Starting the new year on a good note

"Sonu Nigam is coming to town!"

This was my Christmas song for 2009. The moment I had heard about his concert on the radio, I got my hands on the tickets. It was a dream come true. SONU NIGAM LIVE! (Yes, Nigam it is. I still can't get myself to use his new Ekta-Kapoorised surname 'Niigaam'.)


I was counting down the days leading to 2nd Jan, and finally, it happened. We were at the Suntec City convention centre as part of the 2500-strong crowd that had turned up to see the musical genius in action.

The concert was supposed to start at 7 pm, and we were seated by then. However, nothing happened for like half an hour. We were wondering if it was just badly organised or they were going to start at IST or Sonu was simply late. Grrrr... we know what happens when someone is late without reason (something explodes in my head).

At about 7.30 pm, out came the host, henceforth known as Diagonal Glitter Dress Girl or DGSquare. Did poor DGSquare have a tough task or what. No sooner than she had uttered the killer words, "Now let me tell you something about the organisers SPICE..." that the entire crowd went "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Poor girl, but seriously, we were there for Sonu and he had made us wait half an hour. So everyone cut her off and started clapping and chanting, "Sonu! Sonu! Sonu!" She meekly retreated and passed the microphone to this guy who came out and started talking about -- get this -- how talented Sonu is. Sheesh!!

It was obvious they were playing for time and he didn't get much favour from the audience. In fact, we got more irritated. I wanted to yell out, "Dude, we know how talented Sonu is. That's why we are here!" The crowd cut him off too. The hall was filled with chants of "We want Sonu!", "Sonu, come out!", and "Sooonuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" (Maybe that's why he changed his surname? Maybe someone in a crowd called out to him and said "Niiiiiiiigaaaaaaaaam!" and he decided to add in the extra 'i's and 'a's.) The guy in front of me said, "Sonu bolne se kuchh nahin ho raha hai. Let's yell out Monu instead. Maybe he'll come out?" I wanted to stand on my chair and yell in capital letters, "SONU! AGAR MAA KA DOODH PIYA HAI TOH BAAHAR NIKAL!"

Finally it seemed like something was happening because the musicians started to play, but next thing we know they're playing and singing (!) songs from 'Rock On'. COME ON, MAN! They played 'Rock on' and 'Socha hai'. Then the male host came back (AAAARGH!) and started talking about some girl called Gunjan, who came out singing "Raat baaki baat baaki". DOUBLE AAAAARGH!!! Where the heck was Sonu and who the heck was this girl? I seriously thought someone would throw a shoe or something at the stage. Fortunately for Gunjan, firstly, she sang well she was hot, and secondly, she sang well. She went on to sing three songs, and even though she sounded good, we yelled out "Sonuuuuu!" whenever she paused.

Finally she made her exit, but it was followed by a slideshow about Sonu, which had statistics about his performances, one of which talked about how he had burnt 1 million calories during his stage shows. Huh?! We were so annoyed we were not sure even if that was supposed to be a joke.

And finally, finally, finally, at 8 pm, Sonu's voice filled the hall. "This had better be the real Sonu and not some recording!" I was grinding my teeth and thinking.


And then it happened. Sonu Nigam, the god of Bollywood music, came out, dressed in white pants, a light blue full-sleeved shirt and a white waistcoat. He had realised that the only way to calm us down was "no talk only sing" and he did exactly that. He sang a medley of his popular songs before getting down to talking.


We were seated about slightly more than 50 metres from the stage and could see him very clearly. He sang 'Falak dekhoon', followed by the remix version of 'Chak de saare gham' (remix version meaning he sang too fast and there were too many beats), and then 'Dil dooba'. "Come on man, bring out the real Sonu songs!" I yelled in my head.

And finally, it seemed like the real show started. Sonu sang all his famous songs and he did variations to every single one of them. Actually it would have been nice if he had sung at least some of the songs the way we knew them (the slow soulful Sonu-ish melodies) but he was still good and we were hooting and clapping like crazy. Some girl yelled out "SONU, I LOVE YOU!" (no, it wasn't me) and he responded with a "I LOVE YOU TOO!", driving her and her friends mad of course. Next thing we know, a guy in the audience yells out, "SONU, I LOVE YOU!". Erm, Sonu said nothing.

