A special note of thanks to Ritu Chandra and Sangeeta Saxena for providing me with an opportunity to be a part of this landmark event. Sincere apologies to members in Delhi like Sonu, Gaurav Kumar, Deepak, Naresh Khattar, Asad Kidwai to whom I didn’t give details about my plans of coming over there.
26th July, well it was bound to happen. I mean the rains. Last year it was in Mumbai this year it was to be Delhi. I was put up at Swami Narayan Mandir which is very near ISBT Kashmere Gate. Charges are pretty cheap 35 Rs for 24 hrs. The area is a low lying one though. Anyways there was nothing much eventful on that day.
When it was dawn break the next day I came out in the open and thought this was the same place which inspired some film maker to make a film on the city where the girl count had crossed 11,000 so as to produce a film with an apt name ‘Gyarah Hazaar Ladkiyaan’ way back in ’62.
I was short of cash so went to ICICI Bank ATM in Dariyaganj. After withdrawing the amount contacted Ritu who was glad that I was in Delhi. After that I called up Kamall and requested him to send a last minute message to the groups about my coming to Delhi and requesting for phone no’s of members there. After returning back I travelled by Metro to Vidhan Sabha. Not much in the Vidhan Sabha to write back but Metro experience was nice and I am prepared for it whenever it comes here in Mumbai. Later in the afternoon when I was back at the Mandir, Sonu called saying that We all can meet at JIMS institute at Nehru Place at around 4:30 PM. After getting the details as to where this place was I set out for the same. I t was past 5 and quarter when I reached there. Found Sonu waiting outside JIMS. Ritu was not there when we went inside the studios. Sangeeta Saxena was there and so were Imran, Sajid et all. Sonu was trying to rehearse what part he was playing while I was unaware of what I am going to do. When we were joined by Mr. Chaudhury, Khurana Saab, Indraneel Mukherjee and Ritu the actual script came into picture. Myself and Sonu were to deal with lighting and audio visual presentations resp. as I came to know latter. After cut shorting some songs the final script was ready by around 7:30 PM. After which I decided it was too late and returned back to my place of temporary occupancy. We had decided to meet the next day at 9 AM.
The next day morning I went to the same place again. After some writing work for the AV credits Sonu and myself decided to go to the Lotus temple which was nearby. Since I had seen only the Vidhan Sabha I readily agreed. When we were back we had little time to round up things and join Ritu for our testing place the Venue. I always thought that most of the times the party that handles the lighting also handles the sound system. But this myth was shattered by the events that followed. There was no co-ordination between these two parties. Hence there was delay in the event.
The details of the programme has been summed up so well by Deepak that I can’t find anything further to write about. I was really surprised that Naresh Khattar came up to the lights control room. I felt that I was giving others the impression that I was too busy with my work that I can’t find spare time to come down and meet members who were part of the audience.
For a first timer this was a good learning experience. I learnt to change the podium lights on and off from Mr. Ramesh who was actually doing all the hard work while I was instructing him where to change the lights. There was another person Khan (I forgot his first name) who also did the changing in Ramesh’s absence.
Thanks one and all for the support shown and hopefully many of us get an opportunity to be actively involved in such events.
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