A Time for Hero(es)

A saturday so unusual. I was Good Morning-ed from sleep , by Padmasanigaaru, Chinmayi's Mom.after a cool 30min tele-chat, Padmasanigaaru ,being her usual nice-self, invited me over to the Hotel in which they were/are staying, ITC Kakatiya.she invited me to the "A Time For Heroes" function, an AIDS Awareness event organised by Hollywood actor Richard Gere with Parameshwar Godrej, in collaboration with actors Kamal Haasan & Chiranjeevi. Chinmayi was to sing a song in this event, for which they have been flown in to hyderabad. Padmasani aunty( i think i can call her so...here on..) actually wanted me to accompany them to the rehearsals at the venue(Gachibowli Stadium), but since there was not much time left, i insisted on meeting them at the Hotel, after their rehearsals.

At 1:30pm, she promptly called me up and told that she procured One entry-pass for me(how nice of her...if you are reading this...thanks again padmasani aunty..)and asked me to drop in before 4:45pm. by 3:40pm, i was on my bike, driving to begumpet. But at secunderabad, my bike started behaving strangely. It wouldnt start. i was running out of time and bloody thing had to trouble me there...at that time..finally, i got the problem solved with a mechanic there , thankfully..but wait!i dont have a reason to smile.... can you believe it...i was left with only Rs.10/-.

i reached there by 4:30pm and was waiting for chinmayi & padmasani aunty at the lobby hall, as they were on their way to the hotel. They entered the hotel , talking to a 20-21 yr old girl(later..i learnt that it was shriya). I met them(they were little shocked..they said "u look quite different in the pic...") and went to her room. Had a chit-chat with them there,over a coffee, while chinmayi had to go through a very crucial and tough ordeal of the day...much tougher than the rehearsal i think...she had to get ready for the concert...and trust me friends! to come up with that presentable appearance isnt a joke. whoa! Time & patience...both are essentials.finally, after 6:30 or so, we were in the car...to the venue.

Padmasani aunty asked me to find myself a seat there, while she and chinmayi went to the back-stage/green-room for final preparation. found empty chairs in the 5th row itself and i patiently listened to the sermons given by our Chief Minister and co. ..Meanwhile, Padmasani aunty located me in the crowd and asked me to follow her...to the backstage. She said,"come, have a closer glimpse of Richard Gere". saw him...and then..Kamal Haasan...and we returned back to the seats.Really sweet of her for having taken up so much trouble for me.

The Ministers left the place after the sermons..i was shocked that our Ministers didnt even bother to felicitate Richard Gere for the remarkable work he was doing.Anyways, the show started..the usual star-event it was..with actors talking about AIDS sandwiched between dance sequences by actors/actresses.Chiranjeevi(his looks subtract his age by 15yrs) invited Kamal Haasan and got some AIDS-doubts clarified, the best among them was the question: "Does Lip-Lip kissing play a hand in transmitting the disease?" ..Kamal asked ,"why is everyone asking me?" to which Chiranjeevi said,"because you really are an authoritative person to clarify this doubt".The audience broke into peals of laughter and Kamal responded,"i think Richard gere is more authoritative than me.." (btw, if u have the same doubt...rest assured...it doesnt transmit..)

After introducing Gere , lot of song/dances happened..Sunita Sarathy sang "Fanaa" & "Anjaana " from yuva(in tamil ofcourse)...and then, Chinmayi sang "Oru Daiva thantha" from "Kannathil Muthamittal". It was simply awesome. She just razed the performance of other singers who sang before her(personal opinion..).i was completely Floored. I had to just bow, when she came back to sit with us(Myself, Padmasani aunty and singer Mahathi's Mom).Mahathi also performed well. i wonder why our composers are not using these voices..chinmayi, mahathi...especially when they perform so well.

One more significant item was a composition which raised my eye-brows.Surprised because the song was really good and i never had high regard (for that matter...any regard) for the composer. he is R.P.Patnaik.his song,with kids, was really good.
Many actors/actresses spoke about AIDS and some HIV+ve patients were brought to the dias too..they were all smiles.Somehow u feel a pinch to believe that those smiling faces..cant smile for long...Some clippings were also shown.Must admit, Richard Gere has been/is doing atleast something to help out the victims and bring an awareness. Commendable is an understatement. i dont know if "Heroes" is really the word to be used for the title, but he is definitely one.

After many more song/dances, most of them being Dapppaaxx, Kamal Haasan & Malayalam actor Jayram surprised everyone with their percussion presentation.though it was for only 3 mins, it was really surprising to see Kamal on Ghatam & Jayram on Mridhangam, that too playing decently well. And then, a 7 year old kid, came up with Drums/Jazz trap kit. Kamal & Jayram were giving him the tala in nattuvangam style and that kid played drums like a professional. for 5mins, it was like a Jugalbandhi between Kamal's Notes & Jayram's notes, with the kid playing both.The kid proved that he is a junior Sivamani in the making.

The icing on the cake was the Grand Finale song. Composed by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja ( he was to attend this concert, according to suntv news...but i dont know why he didnt turn up..i was very eager to see him..but..disappointed!!..his son Kaarthikraaja attended).I can use just one phrase to describe the song: Simply Superb..(please take it for granted that i have used other adjectives ..from the Roget's thesaurus). beautiful composition. Also, it is the 1st multilingual composition by him. The song started in English and each charanam covered each of the south-indian languages and finally ended in english again. what a song it was!, a wonderful fusion of western & indian classical. though the track was played in the background, all the artists,actors,actresses together hummed this song on the stage.This is the 1st time i saw a Hollwood actor singing an Ilaiyaraaja song.Raaja Sir! hats off (for the Nth time..)

After the concert, myself,padmasani aunty & chinmayi came back to the hotel. i bye-bye-ed them..drove back...and here i am keying this, still trying to remember the tune of that song.Alas! i dont...which means my next objective is to get that song. How!! let me see..

Padmasani aunty! your first comment on my blog was in "Saturday Night in Hyderabad". and this saturday night, thanks to you,its different.
Thanks to Chinmayi also. hoping to have another argument(if it was one :) ...) soon...

and thank God.. with only 10 bucks in my pocket, i didnt face any trouble in the night.