Early morning, or maybe I should call it late night, woke up after just 1.5 hrs of sleep. The usual fight with alarm clock ended with a shock that it was already 4:30. Time to rush towards the airport. I love these early morning drives to airport, there is no traffic on the road and you can enjoy the music and cool air. But then I had thoughts about how the day is going to unfold. I was trying to divert my mind and the thought which flashed through my mind is what the title of this post is. Is there a way we can live a dream instead of leading a life. I don’t remember the context of this but the thought refused to go till I reached the airport where the nice Masala dosa took over the thought process.
Little did I know that the day will unfold into a dream. We were organizing the BBG meetup in an old age home in Mumbai. This was a different type of experience. Falguni, Mangla and Sanjeev had been working to make this reality for a long time. The idea was to do a BBG meetup in an old age home and see if we could bring happiness to people there. The challenge was that will our format work with the seniors and will they sit through a 3-4 hour program.
As the program unfolded we could see the spark coming through everybody’s eyes. A little bit of dance on a song was instrumental in helping the audience to loosen up. The hall was full and we had to ask the younger folks to move to back side of the hall so that senior folks could get closer to stage. The music kept unfolding on the stage and the audience kept growing in numbers and excitement. Everybody was singing and  clapping together as songs kept on moving from melodious to peppy back and forth.
There were three scenes which touched all of us so much that I could see tears in everybody’s eyes, including mine. The first scene was when I saw seniors dancing in wheel chairs. The spirit was irrepressible here.
The second scene was when the audience decided to give a standing ovation after one of the song. The entire hall stood to thank the performer but I could see one frail looking lady, in a light blue dress, probably in her ninties, struggling to stand up. I went up to her and told her that it is fine if she does not stand up but her trembling hands reflected her resolve and spirit. She did get up after a valiant effort.
The third scene was when one of the trustees of the old age home and said that today they have seen God in the form of all of us who brought happiness to all of us via music. It was such a touching expression of love that all of us had our eyes wet.
I usually thank everybody who help us organize these meetups but this time I will not do that for sure. All of us who were involved in organizing this have to thank our life that it gave us an opportunity to bring happiness to so many people, even if it was for an evening. I am sure it will linger on in their minds as well as ours. Happiness is precious and even more precious when you are able to give it to others.
See it in pictures here -Â https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434754046571365.96512.111281795585260&type=1
Awesome share of an amazing event Bal Krishn Birla. Even i was moved reading those three instances u have cited… what a wonderful feel it would have been… this is surely a great miss for me personally too. May God bless them with abundance of good health and wonderful days ahead !! May u be blessed too with all niceties of life… Three Cheers to our Bhoole Bisre Geet team !! Hip Hip Hurrayyy hurrayyy hurraaayy !! 😀
One of my friend shared this link with me this morning and even before i could flip to my office work i thought of reading it first. As i read this sweet write-up , it kept touching emotional beats in my heart. Indeed it s a great effort to add happiness to lives of those people who have already lived a big time of their lives in shaping the future for us , our country. Thanks for sharing , some times a word shared on happiness prevails for a longer time than we think of. Cheers!
Congrats BBG for bringing moments of happiness in the lives of senior citizens…!! The theory of Karma will surely come to play in the lives of organisers of BBG meet and God will bless them with same in much larger amount. Hail BBG…..!!!
I was planning a small happiness/smiles activity with my group servicespacr.org in Bangalore (in old age home or near hospital). I read this and feel awesome. BBG bring so much joy , great going Birla ji. Hats off to you for being you!
I was planning a small happiness/smiles activity with my group servicespace.org in Bangalore (in old age home or near hospital). I read this and feel awesome. BBG bring so much joy , great going Birla ji. Hats off to you for being you!