The First Timer!!!!

Doing a thing for the first time always is difficult but when it is accompanied by the feeling that you will be doing it in front of hundreds of people, people around you think you could make a fool of yourself and more importantly, you yourself think you are not apt enough for the job, then believe me, you are in deep shit!!!And thats what I found myself in when I was drawn up for the group dance during the Independence Day celebrations in our office.(I am sure those who are reading this post and have seen me will be already having open mouths!!)

It all started like this: A mail came if anyone was interested in doing something for the August 15th celebrations. I readily gave my name cause there were skits and songs which were to be done.So it was nothing surprising when I was told by Prabal ( a 6.5 ft kung fu giant and one of the most enthu guys in our project) that he had lined me up for something interesting. However, shocked I definitely was when he took me to a large room and told me that I would be doing a group dance. I was like, "What the ......"

I have never danced on stage in my life, neither in school nor dance. The closest I have come to dancing is during our office parties, when there are only those disc lights and half the people can't see you and the remaining half are too drunk to notice anything!!! And along with a physical structure which would get me thrown out of any dance school, I told him to get somebody else. And as usual he convinced me that I would not have to do much and just do some simple steps.

Thus, the practice started. It soon became evident that except for me and Dumbu(not his actual name), the rest of the team i.e. Prabal, Niki, Manisha and Naiju, were good if not great!!!The first practise lasted for 3 hrs and at the end of which, it seemed all the joints in my body had started aching.The next day being a Sunday, I went for a trek which lasted for more than 6 hrs and my ankle and back got worse.


Monday morning, the 14th, was dark and dismal, and after work, at 9 in the night the practise started. Things kept getting frustrating, like there were two songs instead of one, so the entire duration of the dance stretched from 2 minutes to 7, steps(which included props like ropes, swords and torches) got tougher and the instances when my friends had burst out laughing when I told them I was gonna dance, kept flashing through my mind. And then there was also the pain!!!Prabal kept getting pissed (perfectly justified) cause I kept fumbling up, some steps by me made the team laugh out (which made things even worse, though I too was laughing out with them) and all and all I realized this was not something which was not for me!!I kept thinking whether I should walk out of the room, but things which kept me back were:-
1)The team especially Prabal kept telling me I was getting better.
2)One of my close friend's sms,when I messaged her my dilemma, who told me that not to take notice of other people but just go for it.
3)When during a break in the practice I mentioned to Prabal and Niki that I really sucked and they should have taken somebody else, they said that that there were so many who were not doing anything and for a first timer I was doing great(who cares whether they told me just to raise my spirits;)
4)I was able to relive my college life once more...those late night fest practises especially!!
5)And the thought that "You live only once!! Enjoy it."

At 5:30 in the morning, the practice got over, I went home and crawled into my bed, the pain no worse.I was to report to office at 9 but I overslept and reached at 10:30, by which the guys had called me umpteen times and Prabal had got really jumpy!!I suspect that they thought I had passed out after the practise!!!When I walked into the enclosure in my costume and props where the show was going on, the number of people seated left me gawking.T here was like 200 people in there if not more,which included my team mates, managers and their families!!Those 9 minutes really meant a lot to me and thankfully I didn't make an aweful lot of mistakes!!And after the dance when people congratulated our team including me, I again understood the importance that until you don't give your best shot at something, you jolly well don't have the right to say that you can't!!!

P.S.This post is for my team mates who kept urging me on even though they were really pissed off with me.I am still asked whether the stage cracked or not!!!!