Give me a dream and I will chase it. Part 7/7

"
Hiiiii!" I say as I shake hands,my voice quivering, as his cuteness hits me... 'I am a big fan of your work!'
'Obviously. DUH! ' He must have thought to himself,while he smiled at me, holding a glass of red wine.

Looking for something meaningful to say, I took a deep breath and said,
'You know, your music brought the love of life back in my life and brought the love of my life (trance) in my life!'

Now, he grinned and said, 'Well, that's what this is all about, hey!'
' I just love the positive energy that you spread in the world.. through your music!,
'I love it too!' he said!! still smiling.
'I just wonder if there is any way I can give it (the love) back to the world?'.. me getting all philosophical in the moment.

He says, 'You already are, by being the person that you are!'

What an insightful answer, I thought to myself.Surely he had a deeper side to himself...
My spiritiual query answered, I attempted being like a Normal fan,  'Hey, I can see that you truly love what you do, is there ever a time when you need a break from the music, that it becomes too much?'

'Nope! Never!' he says. (What a stupid question!), he must have thought to himself!

'Hey Armin! shouts the bouncer, We'll be leaving for the hotel soon!'

'I was planning my life around you, just to come to Europe to watch you live, am so glad that you came here instead!'

He smiled a huge smile.. and I shout out in the green room,
'Someone, please take a picture of me with Armin!!'
So one beautiful white girl, who was busy talking to her friend, said, 'Why not!' As she came over to us, I raised my empty hands;'but I have no camera!' I was empty handed, remember!
'I can take a picture, but what's the point? You won't get it!' chirped an Indian fellow, who was passing by.
I said, 'I don't care, just take the picture and it will get to me, somehow!'
So well, the white girl's heart must have melted, she got out her Blackberry and clicked a picture. She said, 'Let me mail it to you right away! So I type in my email address. Mail sent."
She says, 'I am not too sure if you will get it!' .
I say, 'I am sure it will! Thanks a lot, you have NO idea of how much this means to me!'
She looks at me for a second, gives me a look that must have meant 'Oh!you are so star stuck'.

With that, I say 'Bye Armin! Am so glad I met you! All the Best!'
He says, 'To you too!'.
We exchange a smile and then I take leave.

5am:
The crowd had thinned. Monika, her friend and myself decided to leave.
We sat in the Hotel Lobby for an hour chatting. She could hardly believe all the stuff I was telling her about my entire ordeal. But that's how the two of us are. We like to climb over mountains. She has a lot of stories of her own.. of times when life has given her a dream and she has chased it .. one day, maybe I will write some of them down on her behalf...

6am:
The Metro restarts. It is time for me to leave. We say goodbye at the Metro Station and am on my way back to Gurgaon. She would leave for Jullundhar at ten am, with the guy friend of hers.
In the Metro, I found two familiar faces. One guy had been dancing right next to me. And there was another girl, whose shoes were killing her. We all made eye contact that said, 'I know where you are coming from' and ended up sitting together, talking about our love for EDM, music and how we first got introduced to it. This time the three of us were getting stared at by weary looking early risers, who had grumpily gotten ready for work to catch the first Metro. We three we weary but as far away from grumpiness as possible.

7.30am:
I was in a rush to reach my place in Gurgaon, Run!, turn on the computer and check my mail. And it is there! I got the picture with Armin! Of course,the first thing I did was to upload it on facebook and comments started flooding in. By far the best comment I got was,

'richa guy next to u ... look like dj armin van burren ... serch on google and see his pictures ................. worlds best dj ......'


and I thought to myself, grinning, 'Yea,tell me about it!'


---------------x----------------

Give me a dream and I will chase it. Part 5/7

Ten minutes into waiting, the corporate guy, comes up to me to say that he can't get any other cabs from his office, but he could give me a lift in his cab and that cab driver could further drop me to the connecting Metro Station. Gut feeling: Say yes. I call up the shady driver I was waiting for and cancel it. Disaster averted! Phew!

9:30pm:

We are on our way! We exchange business cards and start talking. He was looking to buy a house, for he had recently gotten married to the love of his life and was on top of the world. He was a CA and traveled daily to Gurgaon. I took some income tax tips, he was telling me about the architectural features in his childhood home, etc. While we made conversation, he had that curious look in his eye. He could not understand why it was so important for me to go FROM Gurgaon TO another place,dressed like that, at that hour, when my house was right there in gurgaon...'Why don't yu go there in the morning?' I todl him that wa not an option. Nothing would convince him enough, just then, the driver pulled over. Now What!? We have a flat tire. Yea right! As if,I hadn't had enough for the night. At least, I was sure that this problem was solvable. And Armin would not start playing till eleven for sure, so I won't miss it..Back on the road, the cab driver gets a call and says he will not be able to drop me any further than where he would drop the corporate guy. That's fine, he says he will help me look for an auto rickshaw from his stop till the Metro Station.