He spoke about how the Singapore audience had changed from the first time he had performed here, from clapping politely to raising their hands and clapping to the insanity he was witnessing.

I was hoping Sonu would also make time for some mimicry. (If you didn't know, he rocks at mimicking other Bollywood singers. Check this video out.) He didn't do exactly that, but he did something very interesting and unique. He was talking about how people react when they bump into him at airports or when they are seated next to him in the plane. Some guy asked him, "Woh John aur Bipasha ka abhi tak chal raha hai kya?" and when Sonu said he didn't know, the guy asked, "Suna hai Aishwarya Rai... sach hai kya?" and then made a pregnant tummy gesture.

One of the questions he said he gets a lot is "Sonu ji, gana kaise banta hai?" So he has now started including this item in all his concerts to show how a song is composed. "We start with the lyrics. Let's make some lyrics now. How about vegetable names? Give me some vegetable names." We started yelling, "Aloo! Bhindi! Baingan! Mooli! Gobhi!" His guitarist yelled out, "Matar paneer!" "Arre yaar, matar paneer toh bani banaayi sabzi hai, I'm looking for raw vegetable names. Okay never mind, let's take aloo, mooli, gobhi and matar paneer." Next, he got his percussionist to give him the beats and then composed a whole song of it. Luckily, Viv captured part of it on his phone (if I'd known they'd allow cameras in, I'd have taken mine. We had to make do with mobile phones). Check out the aloo gobhi song in the video below!



Sonu also gave demonstrations of how the song would go if composed by different music directors. He started with Nadeem-Shravan and did the aloo gobhi song with the typical dholak beats and a Nadeem-Shravan-ish tune. Next was Anu Malik's style. "Who else?" He asked us. I patted myself on the back as I was one of the first to yell out "HIMESH!" Many others followed suit. "Himesh?" he asked, and shook his head at us in disapproval. Suddenly he broke into a Himesh-style rendition of the song, "Alooooooooooonnnnn! Matar-paneeeer-matar-matar-matar!" leaving us howling with laughter.

For a guy nearing 40, he not only looks young, he's super energetic too. He rocked the stage with his dance moves and variations which showed off the amazing range he can do. Awesome awesome awesome. The only downside was that he didn't sing Tanhaayee.

They had an interval around 10 pm, and we were once again ready to howl in dismay because the male host came out again. However, this time, he really redeemed himself. First, he told us that Sonu had been very unwell the last few days and had been hospitalised, and that's why the delays had occurred. Next, he did impressions of Bollywood actors at a Navraatri puja and what they said to Durga Ma. He did an especially great job as Amol Palekar (who said in his typical calm way "Excuse me Durga Mata..."), Sunil Shetty ("Ayee Durga Mata!"), Amrish Puri and Nana Patekar. The audience howled in laughter when he had Vinod Khanna saying "Durga Ma, tuney mere sar par sattavan ki umar mein bhi itne baal rakhe, lekin mere bete ke sar se sattaais mein hi chheen liye?")

Gunjan came out again and sang a few more songs, including the Pussycat Dolls' version of 'Jai ho!', 'Dance pe chance' and 'Yeh ishq haaye'. She didn't sound all that great this time, possibly because she wasn't all that prepared and was just trying to play for time. In fact, she finished singing and went back, and then came out again to sing another song because Sonu wasn't ready. DGSquare came out next, and this time she somehow managed to finish her SPICE speech which we had not let her complete earlier. She also announced something unexpected -- that Anil Kapoor was on his way up! A few minutes passed and nothing happened, and I feared for her life again. The mimicking guy came out to save her ass and told us that Anil Kapoor had been held up by security, because his entry was unexpected and they didn't know who he was. After a long wait, finally Anil Kapoor did make his entrance to loud cheers. Okay, for a guy of his age, he sure looks GOOOOD!

