Saturday, December 27, 2008

MOOD-Indigo...Ride of a lifetime.

It was one whole month of a roller coaster ride...The preparations..And mind you..roller coaster is more of a scary ride than a fun,pleasant experience....I always told my friends that our scenario is just like Leonardo Di Capri o of the movie Titanic,where he was clinging on to the wooden plank,dipped in the freezing water of the ocean,struggling to gasp his few last breaths..But still he never gave up....It was exactly the same..We got a call saying we got selected in the top 8 teams of the fashion show called ADAA..Now this was huge..considering we were a technical institute...not the most fashion conscious colleges of the country...We almost didnt have anything to bank on..No college funds..No designer ...No plans formulated...All we had was confidence...!!!
And that gave a thrilling turn to the whole series of events unfolding the next month. Everything took shape in a few days..First,the auditions for the models...Second thinking the themes for the rounds..Third ,deciding of funds ...Fourth..We found a designer in a design college in Bhopal who was really good at his job..All seemed perfectly on time..perfectly in shape..Suddenly our college goes on strike...We get holidays for 15 days..And exams get postponed..Everything ruined..Exams were scheduled till the 22nd and moodi to be started from the 20th....Everything was in a perfect mess..Most of the models backed out..No idea of where funds were going to be collected..No boutique agreed to sponsor our show. And we had exams at the same time..So the few people still trying to hold the plank had also studies to finish...Now the phrase "Being in a pickle " perfectly fits.. And then suddenly..one day the organizer of moodi calls and says we are in the top 8 teams of the show.I didnt know whether to laugh or cry, mourn or make merry..There was a time when i was practically approaching every female in my hostel ,asking her whether she was interested to come to Mumbai..I detested the feeling of feeling like a saleswoman. We were everything...Perfect multi tasking..Right from salesmen and saleswomen,technicians,designers,magazine buyers and borrowers..thermocol beggars in the girls hostel at 12 at night,porters to lift garments...to models ourselves even without the god gift of height...Just to fill up the gap that no one wanted to.. It was really weird considering that people were actually kicking the opportunity that came till their doorstep..Or more...begged them to be grabbed...After many days of constant pressure..both from exams side as well as the fact that after getting selected we couldnt back out..things started finally taking shape..We made the count till 10 models and work began.. Then after constant pressure from the designers and managers of the show..We finally ended up going to moodi with complete dress..But zero choreography..Things finally took shape in mumbai as all we did for the first two days was to teach all the models to walk the ramp right.See i know im a last-minute person....But this was like the last second before you were going to fall off a cliff..
So finally the D day came...We started getting dressed...The music piece was getting prepared right then..Ya i know ..i told you right..Last second preparations. Anwyay we were dressed to see that other colleges were much more prepared than us..They had a lot of things...Greater investments...Better models....Greater preparations...We still were soo confident.........no one was disheartened yet...The round 1 started and was not bad....Round 2 was a little disaster as the music piece got over before the entire walk was over........Overall the whole thing was not bad...Maybe if the whole exam postponing thing hadnt happened........We were sure to rock the stage..Few things I learnt..
a)Make music first...Only then focus on the garments.
b)More is less....Even the tackiest of make up doesnt show enough on stage.
c)Concentrate on choreography first and not garment detailing.
d)Accessories are the highlight of any garment..Not the garment itself..
e)In a team..One person should never be responsible for garment construction and choreography..It creates a pickle..

But entirely the experience was worth it..You know when i walked the ramp in the first round..And the bright lights and camera clicks on my face......And about 8000 to 10000 people sitting right in front of me...looking at me closely, and focussing on every detail.I just felt that the entire experience was more than worth it>.And i just felt soo proud when i walked it up.......It was a performance of a lifetime..Who knows..whether we will even try for Adaa ever again.Or will we ever even get selected again...MOODI wil come only once more in my college life.All i know was...that I FELT PROUD!!!
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