10.15pm:
We reach his stop. My corporate friend instructs me to sit in the cab, while they go out and look for an auto. 'Actually Madam, because of what you are wearing, it will be best if you sit inside'. And all this I have to listen to, when I was fully clothed (only my face and hands were showing) and I was not even wearing high heels. Fifteen minutes pass, no autorickshaw! They just whizz by; eager to get home. But I just focus on being inside the club. I will see Armin. I WILL. I WILL.

10:30pm:
I get into the Auto, thank the corporate guy profusely, completely drenched in gratitude..amazed that genuine helpful people still exist in this world and in Delhi! Had a love marriage made him a better person? Maybe. Or was he a great person to begin with - which is why he had love in his life?
I beg the rickshaw guy to rush, for the last Metro leaves in thirty minutes. And if I count the security check, elevators and walking time, I would barely make it. Luckily, his auto was in excellent condition. He drove fast. Starting from my toes, I began to free ze in the chilled winter night, whizzing past the beautiful Delhi roads. In my head, I knew this was the last lap of my chase. I had the change ready and ran as I reached the Metro Station. 'RUNNN FORRRESTTT, RUNN!!' rings in my brain. (Jenny to Forrest Gump in the movie Forrest Gump)

10:55pm:
I am new to the big, intimidating, empty station. I ask two travellers, run and board the Metro whose doors were just closing! Again, I get stared at by the morose passengers in the train. This time due to the contrast in their energy levels and mine. I was RUNNING late by two hours.Hmm.. In twenty minutes, I was at my stop. The guy who I had spoken with for the first time that very day picked me up from the station. He told me how pretty I looked, 'but why are you wearing so many clothes? Why so conservative, han?' ;)  

to be continued....

Give me a dream and I will chase it. Part 2/7

Let me just call up my friend at Deep Sound Entertainment..POA: One of his friends' friend will be there at the metro station of my choice, to sell me the Early Bird Passes. Of course, this entitles me to a special discount. (As if, I need that incentive to attend!) A young guy turns up to hand me over the passes. He is almost my age. 'Cool! dynamic people' I think to myself!. I pay him cash for four people, out of which two(girls) definitely WANT to attend, but the other two(boys) will have to materialize out of thin air. One pass has Monika's name on it and the other one has mine.
What if the event gets postponed?? Normally, you would put your name on the guest list the day of the event and show up to pay on the spot and enter. So, I ask the guy, 'What happens if Armin decides not to show up or the event gets cancelled?'. He gives me that look and asks, 'Why would he not show up??'.'Umm.. yea why wouldn't he?..'OK thanks, Bye!' ... 'Hey! me and my friends are hanging out in the mall nearby, do you want to join us?'. 'Umm, I have to get back home, maybe another time!' So I get on the Metro, back home. On the way, I worry. What if Armin can't make it? What if Monika does not show up? I have passes for four people and am not sure whether anyone except me can make it there. But I am going be there for sure. For sure. Right?

What makes me so confident that I will be there?
I am hooked to the concept of 'the law of attraction'. It states that if you orient your mind and actions towards a positive outcome then your subconscious mind helps you find ways to overcome obstacles and make that positive outcome a reality. I have been at it for a while. I have enough proof that it works. So, I know, for sure, that I will be there.

Why this fuss about Armin? Why am I such a big fan?
I believe that each one has music inside us.. just like the 'heart song' talked about in the movie 'Happy Feet', there exists a specific genre that we truly connect with..While, some of us are lucky enough to come across that genre pretty early, others have to keep looking, till it finds them. I personally have hopped from Pop to Punk Rock to Death Metal Rock to Jazz to Classical to Soft Acoustic to Soul to World and on and on. Yet, nothing had quenched that thirst.

I had spent six months in London for an internship but had not gone clubbing. Lame. I know. Yet, my farewell party found me in the Ministry of Sound for a couple of hours. Instantly, I had been hooked - what is this music called, who are these artists, where to find more of this, is it only played in clubs? My friends were too high to answer. I left the city with a sense that I was really close to finding out my genre.. but the fact that it was called, Underground Music didn't help at all!
My transitioning between genres was on, when a distant friend, took me out clubbing in Bangalore,. It was the first time I was officially introduced to EDM- Electronic Dance Music. I knew I had been found. What sense of liberation I felt!!
My search for the genre had ended, my quest for live shows had begun. How I yearned to share the passion and experience with thousands of other fans. I wanted to attend live shows! I would have to move to Europe for that to be possible. That might take at least a year to happen.

And, only three months of moving to Gurgaon/Delhi, Armin decides to visit India! Could it be true?!!Yes! It has to be! I even have the passes in my hand! All I have to do is, get Monika here and arrange two boys...only two days to go! It will work out! It has to! It will! But HOW..?


To be continued.....