The chairman of the SPICE group, introduced to us as Dr. Modi, was there too. In fact, it was his birthday. Everyone (including Anil Kapoor) sang 'Happy birthday' for him, and because no one gave us his first name, we ended up singing, "Happy birthday to Modi!"

Sonu came back in a while, dressed in jeans, a maroon shirt and a red scarf this time. He sang some slow numbers and then asked us what we wanted to hear next. "Bijuria!" Someone yelled. "Bijuria? I don't know the song. Is it this one?" He said, and broke into an aadivasi-style rendition of 'Bijuria'. "NOOOOOOOOOOO" We yelled out. He did it again, singing it in a different way. "This one?" He asked. "NOOOOOOOOOOO" We yelled again. "Okay, someone needs to tell me which one then. Who knows the song?" A guy in the audience raised his hand. He was asked to go up to shake hands with Sonu and sing 'Bijuria'. I thought he sang quite well, considering he has Sonu Nigam at his side, and thousands of people looking at him. Sonu then sang the correct 'Bijuria'.

He also sang 'Tumse milke dil ka yeh hai haal' and added a funny twist to it. Just before the word "hai!" in the song, he'd pause and wave to someone and say "Hiii!" instead, and then go back to singing the 'hai!" Every now and then, he also held the mike out to the audience to sing (especially parts like 'Just chill chill, just chill'), and quite surprisingly, we all sounded quite in tune. Even Sonu seemed surprised at that. He had several other playful things up his sleeve. When he was singing 'Sooraj hua madhyam', he actually sang, "Kya yeh mera pehla... doosra... teesra... saatwan... unteeswan...teeswan pyaar hai, sajnaaaaaaaaa....'

Towards the end, he sang his latest hit song 'Aal izz well'. Finally, he wrapped up the show, apologising for any mistakes in his singing and told us about his hospitalisation. We came back and looked it up, and it looks like he really was in a bad state.

Thanks for a great concert, Sonu, and hope aaaal izzz well with you soon!

Kal yaad aayenge yeh pal

KK
First encounter - Video of his first album 'Pal' on TV
First impression - Who's this dude? Nice unique voice... never heard of him though... and what's with the weird name man?

Second encounter - The song 'Tadap tadap' from 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'
Second impression - WHOALA!! Who's the singer who's the singer who's the singer???

Recent encounter - The song 'Tu hi meri shab hai' from 'Gangster'.
Recent impression - The dude really puts his heart into the song. And it stays in your heart for a very very long time.

Sunidhi Chauhan
First encounter - Meri Aawaz Suno contest on TV
First impression - Whoa, doesn't this contest have a minimum age for entry? (Does anyone remember her as that kid in the little dress, the lacy socks, the very short hair and the thick hairband, singing 'Chhod de sari duniya kisi ke liye' and waat-lagaoing the grown-up contestants week after week till she finally emerged the winner?)

Second encounter - The song 'Ruki ruki si zindagi' from 'Mast'
Second impression - Wow, this chick has a powerful voice man. What's her name? WHAT?? She's that KID from Meri Aawaz Suno????

Recent encounter - 'Jaane kyun' from 'Chameli', 'Le chale' from 'My Brother Nikhil' and 'Mere haath mein' from 'Fanaa'.
Recent impression - She sounds brilliant in non-item number songs. She should sing more of 'em.

Last encounter with both - In the Sunidhi-KK live concert last night


































KK opened the show with 'Yaaron'. Here, he's urging the crowd to sing along with him. Errr... yeah, we did. And he said, "Arre wah, aap log itna saare hain yahan... phir bhi sur mein gaa rahe hain?" ("Wow, there are so many of you here... and yet you guys are singing in tune?") You know how I have a soft corner for hindi-speaking guys from non-hindi speaking states. Mallu guy (and boy, can he sing!) cracks a joke in fluent hindi. Is it any wonder why I like him so much? :P




















That's Sunidhi singing Whitney Houston's "I will always love you". She surprised us with the fantastic job she did with the song.















