Today, oh, what should I write? No words are enough to describe this day. A dream of 14 years fulfilled. Never thought it would be fulfilled this soon. When I was in the 2nd standard, “Roja” was released. That was the first cassette I bought, then I dreamed of meeting this man and I’ve lived with this dream for 14 years with his music providing me solace every moment.
Without any warning, D-Day arrived today, 10th June 2006, a day to remember forever in my life. The day I met my biggest idol, the day I met the man whose music I’ve grown up with, the day I met the musical genius, A.R. Rahman.
Before going into the details let me thank the wonderful person who made this possible and that is my dear sister Swapna. She was the one who called me at the time when ARR was here. She said “Boy, run run”, and I did just that. The moment I got the call, I rushed outside to my bike, before kickstarting, I called up some of my friends and told them this great news and as it turned out, most of my friends didn’t believe me and sat at home. They thought, ”Ha, this guy is being fooled by some prankster. Let him go out there and be a fool”. But I was sure that my sister won’t play that kind of prank with me. Still, I had my own doubts.
So with my mind clouded with doubts, I kicked on the bike and started my journey. Sometimes heart rules over the head. This was one of those moments as I sped through the heavy city traffic at 105 mph. At last, I reached the ultimate destination… Kanakakkunu Palace.
There was a big flex board in front with a pic of ARR and singer Srinivas announcing the launch of a music album. Now I was confident that ARR was inside, still, I doubted whether he had left already.
When I reached in front of the palace, I saw a Mercedes. Sure, he’s inside. So I got in. Lots of people were standing there. The function was almost over by then. Still, I pushed through them, and… oh god, my goodness, there he is. I closed my eyes and opened again, just to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. Yes, it was him with that inimitable smile. I couldn’t see anything else between him and me.
Mind you, there were some very big singers and film stars sitting there. I would surely have given a second look to them on any other day. Maybe I would have pestered them for autographs. But, not this day. When my idol is there in front of me.
I thought of ways to get close to him. I went near the backstage waiting for the function to get over. I got a pen from a press photographer and stood there. The main function got over and next was the screening of the video and the guests were preparing to get down from the dias to the front row. This was my chance. I ran onto the stage and pushed aside the man standing close to ARR (I later realized that it was the popular Malayalam actor Jayaram) and got close to my idol.
The first thing I did was touch him, just to check if this was a real man. Then I shook his hand. He still had that pleasant smile. Lots of people got there by then. The policemen swung into action and drew everyone away and made way for ARR to sit in the front row. Thank God, they didn’t see me standing there beside the big speaker set. I walked to his seat and gave him a pen and a piece of paper, which my little cousin had torn from his copybook and had given me as I left home. ARR scribbled “luv ARR” on it, but it was hard to make out. By then the policeman had grabbed my shirt and pulled me out. Still, I was happy. I got the autograph.
Then, the function got over. A.R.R was escorted to the outside of the palace and the fans and the police were running after him. Soon he was surrounded by an army of pressmen and policemen, outside the palace. There was no way I could’ve gotten near him now.
Hmm, now let me try a trick. I took out my mobile phone from my pocket and held it up and began shouting “press..press” at the policemen. This gave them the impression that I am a press reporter (hehe… me) wanting to record an interview with ARR. They gave me the way and there I was now again standing close to ARR, the 3rd time this day. Oh, am I dreaming?
Now it was time for the pressman Praveen to ask questions. The guys there were asking some questions in Hindi like “Agla project kya hai”. Now I shot my question, “Sir, When are you going to do a concert in Kerala?” He smiled and said, “I Don’t Know”. Then I said, “Sir, there are many die-hard fans out here, as you can see, who would love to see you live. Sir, please do it for us”. He again smiled and said, “I’ll try”.
Now he was walking to his car, there were autograph hunters running behind him. I too ran close behind him. As he reached his car and opened the door, someone called out “Bolo A.R.Rahman Ki Jai”. We too joined him, “Bolo A.R.Rahman Ki Jai”. He smiled and got in. The door closed. Lots of guys were trying to catch a glimpse through the closed windows. Some guys clicked pictures of him.
The sad thing for me was that I didn’t have a camera with me then. Still, I was happy for having met him. Now his car started to roll, and we all waved him goodbye. He too waved back. Then the Benz disappeared out of sight.
I stood there for a few seconds looking at the road through which the car just went. And I could sense drops of tears in both my eyes. For the first time in my life, I cried out of happiness, the happiness of having fulfilled a dream that I’ve been nursing from the day I heard “Roja”, the day I, for the 1st time, truly loved a song, the day from which my life with A.R.Rahman’s soul-stirring started.
Again I scribble the date here, 10/06/06, and in my heart. No day can be better than this. I am still shaking my head wondering if all of this was a great dream, thanking my sister again.
