The Shobana Nite @ the Ashram

Little did I know when Swati n me (Swati - the new entry into the YES!+ wagon .. a passionate fashion designer and a budding volunteer ) bumped to Maddy's place asking for the lens, waking him n sushma ( n probably even sushma's mom ) up from their late afternoon nap , that I would be treated to a truly celestial display of classical Bharatanatyam by none other than Shobana. All I had in mind was that there were many celebrities around for the International Womens Conference, and that my DSLR must not miss them.

For someone who grew up watching Shobana movies ( almost every Sunday evening on TV ), this super-talented National award winning actress was to my senses - the epitome of beauty.

After a really really short trip up the gardens and a quick munch @ vishala, we ( swati, lalit n me) rushed to the Yagnashala ( for now the pro-show arena ). The chairs were already occupied and the security volunteer was in no mood to let me in and that was when the 70-300 lens came in handy ... ( all I heard was someone shouting - unko andar bhej do, photographer hain , and then there was no looking back ). I quickly hogged on the seat on the top stair ensuring a nice view of the stage and then the magic began.



Shobana .. in between the performance walked on to the stage .. explaing through her elaborate gestures which enthralled the blessed gathering (by then Swati as well crept her way into the cordoned area some how .. ask her how). Shobana's depiction of the Indian woman through mudras is still afresh ( pic 6 n 7 ). The curtain raiser was followed by depiction of the Dasavatharams, then followed by a display featuring tales from Durga stories. The talented performers also tapped foot to some Classical western music, bringing the crowd to a standstill.

The stylish beautiful shobana was then honored by the Lady-in-Charge, our own beloved Bhanumaa, the sensous performance was followed up by some scintillating rendering of Sufi Music by Zila Hussain Khan ( to know more about her, I would advise you contact Prabha, she was her escort for 3 whole days ). With me n Swati shouting Atif at the sound "Sufi", this show was rather dull. Adding to that was the hunger, we rushed to the canteen to find it closed.

We had made up our minds on a Dominos order @ Bhaskars place, but as always in the ashram, everything was taken care of, Abhay messaging us to get to the Kitchen first floor. Tell u what, even dal n roti tasted as good as hand tossed cheese burst pizza's.

We munched dinner as we discussed the performance and our plans for the next day's followup, with Shailendra da giving us the instructions, Abhay chipping in his thoughts and Jasminder ( a YES!+ teacher from Chandigarh, whose sweater Swati would later borrow for the ride back to Bangalore ). Tt was almost 10 : 30 and we were set to make our 30 km ride back from heaven to earth.

Finally after dropping chwati, got home by 11 45 to find a full scale interview on with Lamboo (a tall classmate of mine) on the hot seat and Greg (my room-mate)n Kumsim (another batchmate), playing the bad guys. I ran into connect my camera to the computer and could not wait any long to see the pictures. After breathing a sigh of relief I joined Lamboo in bullying Greg n later Kumsim as they took the hot seats, finally hitting the bed @ 4 setting an alarm for 8 for the sunday follow-up :) .. a long interesting blessed saturday (extending into the sunday :))