French Connection- The Memoir

Dangerous Société

Revolution – Revelation

Ne Changent Pas Vous-même Pour Toute Personne

Jumping into the shower, thinking of wearing ‘his’ favourite shirt which he hasn’t worn in a long time, he’s excited about the so called rock concert at the most famous Foreign Language Université right here in Hyderabad.  Who would have imagined there are so many shades and colours to this great city hiding behind plain sight?  Get the right connection and you have access to the unseen territories of excitement and ecstasy, such is this darling little baby doll who invited ‘him’ to the party. 

  Driving down along the way ‘she’ calls him to confirm his departure with a slight enthusiastic tone in her voice.  He reaches the gates and calls ‘her’ for entry into the campus.  He parks his vehicle and walks down to the garden filled with seated people and a bright lit stage that evening; ‘she’ waves ‘him’ in with a big smile.  

He parks himself right next to her in the nosebleed section.  They exchange big smiles while she introduces ‘him’ to her friends, “hello nice to meet you”.   The two while sitting together can never stop talking, never bored of each other’s company yet they have a lot to learn about each other. 

The program begins with a French song sung by one of the professor’s girlfriend.  The attire that she wore that evening reminded ‘him’ of a genie from one of those Aladdin cartoons, although pretty in her own style and a smooth voice.  Then the boring part starts, pardon my French!  A play narrated by a girl who needs to perfect her English and have a better storyline, French it may be but with Hindi songs?!??  Next up was a couple of nursery rhymes from the students of the Alliance Française, which was pretty soothing to his ears especially when she was humming the tunes next to him. 

The main event of the night, Baptiste Daleman a French Band that has rocked the Olympics; consisting of a British guy with a Mohawk, an Italian with a Saxophone, a Spaniard who’s the label manager, the head-banging French guy with a guitar and the most loved, by all the girls in their seats; Anatello was his name, shaking, dancing, grooving, singing.  His voice melted like dark chocolate in ‘her’ mouth, she was awed and amazed at this creature of being, fire burning inside her for the chills that go down her spine, numbing away his lyrics, enraptured in his tone, mesmerised by his humble attitude she can’t look away.

‘He’ nudges ‘her’ out of her delirium, a picture perfect moment.  Euphoric as she is, she’s energised to the music sending her friend to find a camera; she wants to capture this memory on film.  Audience jumping, cheering and applauding this soulful, effortless band; a sudden impulse strikes ‘him’, he grabs ‘her’ by the hand and drags her onto the stage trying to pull her right next to Anatello who by the way is still singing and dancing.  Thrilled and nervous, elated and restraining, a glistening smile imbibed on her adorable face, she was just high standing behind Anatello.  

Like a crazy soaring fan of the band ‘she’ was that night, gleaming with a driving force from within her heart, ecstatic as she finally gets to be in front of flash bulbs right next to him holding his waist like she would in her dreams, “Click”.  The show’s wrapping up, ‘she’ scurries away back to hug ‘him’, and he holds her face in between his palms to feel her exhilaration.  She pulls out her notebook and hurries down to the band and obtains an autograph from each and every one of the lot. 

The night is not over yet for her rapture didn’t fade away till the following morning!

-The ‘girl’ depicted here is SOUJANYA, while the narrator prefers to remain Anonymous.