A friend invited us over on this amazing evening to the Gateway…..after a day’s work the only reason to get there was with the hope of something new, a new revelation. By the sea the ambience was perfectly set. As a part of the Mumbai festival there were Australian Pole dancers who would perform on the poles. The festival started with the Mumbai song by Shankar of SEL. Its weird…the city is where I have been for just 3 yrs, but there is something very very attractive, something that keeps one aspiring for more, for better. The space never sleeps; survival has a new meaning every day! I was myself pretty amazed the way I related to the city.
The performance started….the artistes went up the pole and then as rightly one says…it came out of nowhwere….as if out of the air, like magic.
The 45 mins that they performed on the pole captured everything one could feel in a moment, a day, or a lifetime.
The way the script built the performance was just regular, yet so real and true….probably that’s why it is said getting used to at pattern also has its own charm! They performed from happiness in fondness to love to heartbreak to jealousy, envy and coming back to where the heart belongs. I was astounded the way they performing up there made so much sense to someone 20 feet down. Midst the performance another snippet of the other side, as it was an open air performance, there were a bunch of kids who made their entrance in the performing arena quite nonchalantly. They moved all over often distracting the space and the mood. A few times that one could not stop them Divya just took the naughtiest one and made him sit on his lap, the others followed the sign of acceptance and found spaces in the front rows with the whose-who of Mumbai. Divya, was the festival director and this ‘not trying to make a point’ gesture of his, brought the true spirit of coexistence of extremes that symbolizes the city, together. Wow! The sight got better when as the ending note these children danced with the artistes midst hundreds of people. That’s really amalgamation of culture, of hearts and not to miss, the smiles on the faces of those less fortune, of those innocent little ones whose way of life is more uncertain than existence itself.
The performance had woken a few closed doors. Thanks to Tirtho, I found myself sitting at Nariman Point trying to discover life! (And I have come to realize I am obsessed with philosophizing!!! Certainly the Bong thing) and came up with something as strong as how certain individuals I know have had a very futile existence. Talk about being critical and upfront! For all that I gathered even Tirtho was taken aback. On the contrary as I was reliving the boon of field realities that I received the quirky call narrating experiences in a jaccuzi. Contrast never got better!
I traveled back home with oodles of memories and thoughts about voids.
16th January 2007
01:24 hrs
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