Magic!
Have you ever experienced it?
Yes! Experienced!
Not talking about seeing a rabbit coming out of the magician’s hat, some fancy card trick or a magician flying in the air. I am talking about the magic of how pieces of your life’s puzzle fit perfectly in the jigsaw of the eternal drama & how in the moments of sheer chaos you can experience pure bliss & that my dear friends, is the real magic.
This article will make you travel to my experience of chaos, frustration, friendship, goodness, bliss & MAGIC!
5000 Artists spread across a stage which equalled the size of 6 football grounds on 11th March 2016 at Delhi, a bright sunny evening, my girls & I were seated behind the Kathak dancers who were positioned to perform first on the opening of World Culture Festival organized by The Art of Living.
Looking at the huge acres of land across me to the end which felt like the meeting point of Earth & Sky, listening to the continuous blabber of peer artists, volunteers rushing across passing water bottles, a scenery of utter chaos & suddenly the sun shelter was taken over by dark clouds. (It’s March- We were sweating- Its summer- What? Why? These clouds? Will it rain? Our costumes – our Make Up? Oh Please God, no!) & it rained.
The frustration each one of us had was incomparable, dressed with the perfect makeup & excited for the performance in front of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi was being ruined with the twitch of rains. The chaos now was a mayhem, thousands of dancers were rushing to find a shelter saving themselves from the rains. I had a small handkerchief which I kept on my head which wasn’t of any help though (ha ha) but in moments of despair, you cling to any help u get. In 10 minutes we were given huge plastic sheets to cover our heads for the minimum but we were already wet.
The entire atmosphere was tensed, we were blaming the rains & suddenly the blather was interrupted by the sounds of huge drums, we looked around to see drummers from Maharashtra climb up the huge speakers who had started to play the famous Nashik Dhol tune. For a brief moment, there was widespread silence, we looked at each other in disbelief, is this really happening? Are we getting wet in our costumes, are we listening to the Nashik dhol – tune to which it is impossible to control dancing & then at one point we let the tsunami of thoughts that were flooding our minds let go. We threw away the plastic sheets & started jumping & thumping doing the Ganpati visarjan Dance 😉 least bothered. The rains transformed to hailstones. No exaggeration there. My girls & I looked up to the dismay of what we were experiencing & we saw Sun on the west, turning our heads on the opposite we saw a full arc of a rainbow! Yes! The most perfect arc I’ve ever seen. It was a scenic view. Nothing that was happening at that moment was anticipated by us. It was mesmerizing to watch everyone to just break through of the fear & worry & just Dance! The rains are considered to be auspicious, removes the hurdles & blesses us in our endeavours according to the Hindu Scriptures.
As the rains subsided & we took our places, drenched in our costumes yet least bothered about it, I closed my eyes absorbing the events that just manifested, chaos & mayhem transformed into merriment & bliss. How many times in our life are we faced with circumstances that don’t go in accordance with our planning & we crib about them being disheartened, hardly noticing of what is happening instead & not relishing of what the life is having to offer instead of our plans.
While I was journeying within, a pretty girl in Garba costume was calling out my name, I replied, ‘Siddhi here’. ‘Your mom has come to meet you’, she stated. In complete disbelief that I was in, she directed me to come with her & we ran towards the stairs to the end of the stage, but we couldn’t see mom. ’She was here’, said the angel in Garba costume. (I call her angel) & we ran a little ahead & there she was. My Mother, ☺She had not come to the tour & it was my first outdoor tour without her. A day prior (10th March) during the grand rehearsals on stage with mellow breeze touching my face, we were practicing to the excellent choreography of Padmabhushan Dr.Saroja Vaidyanathan [who had invited Gurumaa (my mother) at her Natyalaya & I had disheartedly told her that mom isn’t accompanying us.] ‘Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu’, the song continued, I missed mom & looked up at the infinity that protects & shelters us. We are always looked after, she is always with me & the music stopped. It was announced that Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji had arrived at the venue. My girls & I formed ‘saakli’ to not be lost in the crowd. I stood there & as he met eye to eye with everyone standing there, his eyes met mine & an assurance was provided that the GURU is always with you. He looked away, went ahead, turned back again to meet my eye, re-assuring the assurance. & today, Mom was here, I ran & hugged her tight. I turned over to the angel, hugged her & thanked her to have found me amongst 1900 Bharatnatyam dancers. These incidents make us believe in goodness, what need she had to find me in such a vast crowd? What did she have in it to be benefitted? She could have easily given up yet she ran the entire row calling out my name to just help me & my Guru meet. It is these angels that you meet out of the blue that make you believe in the purity of heart & soul. After all, we are just humans longing for love & sometimes in giving some love, helping others find their joy – we find our happiness.
I mused on how exciting the day was passing by & finally the time for our performance came. Thunderous applaud succeeded. We rushed towards Gurumaa. My girls hugging her tightest as they didn’t get the opportunity earlier. We walked back holding hands to our green rooms rather huge white tents built to house 500 artists. Laughing, sharing, crying & once again hugging & just experiencing the MAGIC.
It’s moments of joy, laughter, merriment, goodness, helping, sharing – The Smallest of small things in our lives that are the real pearls of life. They are priceless & the people in our life make them priceless. So the next time, things are going out of your hands & everything is falling out of place, sit back, close your eyes & allow the chaos to process. Hold on to the people in your life & just DANCE! Let the Grace of Dance bring you to the most Magical experience you can ever have.
& wait! Hold on!
Close your eyes!
You might just be experiencing MAGIC just now!
Until next time☺
Loads of Love!