Sunidhi sang almost all her famous item-numbers. The Uncle and Aunty sitting in front of me were doing ballistic bhangra.
















The back-up dancers had really weird costumes.-Check out the guys in their silly peacock costume. Sheesh. :/
















Where there are birds, there are bees. So here come the bumblebees! Wait, it gets better! :/
















Bees? Did you say bees? Ah, thank goodness the bee-catchers are here!
















Bad: KK and Sunidhi lacked chemistry.
Worse: They only sang two songs together.
Worst: They did not sing 'Le chale', the only song that each has sung a version of!!!!!! :O
















There was pin drop silence in the crowd when he sang 'Tadap tadap' with only one accompaniment. That song itself was worth the 80-dollar ticket. Wish Salman's expressions in the movie had done justice to the song...















KK put his heart and soul into every song he sang. Last night, his humility and talent created magic together. Dus bahaane karke le gaya dil :)

Lasting impression: Sunidhi may have brought the crowd to its feet, but KK brought me to my heart.

Hum... rahein ya na rahein kal
Kal... yaad aayenge yeh pal
Pal... yeh hai pyaar ke pal
Chal... aa mere sang chal
Chal... soche kya, chhoti si hai zindagi
Kal... mil jaayein toh hogi... khushnasibi...
Hum... rahein ya na rahein... yaad aayenge yeh pal...

Shaan meri jaan

So this guy-I-kinda-like is supposed to take me to a concert of another guy I like, when he has to cancel the date because of a game. To play a game, not watch one. I didn't mind. In fact, I found it kinda sexy and manly and all that blah which we girls like in guys but rarely admit lest it go to their heads which have a lot of empty space anyway.

Yeah, so dateless on Sunday night, my friend Clueless and I clutched the two concert tickets and set off on a journey to go see the man from my past. I had already warned her that he was all mine, but she wasn't gonna give up without a fight. 'May the best girl win' was our motto.

At first, whatever could go wrong went wrong. Instead of Kallang theatre, Clueless and I landed at Kallang Indoor Stadium. Thankfully, the lack of the usual crowd of a thousand millionaire Indians dressed up in funky finery and ghastly gold made me suspicious, and we asked around. Finally we found the right place. We had some time before the show started, and Clueless and I proceeded to copy-edit the concert programme they were distributing outside the theatre.

The unprofessionally done programme had many many errors, and it was obvious that no one had bothered to copy-edit it before it went to press. I wanted to scream "Argh! 'Churaliya' is not one word! Why are there no spaces after the commas? And there's no song called 'Just walking to my life'! And there's no Shaan album called 'Orja'! Argh! Argh! Argh!"

The lack of professionalism spilled over into the actual concert as well, when random guy in red kurta wandered on to stage and mumbled something like "Adarniya sajjanon, ab aapke saamne aa rahi hain... Bombay ki mashoor gaayika Moon... (pause)... Moon... (pause)..." And just as he had wandered into stage, he wandered off. There was a general buzz. I guess it was because 'Bombay ki mashoor gaayika' sounds like such a seedy term. "Who the heck is Moon-pause-Moon?" I turned to ask Clueless. "And if she's so mashoor, how come I haven't heard of her??"

"I know! If it wasn't for the banner behind with Shaan's pic, I wouldn't even know where I am!" She said.

Anyway, Moon-pause-Moon (MPM) appeared on stage. I gave her one of my famous 'looks' as if she really could see me in my 'First there's the 500-dollar seats, then the 300-dollar seats, then the 100-dollar seats and then mine' seat.

"Who is she??? Why is she here??? What if Shaan doesn't turn up at all? They'd better refund us man!" I fumed.

Anyway, I decided to be fair and give MPM a chance. Maybe hers was just the opening act while Shaan was getting ready. She started with the opening lines of 'Baahon mein chale aao' and I was pleasantly surprised because she sounded good. And then the band started playing the dhikchik beats. Dammit! Even live performances are remixes now?? I was pissed as hell.

That was just the beginning! She proceeded to sing two more songs, really testing the patience of the patrons. At the end of her third song, people had started chanting "We want Sha-aan! We want Sha-aan!" But like Clueless commented, his name isn't very 'chant-able' and so the chant did not really pick up.

