Our 4 minutes to fame

As our reading group reconvened to take on the daunting Iliad, we were introduced to Shonan.  A few books into the epic; she casually mentioned that she was planning a flash mob. Intrigued by the novelty I said that I was up for it. (Not realizing that she really meant it!) Sure enough a month down the road….was an email sitting in my inbox……a very comprehensive one, explaining the concept of a flash mob, embedded with an extremely successful video of a flash mob at a station in Antwerp. As I reread it, more calmly this time…panic struck me …big time! I had definitely lost it…to have agreed for this…..and to take the craziness further I had to get 20 people to participate! I could not think of 2, let alone 20!

After sleeping over it, I took a deep breath and told Sanjana. She had an incredulous expression on her face. Next was Rhea (who I think I bull dozed into this ;)) after much contemplation I found Nadya (who loves dancing as much as Sanjana) and Sangeeta (my friend who is open to new ideas).Soon enough we were a respectable group of 8!
Shonan was extremely well organized……..we chose our practice timings (Batch 1- who had to learn the entire dance -whew!). Come 8.40 pm on Monday- our first practice, our hearts raced as we heard the opening bars of Rang de Bansanti!  What a lovely, uplifting patriotic song she had picked! As us, the 40 year old aunties struggled to pick up the steps, the kids breezed through it- having great laughs as we practiced (in front of the mirror and the computer!)

Excitement levels ran high as the entire mob gathered at the PDP football ground for the final practice. As usual Shonan was on top of things, with handouts with precise instructions for each one of us. Except…there is always room for the unexpected!

Come 4.30 pm on Sunday, at CST the music started 3 minutes before time……..commuters wondered what was going on and the pulse of the mob went out of control! After this false start, the music restarted. Little had Shonan expected that the crowd will gather in a matter of seconds! As a result, after Priya and Shonan the rest of us had to elbow our way into the crowd. (It looks awesome in the video, but was a little scary in reality). But once we began there was no stopping us!
Time had stopped! Trains had stopped! Music flooded the station! The energy was electric! The onlookers were stunned! They had no idea what was going on! It was simply unbelievable! 200 people…in a choreographed dance at this beautiful 100 year old station……

And the master stroke was the way we dispersed (under instruction from Shonan). We left the crowd gaping- hungry for more! They could not fathom how the last 4 minutes of their life had just passed by in a flash!

Oh, what a thrill it was! And I’m still flying on the high!!!!!

What an amazing achievement for Shonan, with all the permissions and to manage a crowd like this. Truly a major feat! And all for the love of our city……..
Thank you Shonan!

Flash mob CST- The Official Video