Shreya Ghoshal- Live Concert

This will be my 89th post on my blog and 50th for the year 2014. Not bad. I wrote 50 posts this year. Now, I know I had promised myself and otherwise that I would write 30 poems for a period of one month in my "Keep Calm and Stay Positive" series; however, I have to break my own promise and end the series right here, right now. I conclude, it is not as easy as I thought it could be to write 30 poems in one go. You need more time and creative thinking to work in tandem with your imagination. I fell short of either of it once in a while. I did not want the poems to look more of forced writings, hence, decided to end it at Day 17.

So, what would be my 50th post for the year 2014? I first thought I would go down memory lane. Revisiting the year that is going to end in just Eight more days. However, I have decided to write about it in my next post, possibly. I still have eight days to go to write about 2014. Let me take you through one Saturday evening, to be precise, December 20th evening, which I spent with my family at a Live Concert.

The Live Concert was organised by The Times of India, Chennai to celebrate 3,50,000 copies in Chennai alone. The star performer of the concert was none other than Shreya Ghoshal. I came to know of it through my neighbour when one fine morning she asked me if I could arrange or help her get passes for the show. Since, my husband and I are big fans of Shreya Ghoshal too, I decided to get passes for us as well. However, a few days later, when I saw the advertisement in the newspaper, I realised that the show is being organised at an open ground and not in an auditorium. Assuming open ground to be a hurdle in our watching the show, I thought of dropping the idea of asking for the passes. (TOI sold complimentary passes for the show)

After conforming through with everyone that the show had seating arrangements, I decided to take a chance thinking that it would not be a difficult task to manage my kid along with the concert. I am glad I stuck to my decision; because what unfolded on Saturday evening was a breathtaking, mesmerising, heart-throbbing performance by Shreya Ghoshal. This was probably my first ever Live Concert, and that too, in an open ground, with VIP passes and a stone’s throw away from the stage. Though I was my sane self, and simply sitting and clapping and singing along with Shreya as she turned the mic towards the audience; I could have been my insane self, had I been there with my friends. As I saw a couple of students, who had tagged along with their friends for the concert, hooting and clapping; shaking a leg to her dancing numbers; I too was taken over by the urge to get up and dance. :-D But as they say, you have to hold back your emotions and not overflow with them every now and then. [Had I not been an ex-employee of the organisation, I would surely have danced ;)]

Talking about the show, listening to Shreya Ghoshal live turned out to be the most exhilarating experiences of my life. Who hasn’t heard of her songs? She is probably the only female singer, after Sunidhi Chauhan, who has made it THIS BIG coming from a reality show. I have been following her since her win at Sa Re Ga Ma, the reality show which was being hosted by Sonu Nigam then. Starting her career with Devdas, Shreya has come a long way and can be easily crowned as the ‘queen of melodies’.

As she got onto the stage with her chartbuster song from the film, Aashiqui (2013), Sun Raha Hai Na Tu; the crowd roared with thunderous applause. The weather had been in perfect sync with the concert too. In fact, her melodious voice had led the mosquitoes of Chennai hide somewhere too because they were nowhere to be seen as soon as the concert began. :-D The concert that was to begin at 7 pm, began ten minutes later and continued for the next two hours. And, buoy! Those two hours, Shreya sang her heart out. Not just Bollywood numbers, she also sang some of the most beautiful Tamil compositions I have heard, mostly composed by AR Rahman and Illaiyaraja. While the bollywood numbers drew lots of cheering, whistles and applause, when it came to Tamil songs, the crowd went berserk.

Among the songs that she sung that evening, there was not a single song which I could say did not hit the right note. From the romantic numbers such as Main Tenu Samjhawan Ki, Chalo Tumko Lekar Chale, Jaadu hai Nasha Hai, Teri Meri Kahani to the dancing numbers Jaagi Jaagi Soyi Na Mai Teri, Ye Ishq Haye, Dhol Baje etc; every song kept the audience on their toes. [Though, I wonder why didn't she sing a song from her debut movie, Devdas] Seeing me sitting sober and simply enjoying listening to the music, with my kid in arms, my husband decided to take the kid and let me “enjoy” the concert in its sense. And, I did not leave out on the opportunity. ;) I sang aloud, clapped, danced sitting on the chair and simply flowed with the emotions.

I had goose-bumps all through the show. Such was the power of Shreya’s singing. Every note that she sang, touched me to the core. I was enthralled, awestruck and completely went in trance. I have actually lost track of the number of songs she sang. Two hours coupled with some power-pack singing and music was enough to send anyone into a world of their own. The neighbour, whom I tagged along with us, was thankful to me for the evening that she enjoyed to the core. In return, I get the entire recording of the show from her :-D [I was too engrossed in the songs, clapping and hooting, to bring out my camera and shoot a video; I did take a couple of pictures, which you can see in this post].

I couldn’t have asked for a better evening than this. Music did lift my spirits whenever I was down and out but Shreya Ghoshal Live singing lifted not just my spirits but my very self into a world (of music), which I adore and miss but feel scared to live in it.