But finally he appeared on stage! In white pants, a white T-shirt, an orange jacket(!) and (Kini you're gonna love this part!) red shoes! Big contrast from the all-black attire I had imagined him to be in, but what the hell. I was in the same room with Shaan. Ok fine, agreed the room was very very very big and had thousands of random people in it, but what the hell. I was in the same room with Shaan. I quickly sent an sms to my Dad to tell him of my utter good fortune. Mom must have been so jealous, she's a big fan of his 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' show.

Anyway, I sank back in my chair, looked at him and sighed.

The guy looks cute. Can sing like wow. Can dance like wow. Is funny. Writes his own songs which are like wow. What else do you need to fall hopelessly in love?

Yeah yeah, I know you're thinking "But he's married!" Well, one of my theories takes care of that small technical detail.

According to me, celebrities are not 'single' or 'married'. Celebrities are celebrities. They belong to everyone. And perhaps that's why even when a dude-type celebrity dedicates a full song to his wife, and looks at her now and then especially when singing meaningful songs, single girls (at least the non-duh ones) don't feel jealous. He just rises higher in their esteem. That's what makes a real celebrity. You look at him without anything else clouding your judgement, and you celebrate his talent. His personal life does not matter. He really does belong to everyone. Even though everyone thinks "He's all mine."

Anyway, Shaan started singing and then stopped abruptly and asked for volume adjustment. The sound guys just could not get it right. Sheesh, that was sad. Finally they did it and he started singing again. Lots of technical glitches almost ruined the show.

When he started off the song 'Tuney mujhey pehchana nahin' with 'Singapore, tuney mujhe pehchana nahin..." I was highly suspicious that it really wasn't Shaan we were looking at, but some imposter they'd decided to substitute to avoid getting MPM murdered by the pissed-off crowd!

The audience comprised of all kinds of people. Very different from the A. R. Rahman concert I'd attended last year, where I'd looked around to discover that I knew 60% of the people in the audience. This time, I did not see a single familiar face. And there were sooo many kids! Many of them were holding A5-sized sheets of paper with words written for him! It was so funny to watch them believe that Shaan could really see them. I wished I had a piece of paper, I'd have written '4' on one side and '6' on the other in big bold letters, held it up for Shaan to see and then said, "Ooops, sorry, wrong place!"

Shaan was really cheeky at times! During 'O humdum suniyo re' from 'Saathiya', he actually sang the 'shaam ko khidki pe chori chori nange paaun chand aayega' as 'shaam ko khidki pe chori chori nange paaun Shaan aayega'.

Then later when he invited people to go on to the stage to dance with him, at one point in time, I counted 80 people. As more and more people rushed up, and we kinda lost view of him, we heard his voice "Hmmm... Lagta hai stage par zyada log hain, neeche kam!" Later, he was feeling rather hot in his jacket, so he tossed it off with a "Now you guys know whose song is next!" It was a Salman Khan number.

Parents were sending their kids to run to him and shake his hand. At one point, he was saying something when this itty-bitty kid who barely reached Shaan's knee had grabbed his hand. It took Shaan a full five seconds to notice the kid, by which time the tiny tot had run off.

MPM sang the duets with Shaan. She was okay, but sometimes too high-pitched, and sometimes inaudible. I really wished Shreya Ghoshal had been there. (But she's coming here in April, and I shall be there for her concert! Maybe I will take guy-I-kinda-like, on a date!) MPM tried to complement Shaan's sponatenity but was rather unsuccessful. And she made an ass of herself when Shaan asked "Kuch toh hua hai, kya ho gaya hai?" She replied, "Sab ladkiyan aap par fida ho gayi hain, yehi hua hai!" Shaan retorted, "Kyun, aap chahti hain ki ladke bhi fida ho jaayein mujh par?" Everyone went hahaha but MPM said, "Ladke ladkon par fida hote hain kya?" Sheesh, reminded me of my days of naivety.

