4th of April

Quite an eventful day I would say. The Tamil Industry was protesting the attacks on Tamil theatres and organizations in Karnataka. And since I am a member of the Dubbing Union, (A dubbing artiste has to be a part of the Union) I was sent a message and given a call to compulsorily attend the protest. So I landed up at the MLA hostel, where there was a huge pandal and I must say everyone was there. And around the time I reached, Superstar Rajnikanth landed up too, so all speculations of will-he-wont-he were laid to rest. I had to sign the register, they were really taking attendance and thereafter I walked up to the front, where Mr Cheran was kind enough to call me in and ask me to take a seat in front of him. I stayed there for a while and came back home.
I spent the evening at a very special gathering of the Rotary Club of Madras Midtown at Taj Connemara. Director Vasanth was being awarded the For the Sake of Honour Award. Sri Mani Ratnam and Sri K Balachandar were the GOH. And the US Consul General Mr David Hopper was also one of the dignitaries. This was the first time I heard Mani sir speak for at least 7 minutes. And it was surely a treat. None of the people present there expected him to speak much and the way he responded to incessant mobiles ringing off their rocker "I like the tune.. I really do" was brilliant.
On that note, I seriously cannot understand, whether people just forget, even after announcements are made to place the mobile on silent mode, even people sitting in the front row, have the ring tones are blasting level. That was absolutely the most jarring thing, quite literally last evening. Mobile after mobile going off. I noticed the same thing at the press meet of the K M Conservatory.
Another thing was people walking in and out of the hall when someone was talking. It could have been discrete except for the fact that the door of Taj Connemara's ballroom had a way of banging.
Apart from these issues which could have definitely been avoided, 3 hours just flew. As the evening drew to a close, we rose for the national anthem and the best part, I don't know if anyone has noticed this before, but I saw Mr Hopper singing our National Anthem. And honestly I was absolutely exhilarated. To say the least.
Except for a couple of do-s to attend this evening, I am totally looking forward to a weekend of regaining lost zzzzzzzs.