Short + Sweet Delhi Theatre Workshop at Akshara Theatre

I hate goodbyes but love unions ..and as it turned out that the Short and Sweet Delhi 2013 was indeed a BLESSED UNION OF SOULS. When I bought a BOSE sound dock in May this year , I thought to myself that no sound can come close to this joy and then on the weekend of 19-21st July I met a waterfall called ZORIAN CROSS and suddenly the sound of the dock was not so musical compared to what I heard from the man himself on stage, it was like watching Biyanca Castafiore , the nightingale from the animation Tintin come alive in front of me. I am always wary of Indians with accents but VarOO7n .P. Anand (yes the 7 is his guitar) is different, a great actor and even a better person.

Coming to our lovely faculty……

1. Neel Chaudhary -Playwriting –Neel was like a play himself, there were moments when he ...got so absorbed in the many ideas that the class was throwing at him, that he looked as if he was listening to one of Beethoven’s symphonies.

2. Giles Chuyen – Direction – I learned so much from Giles that I feel as if I am indebted to him for the circles (the squares aint happening here baby), the only regret is that I wanted to see Giles doing a run with a performance which show us the sea of his movements (there is always a next time).

3. Ashwath Bhatt– Acting – Ashwath managed the impossible, he made me jump (on my toes), made me stretch (although the view in front was quite pleasing), made me drop my shoulders (when for the last 30 years all I am trying to do is the reverse), I think the residential 7 day course at the theatre garage is going to be like a trip to the Himalayas, with Ashwath being the wise sage and me the kung fu panda –WENHAO.

Finally our organisers/moderators Sohaila Kapur and Prashant Sehgal

I think the last time somebody asked me to have TEA AND BUISCUITS so many times in one day was my mother during my post grad exams 7 years back. A big thank you for organising this, I met so many wonderful people and went back with such wonderful memories.

P.S
The rain in July is nothing…..wait till you see November rain.

THE MALE VERSION OF ENGLISH VINGLISH - PART 5

THE MALE VERSION OF ENGLISH VINGLISH - PART 5

Mr. Dad had already thought about the song that he wanted to sing – a cover of BOYZONE’s –A PICTURE OF YOU - I HAD A PICTURE OF YOU IN MY MIND, NEVER KNEW IT WOULD BE SO WRONG.

He had shortlisted couple of event organisers who could arrange a decent gig for him. However the Drummer was still missing.

 One evening when Mr. Dad was swimming in the pool of his residential complex, he bumped into (literally) Mr. Singh, a sardarji who was one of the oldest residents in the complex, the collision of the backstroke of Mr. Dad and the butterfly of Mr. Singh led to a chat which covered world affairs, politics, cricket, tennis, chicks, food and you guessed it right -music. Mr. Singh was a drummer in his boarding school and was a riot on stage. Mr. Dad was feeling the same pleasure in the pool after discovering Mr. Singh, like a buffalo feels in a pond on a sunny day.

The trinity of Mr. Dad , Mr.Jose and Mr.Singh named their band –DADDY’s DAY OUT.

 A telephone call was made to the event organiser, Mr. Khan who was the go to person for any kind of event in the city, be it a stand up, rock concert, college festival or even marital event.

A to do list was created by Mr.Khan which comprised of the following items

-          Campaign on social media including Twitter and Facebook

-          Campaign on print media in the weekend column

-          Posters to be printed and pasted at the various hot spots in the city

-          Non stop practise by DADDY’s DAY OUT for one month

To be contd……..