Rang Manch at Tracy Hills

 I brought the six costco chairs, and called Abhi. Abhi came out from the hall with another neighbor, and they took the chairs in. I returned with family - the seats were empty mostly. Abhi was like - looks like we are going to miss people, and not chairs. Looked like the event might be underwhelming - no worries -  the initiative and intention is great, full support and a little less stress of performance. 

  Noticed Girish - sat next to him, and listened to his audiophile adventures. While these conversations were going on, the hall had all filled up. Abhi came over, and asked us to coordinate with NB on how to start the karaoke. I told him to start the mp3 while I start the video on the phone at the same time, a technique that had worked out on an earlier stage event. 

   Abhi and Meenakshi took over the compering with easy expertise. The viby, fun language that had come out in the whatsapp instagram messages introducing the artists established continuity on to today's text. Karaoke performances started coming one after the other - all very nice and enjoyable. Then there was the description of all the paintings from the painters. The stories behind the painitings gave a new life to the paintings. Then we had multiple energetic dance performances, and another set of karaoke performances, a kuchipudi performance, guitar performance, rap performance. There was a satirical drama performance. Pulling off a drama in front of an audience is a herculean challenge, especially in today's minimal attention span days. There were multiple high points in the drama, excellent dialogue delivery, confident performances.

    A very eventful, fun and positive evening. And you still have the weekend ahead of you. A wonderful initiative, and excellently executed - hats off to the organizers.