A 'Magnificent' moment

June 15th 2019, Morning 11 hrs.
As I am on my way to acting class, a stop comes up on the Magnificent mile (Chicago). A street as per it's name is magnificent in all senses. It's mesmerizing to view the entire panashe and elegance of this place.
As the bus waits on a signal, I find a cute family of four. Husband was closer to this daughter of around 8 years. She was delighted to see the small fence guarding beautiful tulips.
The sweet girl was interested in fence as compared to the flowers... Can't help my stereotypical mentality.
As she urged and expressed her desire to walk on the thin fence, her father extended his hand. She grabbed his hand immediately and taking its support hopped on the side of this black fence. The glitter on her face was perfect moment to be captured. She then started to take one step at a time and started to test her balancing ability.
With her dad being around she never ceases of any confidence and kept marching towards the next step fearlessly. Her dad in a subtle manner was available for her support, also trying to give her confidence by leaving her on her own. As she continued to take next steps her confidence and smile roused and was brimming.. and her father watching her sour !!
A simple way that make us realize how soothing this dad daughter relation is.. it's just the matter of believing in each other.

A memory close to my heart

What a day that was, the trailer of most anticipated movie of year 2006 had dropped in. Dhoom 2 starring Hrithik Roshan.
I had glimpse of few moves of hrithik  and that made me and engineering college friends crazy. As soon as the movie released, I  rushed into the movie theater  and  witnessed the epics moves on big screen. An experience you hardly fathom. I came out being in Awe of Hrithiks moves on title track  Dhoom2.

For couple of months I remained in awe of those moves.
Until the annual day season started, known  for sports and students performing to famous bollywood songs.
I happened to stumble upon the DVD of dhoom2. Guess what, I  started to see that dance performance on loop, wondering how the hell does he perform a simple shoulder move in such stylish way...
I tried, but it seemed funny. Then I observed, and tried to replicate in front of my best friend - The mirror. Soon to my surprise I cracked that move !! What a joy that was...
I thought let's go for the next step... God damn, it was mighty difficult. And I required 1 entire week to crack that one. Just realizing i had cracked one of the most trickiest steps of the entire of choreography.
I continued learning its next steps.
During that time, my biggest critic my sister happened to see me practice.
Surprisingly, instead of demeaning me, she told it's good do it on annual day stage. This small piece of appreciation ignited the part of me telling... Let's give a try and let's audition.

I enrolled my name for dance audition and kept practicing along with my football practice.

The day of audition arrived. It was a tricky schedule.
I had a football match followed by my dance audition.
The football match was a high intensity game, exhausting me completely.
After the match i reached for dance audition, time to show my cool moves .
I started with a bang delighting the spectators and judges specially Mr Gaikwad the main judge.
But suddenly i was out of breath and could not complete by performance. Judges even though impressed were not convinced. Asked me to appear for another round of audition and kept me on waiting list.

Tad sad i went back and practiced waiting for next round of auditions, but that never happened and finally the day before Annual day I got the news that my dance act of only 2 mins 30 seconds was cancelled and did not find a place in schedule.
I was completely disheartened.

With a perplexed mind I woke up next morning, and reach college. The news of my act getting cancelled  travelled without my knowledge. It was 11 am , when my friend Ravi came to me and took me to Mr Gaikwad the organizer. And convinced him to give me a slot of 2 minutes 30 seconds.. it was 7 pm to 7:03 pm. Man... I just got my act on the schedule.

I was happy and nervous at same time.. from then onwards i kept rehearsing with the assurance of performance.

Finally it was 6:45 pm, 15 minutes to go.. i was in the backstage. Nervousness was at its peak. When My friend Ankur came and told.. Dude you will be fine, don't worry about the nasty crowd, you enjoy your dance.
As the final moments approached, my name got announced. And as I proceeded towards stage, i could see Ravi, Aniket, JD cheering for me. As I went on stage i watched a sea of people covered in bit darkness cheering on top of their voice and familiar voice of my friend Adsul shouting... Arree Shailyaaa.. i could feel the adrenaline rush. And then crowd went silent and music starts.

Then I had the best 2 minutes 30 seconds of my life.

Owning those 2 min 30 seconds alone in front of a crowd of around One thousand... Wow what a feeling that it.. a dream that I happened to achieve.