The day called 23rd Jan 2009

It all started when I received a call from one of my most cherished coll budd…”gal..saarang s begun.. we have sonu’s show..book the tickets soon..” Yeah SAARANG!! Brings back innumerable sweet memories…the million discussions that me and my friends have had over the years, the exclusive shopping we did just to look great for that one evening, the hopes of meeting interesting new acquintances, the virtual alarm in our head at 11PM to get back home soon enough, and finally ‘What is the time now??’ look from dad to finish off..yes I have been through these things in the past. It all happened while I was still an engineer in the making. Now all I have is a mundane corporate life. Somehow, things like these stop amusing you anymore. Still.. it was Sonu Nigam and its been two years since I thought about Saarang. So here I am frantically searching through pages of SAARANG 2009 and look!! ‘Online booking’…Cool! I reminded myself…so no more FRUIT SHOP ventures for Saarang tickets.

I have to say, of all the good things that dad has ever done, getting me a credit card was the best of all. Every weekend I thank him for that. So here I am, staring at my screen for 4 tickets and the job is done. We four were game for Fridays; show and things were all set..fair enough. Come Thursday night, and I get a call from madhu, ‘RRRRRR shall we drop it off, PS has a major production install she wont be able to make it..and cmon..you know we wont enjoy if we three cant make it. Dont you??’ Yeah I KNOW we cant! At least I cant..so I make this call to jayn and say ‘we have to find some alternative’ much to her disappointment (of course mine too)!! and the argument continues till wee hours of the day and I must say it was not pleasant. I finally get the guts to call PS and say ‘PPP (YEAH DATS HOW I REFER HER.. LOL) .. I don’t care how long your install takes, I shall wait ..just make it and we ll GO off’ ....mad again calling and asking me to pull it off on account of her sisters bday party is another story!! (I have my 1500 bucks at stake buddy! :P)

I finally get the affirmation from PS and mad..and then we realize, the so called ‘online booking’ was never meant nor created for our convenience. Yes honestly! I read (re-read??) the Instructions in BOLD which said ‘E tickets needs to be converted with actual tickets at the IIT premises on the day of the show’ what??? Between 9 – 3 ?? how the hell am I supposed to make it on the day of the show ?? Isn’t Friday a working day?? Do we have to show the credit card?? Can I send anyone else?? All these questions ran through my mind!! But most of all, I wanted to thump down the guy who wrote down this rule in his website in BOLD!! What does on-line booking mean anyway??? After finishing my damned security patch update, I had a plan In my mind..finish off my work, go to IIT..get the tickets..come back home..get dressed.. and go off again..whew!! (Now dun get started on how horrible the plan is!!) On my way, all I could do was ponder ..why dint I prefer going to fruit shop earlier!! Why did I waste 80 bucks on service charge.. why did I even think about going for a show on a working day?? Why did everyone agree to it in the first place.. why did jayn start everything with a simple call?


After aaalllllllllll (read like phoebe!! :P) the stupid formalities, I reached Saarang by 6.15…the gates would be open around 6.30..it was half past 6 and none of my friends had made it yet!! To top it all jayn never picked my call!! I was like ‘what the hell’ ..there were a couple of others along with me ..and we all had a similar expression in our faces..felt like we were waiting for an eternity at the gates of the IITM. We had this silent competition between us as to who would be greeted soon. Take your guesses, I lost it nevertheless.. Grumpy!

I also got to see one of my old friends from col with whom I am not in talking terms now.. with certain friends, its always on and off.. on and off and you never really understand why!!


My friendship with him was a similar kind. His is supposed to be a smiling face ..and yet it was missing that day as he came riding his bike..with ‘someones dead at my place’ look!! I wanted to wave at him..talk to him..but could not..circumstance dint help.. ahh who am I kidding??..I have the ATTITUDE!! So I chucked the idea. After meeting a million… mostly north Indian on lookers and my blue ‘yummy’ watch ..(yes the brand name is ‘YUMMY’ he he..) finally was relieved to see madhu at 7.15..who exclaimed ‘no one has come yet??’ all I said was ‘Lets get in… the show starts at 7.00’ soon PS and jayn followed and fortunately we all took the same bus to get in.

We were expecting, we would be the last 4 to cruise thru and was actually surprised to see batches of long queues even at 7.45. I have to define how these IITians organized the queue!! ‘Disastrous’ is the word that I am forced to use. It was like getting inside an asylum for a pre assumed three hours of fun with so many proofs that best explains why you are not willing to have fun. Irony!! 8.00 sharp we were in..struggling to find empty seats and finally had to settle for a walk way between the steps..literally!! and then the moment came. Sonu was right there.. he danced..he rocked..he bored.. it was as if he was some guy sent from a wonder land just to be nice to the audience!! Blah!! He dint impress!! Atleast not with his heroic stunts! But his voice.. man how jealous were we!!

After much dancing and head bangs, we decided to push off around 10.30 P.M and did I tell you I Lost PS mid way with whom I was actually supposed to go?? My watch showed 11’o clock and here I was.. not knowing how to hit home! Madhu and jayn were no less confused than me and we three were standing clueless like we had to solve some terrorist game plan immediately.. !! all were getting banged from our prents.. as each had to go in a different direction..ok..i thought I am taking an auto and going home..god save me from the auto-wala clad kidnapper lol!!


I buzzed my so called best friend mid-way and couldn help but show my insecurity to him. Well he asked me to get down from auto and was kind enough to take me back home ..but wait a minute.. all this dint happen w/o his half hour advice on safety which btw was grueling and which he did with ease by teaming up with my mom.. oh my god ..now I needed a break!! ..all 4 had reached home by around 12..I later learnt that PS was waiting for me near temple towers and she could not get my line and was probably blinking how she could get hold of me late night!! we then realized what a mess the evening had been with a series of non-stop mis communication..

Moral of the story: Never ever book a show on a working day. Never get a hutch phone if you want to communicate immediately. Always take a guy while you want to venture for late eve shows..sock up ‘girls night out’ drama..else we ll end up being Mind F****** …ok forget it..I want to tell it out loud and clear MIND FUCKED!!

P.S: We all vowed we ll write a story about this and whose would turn out the best!! Trust me this is one of the most refined versions of our actual adventure on the 23rd Jan..which was much intense in reality and I wanted to give my story the much needed sophistication.. !! J