Ek Bheegi Bheegi Raat!!

This was the day I was waiting for a long time. My first concert ever . And the sequence of incidents that happened will never let me forget it also . I had loads of work in office but still managed to complete most of it so that I don’t get late to the concert…was really excited to reach there. Me, adi, vini and pommu were supposed to meet at my PG at 5:30 pm but thanks to my very punctual friends, adi and vini came at 5:45 pm. And then we three kept waiting for pommu. While we were waiting…it started drizzling a little and within a minute it was pouring like anything . I got worried…I didn’t want to get drenched…some health problem. But for seeing the A R Rehman show I was ready to risk anything so decided to carry on. Well so at around 6:30 pm our dear pommu called and we came to know that he is nearby only…so we went there to give him a welcome but we were in for a surprise. There was this cute girl with pommu . The first reaction was…me and vini looking at each other with an amazed face .

Well then me, vini, and The Girl caught a rick and started towards the nearest gate of palace ground..And adi and pommu were to catch another rick and come. It had stopped raining by the time we reached palace grounds. When we got out of the auto…as the fate had set for us…it started pouring again. We went and took shelter beneath a small cabin sort of thing. Then came adi and pommu. Now we were thoroughly confused as to where is the entrance for the show. We generally started in one direction…it was pouring so me and vini took the shelter of her jacket (for anyone else we would have been looking like a gf and a bf ). Well we changed our direction of search three times and finally with a bit of enquiry came to know that we are at the entirely wrong side of the palace grounds. So we caught a rick again and started for that other side. Can u imagine…5 of us in a single rick…and ofcourse The Girl was sitting next to our shy and blushing pommu . In between the rick also sayed no to go any further…poor adi had to push the auto with four people sitting inside .

Finally we were in front of the gate for the correct entrance. But nobody was ready to get out…come on…it was pouring like hell. We were supposed to meet Mipple in there. The doubt had arisen in everyone’s mind…may be the concert stands cancelled. So we called up Mipple to find that out…and to our relief…no sign of cancellation still. We got into the palace grounds and finally with wandering here and there finally got into the concert area. So there we were in for the concert…all drenched and loaded with mud...but hey…we cant see anything and over the top there was nothing happening on the stage. After some time Mipple also joined us with two of his friends. But what to do…the concert seemed to be totally washed out with, I guess less than fourth of public than expected. Well we were in a state of confusion, whether to stay back and just linger around or to go and have some food (Mipple was the most hungry out of the lot ) in a nice restaurant and pass time. By the time all this happened we all got split…so finally me, Adi, Vini and Mipple were left. Actually we didn’t want to disturb pommu .

I had started wondering…should I ever go for any concert again…seriously I was cursing my fate. But as its rightly said…..everything happens for some or the other good. The rain actually helped us. Yes….because of the less amount of junta turning up we could actually move forward…so we kept on moving forward and finally landed up in the Rs. 2500 stall… . . And guess what we saw…... … pommu and The Girl standing in one corner and dancing . There Mipple and Adi brought many chairs and we stood on top of stack of chairs. Now this was an amazing sight. Can say that my actual concert experience started now .

The concert was just superb…minblowing…better than what I had expected. Heard many beautiful songs . Danced a lot that too standing on the chairs . Mipple, Adi and Vini did some “keechad dance” also . And the best treat to my ears was “Shivmani on drums”. He is the god the percussions. Used to listen him always but it was very different this time…seeing him perform in person…seeing his hands move with the beats…it was an out of the world experience. The junta just stood spell bound. I just held my breath for the time his drumsticks kept hitting the drums. It was a mesmerizing moment… ...But all good things come to an end *sigh*. There was one another good thing that I specially remember…the song 'Humma Humma' in rap style..that was cool. Well with that we actually thought that we had enough of the concert and it was already 11:30 pm. So we decided to leave. But The Girl didn’t want to leave…then how can our dear pommu leave. So we left both of them in their sweet little world and left the place.

From the moment we stepped out…vini was constantly searching for water…for washing her feet which was I think covered with an inch of mud *eeee*. Mipple gave her a very good idea and our very intelligent billi did as she was told to and thus successfully doubled the layer of mud ….sorry vini…I still cant stop laughing at that .

Well then we decided to go to ‘pizza hut’ to have our dinner. We caught a rick and reached the place which was almost deserted. Hey am getting a situational song in my mind …char murkh is shahar mein…raat mein aur baarish mein…khaana dhoodhne nikle… … . First, we found a ‘New Shanti Sagar’ and tried to get something there…but our hard luck they were closed. Next thing, we went to the ‘Pizza Hut’. We asked them…instead could say implored in front of them…to give us any damn thing that is available. But the oven had gone stone cold . With all the persuasion from the ladies side also they could only provide us with pepsi…huh!! But they tried a lot . Well then we thought of atleast going to CCD and have some pastries or something. On our way to CCD vini saw a restaurant in the corner…’Big Chef’…it was a Chinese restaurant. I went inside and asked if anything was left. But I got a big NO . Then Mipple said that may be he can handle this. He went inside and we stood outside wondering that what can he do. After two minutes he came out and asked that whether we can eat ‘daal and rice’ . I was just amazed…how the hell he did it. Then came to know that it was the magic of language. Mipple knew Nepalese . We were treated so well by them. And that ‘daal and rice’ was soooo good. I was so happy to know that people like them are still in this world .

Well then we caught a rick to go to my PG as Adi’s bike was parked there and they had to drop me too. But it was raining like crazy at that time. So we all sat at the steps of my PG and started talking…with me and Adi in mostly the listening mode . We sat there for an hour or so. It was so much of fun to sit in the rain and chat that too at 1 in the night . It was nearly 2 am when the others left and thus ended the day.

Overall, this was something different than usual. That walking in the rain under one jacket. That dancing on top of the chairs. That roaming on road for search of food at 12 in the night that too totally drenched and full of mud. That dinner at the ‘Big Chef’. That chatting at the steps of my PG. Will remember these moments and cherish them forever. .