Awesome dinesh..Congrats mate..Looking forward to meet you all in
pune...Congrats again and thanks a lot for these updates...
--- On Fri, 5/8/09, Dinesh Vaidya <dnshvai...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
From: Dinesh Vaidya <dnshvai...@yahoo.co.in>
Subject: [arr] "NAMASKAR PUNE" says AR ! We say "JAI HO !"
To: arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, May 8, 2009, 9:40 AM
He came..... He saw us..... but He had already won us over again and again and
again....... ......
I MET RAHMAN TODAY !
One of the BEST day in my life, I got to see my GURUJI, and got a chance to ask
him questions too !
Ah ! What a man ! What a Man ! WHAT A MAN ! So simple, so quiet, so down to
earth ! Every moment I watched him, was a learning experience.
Time 11 PM yesterday - Got a call from a very dear friend . I couldn't sleep
whole night. Just the feeling that tomorrow I will be seeing him for the first
time kept me awake.
Time 10 AM today - The call which was to get the doors opened, did not arrive,
so some more trials and I got call from the chief organiser for Pune event. He
and his support staff gave me blanket cheque to get as many fans as
possible.... ...
Time 1030 to 1530 today - Phone battery ran down 5 times, so many calls made to
all known fans, so many sms-es done... for many, it was a shock of life to know
that Rahman would be visiting city. Whosoever could bunk college / office came
to the venue.
Time 5 PM till 7PM today - MIT college students and other fans had started
arriving since 430 PM. Pune does not believe in crowding the place from
morning, so what was virtually clear space at 430, by 530 the place was
decently full, mostly the students. There was lot of entertainment with all odd
instructions belted out by the organisers and crowd controlling team. There was
a band playing MILITARY MUSIC ! Whose crazy idea was that ????? Still Full to
fun !
Time 540PM - Suddenly police started running here and there... A black Mercedes
came at 200kph and out came our GURUJI ! AR RAHMAN, dressed in a black blazer
looked so cool that it was hard to believe that this fellow had done a 15 hours
nonstop flight from US ! From where does he get the energy ?
The crowd goes out of control.... everybody starts clapping and yelling....
flashbulbs go wild.....the crowd goes even wilder..... He walks towards us as
if he is taking an evening stroll in a park.. no hurry whatsoever.
Rahman goes inside and then after few minutes comes out in an ULTIMATE
Maharashtrian headgear called PHETA ! He looked dashing at the same time CUTE !
The organisers are at it again trying to push the crowd so that Rahman can
reach the flag post and pull the chord to unfurl the JAI HO flag. He does it in
style and then also releases tricolor balloons... I could see a childlike smile
on his face, he thoroughly enjoyed releasing these balloons ! I am sure, if his
children would have been around, he would have cut a few for them and released
the rest......
He takes the mike and begins with "NAMASKAR PUNE !" in Marathi ! It means
"Greetings Pune".....typical to his style invites all gathered fans to see him
on 31'st in the Pune Concert and promised that he will ROCK the show..... All
in one sentence !
He goes inside......
---
Now I am in a soup... the organises had promised that they will take THE
WANDERING SOULS team inside, but all gone ! No soul in the sight. We resign to
our fate.... they are not lifting phones... Gopal curious to know if things are
under control and is intrigued to know that I am standing in a queue !
Suddenly a kind soul Mr Moulik appears and yells for me.. "Quick, get inside
you..." I follow the leader, Anmol Bhave, Pinak Agte, Ashutosh Joshi, Pallavi
Paranjape, Siddharth Gokhale ( All Wandering Souls "Rahmania" Team )... The
moment we reach door, a policeman puts out his head from the door and denies
entry to all except me. I am devastated.. .. All my group outside and what will
I do inside ? I have never been to a Press Conference.. .
Luckily inside the Chief of MIT College and my ex-teacher Mr Vishwanath Karad
is about to conclude his welcome speech. After that couple of persons ( didn't
knew the names as I got in late ) spoke for a minute each. Then Deepak Gattani,
the CHIEF of the Event management team gave a small AV presentation of the JAI
HO TOUR.
The film was great ! The shots of the crowd, Rahman's innocent face singing
Jaage hai ( Probably clips from Delhi concert )...Shivmani beating drum for
Azeem-o-Shaan. .. The inside audience gave a standing ovation to Rahman.
Then it was the tern of Rahman to speak... He stood up, tried to say something
but the inside students were asking for him to sing... he sits back and makes a
small opening speech before the Press reporters start shooting their "purely
vague, unresearched and basic questions" Unfortunately it is not a rule that
"Rahmaniac Press reporter only should be sent".....
I raise my hand for chance to ask question... Obviously someone from stage
notices and gestures that the mike be given to me, I do get a chance and am
staring at Rahman... All are quiet and Rahman looks at me...... "YES?" he is
probably saying...
I gather courage.
" Dear Rahman... Welcome to Pune. I am Dinesh Vaidya and am representating
today your Yahoo group fans, and also on behalf of The Wandering Souls...."
There is a smile ( of recognition somewhere ? ) on HIS face. I go on.
" I have two questions... . Why is CONNECTIONS release is delayed ? Can you do
something through KM Musiq ? "
His answer drowns in someone asking something else, I think he replied
something like " he has not decided on that yet"
He and others gesture to the guy making noise.... All quiet again......
Next question " Rahman sir, could you please perform Vellai Pookal in Hindi and
Marathi in the Pune concert ? "
My Tamil pronounciation is obviously needs correction so he asks me to repeat
the word again.... I do it 2 times.... He gets it.... Smiles even more... The
crowd is looking at me incredulously. ... I guess most of them ( except the
RAHMANIA group ) does not know what I am talking and they think that I am some
inside person in his team talking in some secret language....
" Thats a very good suggestion.. .. I will certainly look into it !" he assures
me. I am floored..... .......
One reporters comes to me and whisper to me to ask "THEIR" questions as by now
there is clear concensus probably that I know my RAHMAN subject well ( compared
to others ! In front of most of you, I am zero )......
There are quite a few questions on which Rahman answers in one word or one
sentense, what I remember is as below....Rahmans answers are not word-to-word
but generally adhering to the answers.....
On any of the Mangeshkars performing in Pune concert > " That's a secret "
On Who will perform in Pune > " All artists are important to me and I want all
of them to come, but we will have to see who is available on that day."
On What next on Hindi / Tamil movies, will he choose projects and work
selectively > "Ofcourse I will be more choosy and selective... the present
situation does work to my favor"
On his preference working with Ashutosh, Aamir, Rakyesh Mehra, Mani Rathnam > "
I do not get chance to work in all projects, Aamir's or Ashutosh's every movie
is not with me, many factors have to come together"... ..
Abruptly the press conference is closed and all gathered urge him to sing... He
is too clever... He asks all to come to the Concert on 31'st and promises a
riot of music for 3 hours.... corrects himself and says 4 hours ! FOUR HOURS
?????? Great !
Rahman, Gattani and others are whisked away by zealous guards and he goes out
through back door where the MERCEDES is parked... NEXT TO MY CAR !
I see him go..... I am sure, the Pune audience is in for a grand treat end of
this month !
I come home and can't control my emotions.... . Thanks to Gopal, Vijay, Amith
and Mr Vinod Subramanian. I got a chance of lifetime to meet my GURUJI...... ..
Jai HO Rahman ! THANK YOU FOR coming to Pune... We will meet again ?
Best regards
Dinesh Vaidya
The Wandering Souls "RAHMANIA"
Pune
PS : Photos and a video are ready, taking expert's assistance in uploading. I
request Gopal to share the link soon.
