Year 2017
December 21st…
I was having a hard time getting ready to leave for wadala, what with my whole self shaking with emotions! I should have gone the earlier evening to avoid getting late but ‘planning in advance’ was never my strength anyway! Panvel- Wadala – Vile Parle. It was nearly noon by the time I booked a cab from Wadala to Mithibai college, the venue for your performance. I could hardly contain my excitement for the evening, it had been building up ever since the day my friend Karthik had shown me the proof of payment for a stall at the college festival. He had spent a bomb not to promote his brand but to get me to watch YOU perform live. Trust Karthik to go out of the way to ensure I get nothing lesser than the best out of this experience he’d promised. The deal was for VIP tickets and a photo with you!
1990 to 2017..
Coming from a South Indian family, my assocation with music began early in life. I was fortunate to have been trained in Carnatic music for more than eight years but I wasn’t as passionate about singing as I could have been had I nurtured my talent. My singing was limited to music class and school competitions. Music was like breathing to me, a part of life that’s most important but taken most granted for. I was content with the role it played in my life, until YOU happened.
July to December 21st..
With similar tastes in music I almost instantly connected with Karthik, a friend at my work place. It was then that I realized that there was this big void in my heart, waiting to be filled. Filled with the right music. I knew that meant having to fight and break out of the zone that I had confined myself to. With an open mind and heart, I began to embrace different genres of music that I had always believed wasn’t my thing. Not having learnt to play a musical instrument, I’d never come to understand their true importance until I was introduced to Coke Studio. That’s when I first saw you. Your fingers caressing the keys with ease and expertise, your head and body moving in sync with the beats and your voice…. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard songs rendered by you in the past but now they had a different effect, a mesmerizing one. Your compositions, each one woven with a myriad of emotions, took me on an emotional ‘Yatra’. Even old albums that I thought I loved seemed to have a new meaning. Your songs began to attract my attention to minute details, your patterns, your style of music direction. My choice changed so drastically that it invited my husband to call me a Hypocrite! Songs that I’d have otherwise written off without giving them a second chance found a place in my playlist, only because they were composed but YOU.
December 21st..
Sitting behind the counter at the stall was getting difficult with each passing moment! I spent the remainder hours gathering information about the technicalities that go into arranging a live concert. At one point during the wait I experienced a heart break of such intensity, for what was probably the first time, when I was informed that the photo session with you had taken place when we’d been asked to step out during your dry run. Karthik, however, assured me that I’d get my wish fulfilled by the end of the day.
Finally the moment of your arrival! I almost forgot to blink for the fear of missing out on even a single moment of the evening! The atmosphere was electric and energy levels were at an all time high what with the young crowd screaming out joyfully listening to your band render their favourites! Amidst the insane crowd was one girl who stood there with tears rolling down her cheeks and heart filling up with aspirations like never before! In her world, it was just you and her. Your songs, your voice. She was your only audience.
Toward the end of the concert, Karthik rushed to remind the volunteer about the promised photo session and before I knew it we were being ushered to your green room. Standing outside the door I, for the first time, experienced what I had only read about; A fan moment! I was hyperventilating and acting crazy! The thoughts and emotions in my head were multiplying by the second! I didn’t know how I’d react on seeing you face to face! Would I talk??? If yes, what???? I’d rehearsed the dialogues several times in my head but I knew nothing would prepare me for the actual moment! Finally I was called in!!!! To ensure the best I grabbed Karthik’s iPhone and the password of which I almost forgot on seeing you! I don’t know what possessed me but I asked you for an autograph!! Who does that in this generation!? Well, I do! Two minutes later I was out of the room with the biggest smile ever on a face glowing like the sun!!!
…
It’s been nearly ten months since that day and my admiration for your music only keeps growing. As a child, teen and even as an adult, I never really had any dream or aspiration that im most passionate about, one that I’d do anything to fulfill but now I know what I want.
I see myself in your studio, singing your compositions, along with you. I don’t know if I want the opportunity to work with you on a project, only because I’m not sure about myself but if it’s only practice that it takes to get that chance, then I’m ready for it.
Signing off,
Love and respect,
Sneha
C.A.: Confused Aquarian 