Sunday, August 17, 2008

"The Unforgettable" Concert

It all began one night when I was surfing through crap TV. The screen went black and I wondered if something happened to my satellite and nanoseconds later, the Unforgettable Tour sign came on...
Earlier that day, I heard some rumors that there was going to be a concert soon but I didn't think much of it because the summer time is big around that. Deep down, I was curious so watched along and lo and behold, it was THE AMITABH BACHCHAN! He was coming to NEW YORK! of course along with him was his clan, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwariya - the new buy one get second one 50% off and third free deal, but who cares!! AMITABH was coming! Immediately the phones started ringing the instant messages started flourishing-call it the Barso Re Megha style. Within seconds 9 of us had been set to go to the show! Sulekha.com and Mr. Bharat Jotwani himself helped us get the seats we wanted and WE WERE SET TO SEE THE MAN on the 15th of August 2008!

Weeks came by, and the gossipy dialogue amongst friends were exchanged...You know, what we were going to wear yaddi yaddi yada.. Friends from Maryland and Boston were coming so apart from the show, what we will be doing for the rest of the weekend and the whole shebang. The planning was on full shebang!

The day finally arrived, one batch arrived at 130, the next at 4pm (after battling 2 hrs of traffic), one friend was meeting us straight at Nassau Coliseum, and the final leg, my loving father were to arrive at 6pm where we would pick him from the station. And that's when it all began!

Few moments before we were going to get my father from the train station, another friend called out of concern that there was a tornado watch warning for Westchester. We were soo consumed in getting ready that neither of us noticed what was going on beyond our windows. But nonetheless without thinking anything my mother and aunt left to pick up my father at 6 on the dot. 6:15 rolled by and still no sign of my mother, aunt or my father. I called to find out what was going on because the train is only a 4-min drive from my house. Apparently, he hadn't arrived as of yet. Call Waiting Blinking! I clicked on and it was my father...The storm had smacked a tree on to train tracks and the train is waiting to the tree to be moved. Doesn't know which train station they are near. So subsequently I called my mother to let her know to just come home because it's going to be a while, which it sure was. Finally dad reached home at 6:45 and was summoned to hurry up, change, eat something so we could still leave by 7 as planned. Little did we know what we had ahead of us!


So finally we all packed in the car at 7:05pm (great timing considering we aimed to leave by 7) and off we were to Hutchinson River Parkway South. We drove about 2 miles towards where the road splits, one going towards Queens and Long Island, where we needed to go, and the other to New Jersey and Manhattan and lo and behold, there is back to back traffic on every effing highway out of Scarsdale due to Bronx River overflowing hence blocked all roads. Here I had my friend waiting for us at the concert and we were no where near the theater... We kept on going back and forth trying different routes...but everything was closed. after 2 hrs of trying hard we almost gave up of not going to the concert but for some reason we decided to try one last time... Yes watching Abhishekh dance with his dad on stage was still in the cards for us. We barely made the show at 1030pm, two and a half hours later but just on time for Amitabh to make his presence for the very first time on stage that night..

What a man!!!!! Seriously there is no actor in today's time that can even come close to him to be at par with him...Maybe Aamir can be somewhat close but not really. Shahrukh can keep on trying but he will never be as amazing as AMITABH BACHCHAN. The moment he started dancing to Jahan Teri Ye Nazar Hai, the whole crowd was dancing along with him. Every person whether it be the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles reliving their newlywed years or us kids who would dance with our parents on their toes to these dance numbers!!! Even kids today were on their toes dancing with the 64+ year old man! It was the best...

What was even better was when he read the monologue from Agneepath remembering his mother...it was one moment when everyone was dancing and the next moment crying along with him as he read the lines...Fabulous!!!

Abhishekh, Aishwariya, Preity and Ritiesh equally did a great job and were quite enjoyable but it was all of a sudden when you could literally hear everyone's heart pumping...in anticipation...it was the moment when none other than Madhuri came on stage. What a beauty...Being a straight woman, even I fell in love with her....Not only can the woman dance but she looks awesome!!! Even today. I remember seeing her on stage when i was a kid in Dubai but when I saw her that night...it was a different ball game all together...

They say Aishwariya is gorgeous..and she is no doubt but in all honesty, no one can even come near Madhuri's beauty and simplicity... I'm sorry all Ash fans! This concert made a point that old is gold and will never be unforgettable!!!

So after all these heart pumping numbers that not only reminded me of my childhood, we all came home starving yet fully satisfied with whomever we went to see the concert for, regardless of all the things we had to go through just to get there....

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