It Was One of Those Days ........

Devu was to perform for a talent show at her school. From among the options like Music, instrumental, fancy dress, dance etc, she picked dance. That meant more work for me. So when attempts to convince her to choose music over dance failed, I set about my task. There were two weeks to go before event. My action points were to pick a song, get it choreographed, teach Devu, buy costume and find a make-up artist.
After the song was chosen, I requested our Bharathanatyam sir, to help us. He agreed and choreographed it in fifteen minutes, after all the song was only 2:20 mins long. But by now we had only a week to go which means I have six days to teach Devu the routine. It was a song that she had performed for on an earlier occasion, but this time half the steps were different. We started rehersals and Devu was practicing three to four times on a daily basis and I was pleased with her progress and performance. We took out time on a week day and bought the costume, got it altered. We also bought a couple of things relating to costume and makeup. Now a major task that was left was to find a good make-up artist( me being an ignoramus in this field).
All the parlors we spoke to(and I called nearly a dozen in our area) said they don't do dance make-up. Of the two that agreed, one had a starting rate of Rs.8000, and the other couldn't come at 8.30 am, neither of which was suitable for us. Anyway after a couple more attempts we found a lady who claimed to have fifteen years of experience, so we chose her(we didn't have an other option anyway).

On the day of the talent show, we all reached the parlor early to get Devu ready. As she was working, I realized that the beautician was less qualified than she claimed herself to be. I don't know what she did for fifteen years, but it certainly was not make-up! She didn't even seem to know some of the basics. Make-up is a critical part of a Bharathanatyam performance and it was a little disappointing to know that it didn't turn out quite as expected. However we consoled ourselves thinking that it was only a small event at school and I tweaked a few things here and there to my satisfaction. First disaster mitigated.


Devu, as soon as we reached school

We reached the venue, Devu went over to wait with all the other kids who were also show casing their dance skills. Minutes before her turn, I signaled her to come to me so I can check her costumes and jewelry one final time before she has to go on stage. To my distress I noticed that the long necklace was about to disintegrate to beads as the string that connected the beads to the locket was open loose. I did panic at first but was thankful that I noticed it before it was too late. I carried the accessory kit with me for such eventualities,  so I managed to fix and successfully camouflage it. A potential disaster was avoided.
Soon it was time for the dance performances to start and the first contestant was ready to perform. But the school music system was having some issue playing the CDs and the event was postponed to later while they fixed it. Another unforeseen and unfavorable event for which we could do nothing but wait.



Taking position for the performance

So we waited, while a sleepy, hungry & cranky Appu. kept us busy. Looking at the way things were going, dodging one pit-hole after another, I prayed that no more of Devu's jewelry fall apart before her performance. After more than an hour's wait Devu finally went on stage for her turn. She started off really well and was performing nicely, when to our shock the music unexpectedly came to a halt and our hearts sank. The audience, thinking that the performance was over, clapped and Devu had to step down from the stage. She was on the verge of tears but I was able to placate her by saying that she will be given another opportunity after every one else has had their turn. But by the time all performances were over, it was late and the judging panel reversed their decision to give Devu a second chance. It was quite obvious that by now, despite our best efforts and precautions everything that could go wrong with the day, went wrong.

Devu & Appu after the performance

We were provided a little respite when, the Principal of the school and one of the members of the judging panel came over and expressed her regrets for what happened and praised Devu for giving a good performance and making her presence felt. We gratefully thanked the Principal and headed home.

But the day was not over yet and we still had more disappointments to deal with ahead of us. After lunch and an hour of rest I dragged a tired and reluctant Devu over to music class, only to find that even after waiting for almost an hour, the teacher hasn't shown up yet. Finally when we called her, we realized that she had forgotten all about the class. She apologized and offered to come after an hour, so we headed to dance class. After dance was over and still there was no sign of our music teacher we called her up again, when she requested that she be excused for the day.

Devu and I went back home thankful that the day was over and hopefully, so was this string of unfortunate events.