Another annoying factor was the bunch of dancers in the background whom Shaan named 'R and rangers'. Well, R wasn't too bad, but his rangers?? The less said, the better! They were just a bunch of teenagers dressed in black and strips of silver, dancing on stage as if it was someone's baaraat! No coordination (not even in the costumes! One of the guys who had probably tried to look like Usher ended up looking like one of the researchers in a microcontamination research lab.) at all! They would turn up now and then and do some random steps, then they would send in two sexy chicks who would also do their own thing, and then they would go off. Really really annoying stuff.

Shaan tried to encourage them by saying things like "Come back, guys! Wonderful performance!" but they were boo'ed off every single time. I wanted to join in the boo-ing but I have four presentations in Manila next week, and I can't afford to lose my voice the way I did after the ShahRukh show last year. So Clueless, if you thought I was jumpy, let me tell you it was the very mellow side of me.

Shaan sang pretty much all of my favourite songs (Tanha Dil, Aksar, Gumsum Ho Kyun, Woh Pehli Baar, My Dil Goes Hmmm, Ladki Kyun Na Jaane Kyun, Bhool Ja), except 'Yeh hawaein' which he said was his wife's favourite song. That song was terrible, in spite of Shaan singing it. All I'd like to say is -- wifey, you picked the perfect husband, but your taste in music sucks man! Shaan even sang the Lagaan song 'Ghanan ghanan' in spite of having, in his own words, "sirf saadhe teen lines" in the song! He also popped in two numbers from his latest album 'Tishnagi'. And when he sang 'Take me to your heart', I almost swooned, I did.

Actually he sang an incredible number of songs, as he wasn't wasting much time talking in between. But now and then he'd say something in between (and sometimes in the middle of) songs.

I liked what he said when he paused in the middle of 'Bhool ja'. "Life is too precious to cry over someone who's not worth it." So true.

Finally, he ended the show with a medley of songs, and you could see how boundless his energy was, the way he was jumping and dancing. And we, just sitting in our chairs, felt so exhausted.

Clueless and I trudged back home, tired, sleepy, but incredibly happy nonetheless. We'd seen Shaan after all. In 3-D, no less! To my utter relief, she mentioned that she really liked the guitarist. So I gave her the guitarist and asked her to stay off Shaan. I love you, baby girl, but I'm sorry I can't give you Shaan.

He's all mine, you see.

Sayesha's in love

Sayesha lost her heart last night.

And her voice too.

At the A. R. Rahman concert.

Have you ever been so overwhelmed by a person's talent that you feel privileged to just be in the same room as that person? Today I felt like that. Unlike many people I know, I will not refer to Rahman as God because I still haven't figured out my stand on the concept of God yet. But for now, to me, he is talent personified.

So there I was, dressed in my salwar kameez, complete with bindi (I jump at such occasions when I can wear Indian and not feel over-dressed), not only in the same 'room' as Rahman, but also close enough to see him and the others very clearly, thanks to my friend A who got us some really amazing seats. Best 82 bucks I have spent this entire year. Add to it the delightful company of friends -- Max on my left and Starbreez on my right -- and hey, life rocks. The evening could not get better. Max with his funny quips now and then (he almost threw a shoe at the annoying MCs whom I'll describe later!). And Starbreez with her insatiable appetite for Indian movies and music. (We all need someone to talk about whom or what we love. And sometimes I feel so thankful for having her in my life.)

Now, about the two really annoying MCs. If their nonsensical blabbering (about how the black-eyed-peas had almost caused the roof to crash down, and how we were not cheering as hard) was not enough, they invited the finalists of some superstar contest to sing on stage before Rahman could be put on stage. Twelve of them. One by one. Aaarghhh! It was so annoying. We were there to listen to Rahman, dammit! I think the audience made quite a statement when huge numbers (including us) just walked out. To get drinks because we were getting so impatient, and the twelve seemed to be taking their own sweet time. Bumped into a lot of people from uni outside who had also stepped out to get away from the trauma.

Finally, the ordeal was over, we went in and Rahman made his entry. And wow. No, actually I mean WOW. No, I mean WOW!!!!

