Wintry Concert

“Listen, listen listen listen listen listen! Let’s audition for the Winter Concert!” Devika said, practically screaming.
I had been too busy counting the number of listens. At the same time, I had been wondering what to buy for Ranjana’s birthday.
“What?” I asked perplexed
“Dude, there are posters all over the college! Lets audition for this! You and Ranjana audition for acting, I’ll try the singing!”
As much as I liked the idea, I got cold feet. I had suffered enough traumatic experiences regarding acting in street play, and now I felt like a nervous wreck when it came to acting. But still I decided I could try for it.
Well the Winter Concert…. proved to be quite something.
I was too lazy to learn something by heart and act it out. So, me being the lazy child I was, recited something I had recited a million times before. I remember the WMS’s president maintaining an absolutely blank expression. I tried to fathom her deadpan expressions, but no avail.
I lent Ranjana ‘A series of unfortunate events’ book, which she promptly read out. Our nightingale Devika sang Kal Ho na ho. (And after that, Devika was dragged off to sing for every concert in town :p )
So the three of us cracked the auditions. And then I realized that it was mostly singing, and that there was hardly any acting. So I decided to participate in the singing, as I liked the songs.
Now, it’s kind of obvious that some sort of chaos will occur when Devika and I are together. And we had to a sing neither-high-neither-low- part of the song ‘they don’t really care about us.’.
We had to sing in one high monotone.
So we started practice with great flourish. Now I couldn’t get the correct parts of the monotone, and I kept going unnecessarily low “Oooooooooooooooooooo” and Devika would unfortunately get carried off in that direction. Twice, thrice, our little group of neither-high-neither-lows were told gently that somewhere we were going off.
I tried mastering it. Till I mastered it, Devika decided to stick her fingers in her ears to try to get the tune right. It worked for her, but I was still in a low “oooooooooo”. I got it just about right a few days before the concert.
Our next hurdle was RESPECT. Now this song has the ability to make people (me, mostly) to forget the rest of the song.
There was a certain part of the song called “Suck it to me” which the four of us had to sing. And we had to sing this fast. I got into a delirium when singing this part, and I didn’t stop.
“Suck it to me Suck it to me Suck it to me Suck it to me Suck it to me
Suck it to me Suck it to me Suck it to me Suck it to me….”
“Lakshanaa…shhhhh.” Devika tried whispering.
When I finally stopped, I saw the WMS president looking at me with an astonished expression on her face.
“Only a few times. You don’t have to get into a fever.”
I wished that I was a fly on the wall.

And then our Ancient India teacher told us that she would give us an assignment. We pleaded, and told her to please let us give it along with the lucky MUNers, Tanya, Diva and Anandi. Didn’t work.
The unfortunate part was that this test was on the day of the Winter Concert.
At the same time, Devika and I were planning Ranjana’s birthday. See, this is what happens when everything coincides!
Our WMS president then gave an enlightening speech.
“All of you have practiced really well. Just get your costumes tomorrow, in case we have the concert. Most likely we might not have it tomorrow, we might have it on Monday.”
I almost dropped my bag. She had announced it so casually!
“So…we have to study for the test tomorrow…before that we need to get Ranjana’s gift ready…” Devika was trying to say calmly but I could see a massive Devika panic attack coming along.
“Let’s see, let’s see.”
So we grabbed the first unwilling cycle rickshaw to the market, bought a present, and wrapped it. We hurried back to our houses. I made Ranjana’s card. As I tried to print out pictures, I found that my printer had crashed. So I had to make do with my existing black and white ones. The purple card was ready.
Next, I had to get to study. Which of course I didn’t.
So next morning, I was bleary eyed and ‘wonky’ in Anandi’s words. And then, luck seemed to pour.
The test was an open-book one.
The Concert WAS taking place.
After writing the test, we moved swiftly to the auditorium. Apparently some drama had taken place there, as our WMS president had burst out crying.
I got into my costume, which involved a pair of hideously-coloured pajamas. I remember bitterly wishing to take them home and get it ripped by Phoebe.
For us, the Winter Concert was a lot of fun. Generally…it was a disaster. We messed up half the songs.
But I still loved it all the same. ^_^