prices come down as the D-day approaches, and this was no different although this was happening next to the airport!
Initially reluctant, but when the Rs. 500 tickets became worth Rs. 350, I decided, I can take it to experience this "Once in a lifetime" concert, and so I convinced my two friends to join in as well. Well after a drive of 1 hour and 30 minutes, we reached the venue. First thing to catch my eyes, rather should say 'ears' were the acoustics, considering that this was an open concert, they were really good, then there were the high-tech gadgets to recognise the bar-codes of the tickets, we are going the super fast IT lane baby!
But the arrangements for the people watching in the Rs. 500 gallery was as good as listening to the concert from the car park, as nothing was visible, the people on the stage seemed no bigger than insects. Interestingly there were no large screens near this gallery. We walked towards the railing(the farthest we could go), and started soaking in the atmosphere, it seemed so much like a-l-a the TITANIC ship, and as if we were the third class passengers in there! While folks in the higer ticket ranges were having chairs to sit and enjoy the show, we were standing and trying to figure out what was happening.
Then a 'GOD-SEND' guy, started walking along the boundaries of the Rs. 1000 gallery, also the border of our gallery, and asked if someone was interested in the tickets. No one was really asking questions of him, thinking he might be wanting to sell the tickets. But I am never a step away from the next question, and there I went, if he would give it to us, and would also charge us for it. Bang came the answer "FOR FREE"! Boy do we still enjoy getting something for free, even when we can afford the same by paying. We said we are three and he threw the tickets to us.
Super excited like teenagers we jumped and grabbed the tickets only to find, that there were only 2 valid tickets, as the third one was without the counterfoil, which would not be valid for entering. Now we have a situation where there are 3 guys and tickets only 2. If we get out of the 500 gallery, and don't manage to get into the 1000 gallery, then we loose the oppurtunity of watching anything at all.
A meeting took place, nothing similar to the ones we have in our offices, where they last for hours and we get no results, this one was for 5 minutes and all plans up there to make the operation 'Rahman' succesfull.
We convinced the gallery 500 guards that we needed to pick up the video camera and would be back in 5 minutes. After a hard deliberation which defied logic, 3 guys going to get a videocam, we were let off. Now was the bigger challenge of getting into gallery 1000. One guy on the phone, with 2 tickets and his 'checked' ticket. Two guys supposedly late to the concert, meet and greet th first guy, and swipe the two tickets and 3 people inside the gallery 1000. High fives exchanged as if a major victory was achieved.
Suddenly the concert seemed larger than life, not knowing if it was because we managed to save 650 bucks per ticket, or because we could see better. Whatever it was, the next 2 and half hours were quite electrifying, if we leave aside the political diplomacy of the introduction of the guests on the front row, while we were busy catching up on some food during that time.
This was the time when I should have been getting into the 2500 gallery, but I was doing something that I would have been proud of doing during my college days, but do I not enjoy doing it now, the answer is a resounding yes! Why not, who said that with age, everything you do has to reflect maturity!!
Two learnings, never book the cheapest tickets to a concert, rather not go! If you still make the mistake, never hesitate to get a promotion, at a cheap cost if you can, dont bring your self-esteem or ego in the way!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
A day with Underpriviledged children
Finally I have decided to jot down something after quite a long time, nearly 4 months. As always I write and think only when I am alone, which means in the last few months I have really been occupied with my work, new found friends, and rumours of recession, which partly have been true as well. This one is for all my friends who have been under the clamour of job insecurity and uncertain market conditions thereby leading to the fear psychosis. Read through what follows and you wouldnt really feel that there is so much to worry about.
Of late I have been visiting a few different places, where I can be of some service socially. This has ranged from visits to schools to Old Age homes. This last one was with a team from Microsoft to this place where there were these underpriviledged kids who had been either found in the railway station working to begging on the streets or abandoned by their parents. I was spellbound to say the least by the talent exhibited by these future stars of our country. These children have a beautiful range of talent starting from painting to acting.
The thing which impressed me about them, was their thinking, which was positive and always forward looking, along with their awareness of the society as a whole, this was commendable because the people about whom I am talking about are in the age group of 6-14 years of age.
The cute enactment of a skit to make people aware of our environment and the importance of trees in that, to the aspirations they have in life, everywhere there was maturity in demonstration and a sense of responsibility in them.
There were about 150 small youngies, and we were a group of around 30 volunteers, with loads of prizes and gifts for these children, which offcourse made them happy, and also us a happy lot to see them so excited. For the first time, I felt as if I was giving back something to the society from which I have got a lot. There was a sense of satisfaction, which I havent even got when meeting with success either in work or academics.
The thing which stood out for me, in the evening we spent with the kids was one boy, who a bit different from the group, didnt want to become an engineer or a doctor or an actor, but wanted to become the HOME MINISTER of our country, because he wanted to make India a better place to live, before you start thinking how old this boy might have been, let me tell you he was only 6. I don't think I even knew what a home minister is supposed to do, at his age.
Finally to wrap up the day, I was presented with a beautiful piece of drawing, which showed the pure thoughts of a small boy, who had drawn all kinds of birds, with the clean water and fishes in it, and the sun and clouds were all smiling !! This to me, summed up the souls with whom we interacted.
To sum it up, I have become a lot more secure and happy with what I am doing, would encourage all who have the capability to contribute to the society in their own capacity and make this world a better place to live in. I have now learnt a lesson from this younger lot, who although young but have a fresher outlook to life than most of us, who have been running around in this fierce competitive world, trying to outwit one another.
Cheers! Hope you liked what you read, and sorry if it was a bit boring.
Of late I have been visiting a few different places, where I can be of some service socially. This has ranged from visits to schools to Old Age homes. This last one was with a team from Microsoft to this place where there were these underpriviledged kids who had been either found in the railway station working to begging on the streets or abandoned by their parents. I was spellbound to say the least by the talent exhibited by these future stars of our country. These children have a beautiful range of talent starting from painting to acting.
The thing which impressed me about them, was their thinking, which was positive and always forward looking, along with their awareness of the society as a whole, this was commendable because the people about whom I am talking about are in the age group of 6-14 years of age.
The cute enactment of a skit to make people aware of our environment and the importance of trees in that, to the aspirations they have in life, everywhere there was maturity in demonstration and a sense of responsibility in them.
There were about 150 small youngies, and we were a group of around 30 volunteers, with loads of prizes and gifts for these children, which offcourse made them happy, and also us a happy lot to see them so excited. For the first time, I felt as if I was giving back something to the society from which I have got a lot. There was a sense of satisfaction, which I havent even got when meeting with success either in work or academics.
The thing which stood out for me, in the evening we spent with the kids was one boy, who a bit different from the group, didnt want to become an engineer or a doctor or an actor, but wanted to become the HOME MINISTER of our country, because he wanted to make India a better place to live, before you start thinking how old this boy might have been, let me tell you he was only 6. I don't think I even knew what a home minister is supposed to do, at his age.
Finally to wrap up the day, I was presented with a beautiful piece of drawing, which showed the pure thoughts of a small boy, who had drawn all kinds of birds, with the clean water and fishes in it, and the sun and clouds were all smiling !! This to me, summed up the souls with whom we interacted.
To sum it up, I have become a lot more secure and happy with what I am doing, would encourage all who have the capability to contribute to the society in their own capacity and make this world a better place to live in. I have now learnt a lesson from this younger lot, who although young but have a fresher outlook to life than most of us, who have been running around in this fierce competitive world, trying to outwit one another.
Cheers! Hope you liked what you read, and sorry if it was a bit boring.
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