When I think back, the total amount of talent on the stage last night was enough to bring the entire stadium crashing down. Rahman, Hariharan, Chitra, Sadhna Sargam, Madhushree, Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher, Karthik, and of course, the incredibly talented musicians, including the unbelievable drummer Sivamani.

As the Indoor Stadium filled with the beautiful sounds of Rahman's music, you could see that every song they sang was from the heart. And many of these songs have a very special place in my heart.

When they sang 'Ishq bina' I was reminded of uni days. My friend A and I had sung it during one of the performances of our uni's Indian band. It was been a huge success. So it was a very special feeling that we were both sitting in the same row, listening to the live and original version of the song we had sung in uni years ago.

Hariharan, Sadhna Sargam and Chitra did a piece called 'Unplugged' where they sang songs with their own little modifications. It was sheer magic. The control that Hariharan has over his voice is enough to make one go dizzy. And Chitra's voice... there was something divine about it. Something you cannot describe, yet something you cannot ignore. And Sadhna Sargam. Her voice is like the sound of water flowing. So incredibly pure that it leaves you craving for more.

I sang along with every song they sang. As for the ones in tamil I did not know, I sang the hindi version. Till the incessant singing caused me to lose my voice. And now I sound like a talking frog. But I have no regrets.

I was just waiting for Sadhna Sargam to sing 'Snehidane'. She did. And I sang along. (Yes, I love the song so much I mugged up the full lyrics, even though I don't understand a single word of it!! I need to get someone to help me with the pronunciation before I can sing it for people.)

I believe that some of the songs originally done in tamil just don't sound right when sung in hindi. I can never equate 'Snehidane' to 'Chupke se' or 'Vaseegara' to 'Zara zara'. Yes, both versions sound good, but there is something in the original one that cannot be found in the second version. You can tell something is not right.

The audience was equally divided into tamil and hindi speaking people. So every time the singers would perform a hindi song, there would be shouts from the audience, "Tamil song!" and when they'd do a tamil song, the others would shout, "Hindi song!" But irrespective of the language they performed in, I enjoyed myself immensely. It really is true -- music is the language of languages.

Udit and Madhushree sang 'Hum hain is pal yahan' from 'Kisna', totally taking me by surprise. You see, I love that song, but I have never heard anyone giving it great reviews. So this was like a personal surprise for me. And I thought of the lines at the beginning of the song (the real meaning of which I've lately begun to understand):

Kabhi kabhi hum ek doosre ko khokar bhi toh
pyaar ko ooncha darza dete hain...
Juda rehkar pyaar ki oonchainyon ko praapt karte hain...
Har pyaar milan toh nahin
Judaai bhi toh ek pyaar hai...

("Sometimes, we honour love by losing each other. By being apart, we attain the highest levels of love. Being together is not the only kind of love. Being away from each other is also a kind of love.")

Speaking of love, is it me or is the Karthik guy incredibly sexy?? I did not even know of his existence before the concert, but there was something about him that made me look only at him whenever he was on stage. Yes yes, he was wearing a black shirt and all that, and I know that does something to me, but I think this was more than that. It was probably the attitude he had when he was singing. His expressions, his body language. "Starbreez, I think I have a huge crush on him!" I whispered my confession. As he sang on, and they showed close-ups of his face on the three screens behind, I shivered and shrunk back into my seat to stop myself from gushing like a 13-year-old in love.

Kailash Kher. I had no idea he was so short. But the little man, dressed in a very strange costume (white dhoti with pink motifs, a sleeveless satin blue top, and a red shawl) sure packed a punch. The rustic and earthy quality of his voice adds a certain character to his songs that no one else can.

There are some moments in life when you are so happy that you are sad. And in that moment, I missed certain people in my life very badly. People who are special. People whom I love. People who are not around me. People who should have been with me. Sitting next to me, losing themselves in the divine music I was losing myself in.

I was privileged to be part of that wonder. I got goosebumps. I hugged myself in delight.

I think I have fallen in love.

With music.

All over again.