OSS

I was invited on a Sunday afternoon by a dear friend for a poetry and a music session. Sunday afternoons are a complete no no for any event. That Sunday afternoon sleep is so precious. But I agreed to go and am glad I did. There is a chain of restaurants called 'Social' and they pick up the name of the area they are in. All distressed furniture, the look of a shed where a few mismatched tables and chairs are put up. Plenty of windows with sunlight and open seating area too. I am talking about the Social at Khar, a suburb in Mumbai, which is known as 'Khar Social'. They have good food but the put off is the aluminium plates, bowls and boxes , they serve the food in. Here I am struggling to remove Aluminium cooking vessels from my kitchen and why would I eat in Aluminium knowing very well it is harmful. The place is promoted for the young entrepreneurs to come, have meetings and work from here with free wifi. In the Evenings the place turns around into a lounge bar or a pub with decent crowd and music. 

They have a basement hall which is given for private parties and it is named 'Anti Social'. Am sure the cool quotient of the place goes up with the name too. Whole lot of college children in their late teens or early twenties were all geared to perform. The place had a casual vibe and we were some of the senior citizens in that room. The confidence of young performers was striking. And no one was dressed to the nines. Some children read out poems and some sang songs, all composed by them. In one poem, a young girl talked about the window pane and her anxiety when she looks out at the local trains. Second poem was about a young girl loosing her grandfather. They were straight from the heart. The bands performed so well, all school and college going kids playing various musical instruments. Most knew how to sing on the mike and some fumbled. It was kinda cute to see all and imagine what a gawky teenager I was. Their language was so different but not colloquial. The mix of nervousness, hesitation and confidence in them was like a well made cocktail. I was enamoured but not like blown away. I was totally touched by these young lives. I had goose bumps when they were reading their poems, from their mobile phones, of course. I had tears when they were singing, as in how much they want to live under the open skies and  enjoy their expression and how young they are.  Wonderful friends and  beautiful children. Humanity is so beautiful and I feel so blessed. 

The event is called Open Sky Slam. It is a community of artists, who perform in various Indian cities. OSS is young, fresh and has talent.