Starting this from the break of the events for me would be a good idea..
>>Sometime ago.....
A darn Saturday at work couldn't have had a better and brighter end with the power failing! My boss slammed my table (shocking me enough to slip off my chair) and made a few sly remarks on how we couldnt for once blame the vendor for this failure!! To make it a rather shocking end for me, just as me and my colleagues were debating on making an exit, the phone rang....
Ronny : Hullo..?....
Me : Ronnyyyy!!!
Ronny : Hey,I just gave it a shot!! You free today?...5.30...?
Me : Emm.....yea....? (confused....i always mixed up my plans for a day)
Ronny : You there for the skit on the YAM evening. You are the ammachi.
Me : Wha? Yea? Why?....
........
I needn't explain the rest, do I?
Well, it was not the first time that I was the last to know of what I am a part of!...Be it rumours, masalas or a REAL incident....blame my dreamy mind that is almost always lingering around in fairy tale lands...I almost always get the last bite of the cake!...well, I didn't mind it one bit....it was invariably a tasty bite! :P
>>28th April 2009 - 1 more day, still relaxed..
I made a smart move to make it on time for practise (atleast) this time! Took a casual stroll around my boss' office and timed my 2 minute wait in front of his office to coincide with the time at which others packed into his office.
Sighed,shrugged my shoulders,nodded in disappointment in not being able to meet him. It was in one of these moments that I probably agreed to myself that there is an inborn theatre talent in me...! Sho! Enikku ennodu thanne asooya thonnunnu!! :P smiled my inner voice....Didn't wait to drift into dreamland again. It was time for action. Picked up my bag and made a dash for the elevator just in time!
Met up with the chaddis as usual. Meeting them was always a dash of life out of the blues....there was THE car..Amit's little vehicle - our lifesaver almost all the time, for reasons that he (the car personified) almost always is the only one that makes sure we reach our destination in one piece inspite of the roadbumps we fly on! And inspite of the glass bottles we crush on, the tiers refuse to get punctured! Sunita,Sau and I would chit-chat away invariably, with Amit and Jojo wondering (what?)....!
With the YAM evening in mind, things were no less amusing for us...Considering that there was just a day left and Sau was still as blank as a spectator about the skit, I attempted to introduce Saumia to the story of the skit. I heard Su yell out in the background making it clear to us that she did not want the surprise element to be busted for her.
The evening went crazy..after worship and testimonies, it was already 8.30 pm. We had an hour to clam up our first-time rehearsals with the skit, spare 5 minutes for the song rehearsals and watch Sau's YAM movie and skoot off back home. Things moved faster than a race....leaving us all a little dizzy but happy....:)
>>29th April 2009 - The day before THE DAY.
uH? Already???.....
Dashed to Su's door, wondering just how late I am for practise...just to see Syril look at me confused with either his equations or at my untimed presence! But things got crystal clear when he handed out the phone and asked me to call Su to find out where she is..Well, for a change, I was the last to be late. Could things be a little more crazier when Sau ran in with her broken shoes, cribbing so much about it and wanting to go back home to change it. I thought - em! Maggi (her character in the skit) wouldnt be all that lost in Sau after all. (Lol, I know she mite kill me for this statement). Barging in next was Su herself...tired but ready to offer us tea. Well, it wasnt surprising at all to know that Amit/Jojo were waiting dot at the moment we were to start off our practise. Yup - that was it - 2 rounds and off we left for the logn evening ahead of us @ Laila Chechi's place. What a jerk am I?..Forgot to introduce the script writer - To add to my laurels, she is my aunt, in all privileges I would say that for the amazing person she is! And no doubts, what an awesome script she brought forth...Trip to Joyland..
The characters in a glance would seem like the weirdest people we come to encounter with...but closely observed, they all have shades of us in them - the ones that shop till they drop before a journey, the middle aged couple that prefer to steal their way into the journey to make sure nobody else gets the share of fun/rather profits, the rich and affluent gonner who thinks he can board the bus with his contacts and not get a ticket for himself even if he knows so well that he could buy the whole bus station, the easy-going couple that prefers to board the bus with their fathers ticket, the young man who confesses to the counter he was too late to know about the trip and gets a free ride and the 70 year old grandma who leaves her entire life behind and brings the lessons of life along with her to persuade the characters and the people to leave all and love the journey..the journey to joyland..the journey to salvation. All the characters finally board the bus, leaving all that they shopped, all the luggages they carried and by accepting the price Christ paid for their ticket to hope!...all except the rich and affluent guy...yeah,thats reality though. There's always one of us that is left behind in the worship for money, fame or sometimes..just out of ego!
Back to the evening @ Laila chechis'. It ended with a lot of bloopers and a grand wind up of all our practise sessions.
But no, the night was still long. Got calls for a rush-up birthday bash that was scheduled for 9 pm @ Simi's place. Well...time was 10.30....and it was already a deadline crossover back at our homes. Decided to make it for the party and stake it for the lectures that were waiting at home! It was a race on the road, picked up Sunita from her place....yeah, her Mom was rather cool!! Just gave her the keys and asked her not to trouble her when she's back home! lol....Rushed up to hit it at Simi's place with Amit/Jojo/Sau/Sunita at 11.15...it was worth it..the whole ride was a combination of behavioral disorientation by Sau and me, caused by lack of sleep or probably an overdose of excitement that shoots up when its beyond 10 at nite ! :P...Back home at 12, was spared the lectures, surprisingly!!
>>30th May 2009 - THE DAY.
The day had come...or rather just rolled into our lives like a big boulder and we were still all hazy and cloudy about what this is going to turn out to be. The funniest part was...I did not think any of us had that small corner of our minds reserved to set an expectation of a performance either. Even as I was at work typing out codes and select queries on my database application, my nerves were deceiving me into thinking I am the grandmother at the bus stand...As I forcefully snapped out of it every now and then, the thought that none of the props were close to being ready was freaking me out and forcing me to laugh out to myself, wondering how crazy everyone's gonna behave at that last hour...ramping around, shouting, screaming and the least bit listening to anyone else around....!
The chain mails had crossed 30 now and none of us were less than hyper excited for the evening to set in...We had all got permissions from the big bosses for making an early exit from office and Sunita had done her boogie in the loo to celebrate that!!
Time flew and we were all set for the hungama....it went on just like I imagined it to - boxing up the bus with the chart sheets, making wheels with the aluminium foils, trying to flick tables from the vicinity to use them as props, last minute music practises, setting up projectors, checking the movie tracks....it was all perfect - or as I describe it - crazy! Things are normal that way, atleast for me. I always suspect things to be abnormal if something is not crazy around.
Glimpses of Syril's make-up specialties experimented on my ammachi role, Sau/Sunita comforting me that we can do a good job with the song, Ronny/Davis/Roni n the rest doing the best they could....its all happened faster than I can recall!!
Families had started filling up the hall...the nite started on...and ended faster than we knew...
Now,more than the list of events that followed, all I would say is that through every show there was a passion and love for that amazing God...there was an anxiety that went through some of us, which was lifted up in a moment of prayer and what followed...?....an awesome evening filled with his absolutely stunning grace and power! Whoever said worshippin God wasn't fun...haven't experienced joy yet!
