Couple of weeks back, I didn’t even know what a FLASH MOB meant. Had someone asked me what it meant, I would have replied “Gimme sometime, I will Google and tell you”. But I was a part of the flash mob that happened in my company on last Friday. Hard to believe, but then that is a state of fact.
Many people come up with ideas, only a few come up with crazy ideas, I should say I have a great friend who is crazy enough to come out with such an idea. She told me that she was watching one of the flash mob videos over the net and thought lets do one in our company.
There are two kinds of inspirations, one is that you see the best of the things and you want to replicate it in your own way. There is another which is the worst of the things and you feel “what the hell? I can do better”. Which kind of inspiration she got from that video, I am yet to understand as I haven’t watched that video myself.
Then again there are lot of people who come out with ideas, but only a countable take a step towards realizing theirs. She was among the elite league of people who chase their ideas till the time it becomes success. The thing about such people is that, if the share such ideas for the first time the look they get back is “What a lunatic?”, but then that is what makes them great people. History reckons the same, all people who got lunatic looks while presenting their ideas, went on to become famous scientists in the history. Don’t start thinking too much, she is nothing as great as the scientists but then she is great. She is none other than Moumita Nandi, those who know her obviously will know how great she is but then again all these introduction about her was meant for people who don’t know her.
When she first asked me whether I know what a Flash Mob meant, I told her exactly “Gimme sometime, I will Google and tell you”, She gave me the exact “what a lunatic?” look, isn’t that obvious. then I took my own sweet time to understand what it meant and the conversation went ahead. She told me she has some videos of flash mob, she wanted me to go through all that and said “We are going to do one in our office.” I was like where did this come from, all that I was worried at that point of time was, I should escape this somehow rather than trying to help. She went on telling what it will be like and all that, I seriously wanted to help but then again, looking at the crowd getting the people and on top that making them all dance is not something where I specialize. Even if I can manage all of that, There was another obstacle which was there, I cant be a part of the group where people talk Hindi or things which are remotely close to Hindi as my linguistic skills were limited to English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada [ Telugu and Kannada I can comprehend] Like any other Tamilian, that is a torture that I wont be able to withstand.
But then Moumita had a heart of steel, she went ahead to find people who can help her out getting people, setting up the initial pace for the event and I was only a mere listener to the progress that was happening, though I was interested to join the group my work kept me on the sidelines. It was almost one week into the event, things were like lighting up. I heard from Moumita that there is Prashanth and Hari to help her with setting up the event. She said they spoke to the HR and convinced them and got the permission, spoke to admin and got permission to practice on the terrace after the office time. She also said that there are few people who are there and the practice was making good progress. It was all Prashanth and Hari who pulled in the initial set of people and the crazy idea of Moumita was actually trying to get real.
I gradually got pulled in and I was taken aback when I went to the practice for the first time, I am usually a kind person whom of bad omen comes along with. When I went there the lights were not working and not many people turned up that day. I thought I should stop going but then the next day more number of people turned up and I saw the steps they have formed so far. There were some good dancers, Ravi, Krishnabir, Deepa and Sharath were those who sent shivers down my spine. Because if the choreographing is done by people who dance well, only good dancers can be a part of the show. That is what I thought on the first looks, but then looks always deceive you, those people can think so down to earth and they managed the steps according to the kind of people who joined. We needed more and more people, that is when we thought of taking it to the next level. Moumita took the initiative because we didn’t have all the time in world left for it, we were running out of the time and it was only another one week left for the day it was planned to happen. That is when Moumita suggested that we should reach to the next level of people through the current people we had. Its like “My friends friend is my friend”, That is where I have to mention this special person Tessita Thomas, rocked the floor she had got in as many people as one can think of. I tried my best to pull in more people like everyone in the team.
The songs were finalized and it was all going in the right direction, when your captain is the one who is leading you from the front how can things go wrong? Moumita I should say was a captain under whom anyone would love to work, A leader under whom everyone would love to follow. She was strict where she had to be and she was open to discussion. Monopoly was a word that she didn’t even heard off. There were people contributing in all possible ways, with ideas, suggestions, opinions and many more that kept it so lively. More than all of these, people enjoyed every single practice sessions, each and everyone was more concerned about their dance and also about their friends. The team we gathered became a TEAM and it started to move on its own. As a leader all Moumita need to do was to steer in the right direction.
The formation and song sequencing was all fine and my brain was put to work after many years. I was never a part of any dance events after my school days. I was happy that I was able to contribute to the team. I did the sound mixing, It was not a great thing, there was this audcity software, All I needed to do was to add some transition between the songs. The way the steps went it was all good and easy to catch up with. The good dancers had the hardest steps and the others had do able steps which though looked complicated was really easy after two rounds of practice. Had to mention Vivek who was constant support throughout the event and his suggestions were second to none and added more value
We thought of doing a trial and when we did the trial it was almost like the real thing, We all froze on the day and time. It was on Friday during cake cutting in the cafeteria, The day that followed was our company’s family day. We initially planned to remove three rows of table but to our surprise and advantage all the tables were moved and the heart beats were raising as the clocks moved towards the 5.25 PM mark. Its like a movie climax right when we wanted to play the music the technician was missing, And it just added to the tension. First thing we need to keep in mind is that when there is a choice with FOOD and any thing other than FOOD, People will prefer FOOD. Finally he came and we started the music, the crowd was already waiting by the time we started.
The good thing about the good dancers is that they are spontaneous. They do steps which they themselves don’t remember. If they dance for the song on their own, without frozen steps they wont be able to do the steps that they did during the first time on the second time. But the second time the steps will be far better than the first time. They can think on the fly and make steps accordingly. Krishnabir, Ravi, Sharath and Deepa where really those people who live up to the name of good dancers. The way Ravi entered performed, was awesome but none of us including Ravi knew what are the steps he was going to perform :P. Krishnabhir and Sharath the way they lit-up Ravi’s performance was awesome and off all the things they way Deepa entered and took her position was mind blowing Though everyone was laughing like it was some toothpaste advertisement rather than a flash mob, it was OK. When practicing, we all used watch each other and enjoy like anything but in the real show it was like we all were too busy thinking off our steps and our minds were focused only on that.
The show went as planned and it was a big hit. There were almost 200 cameras which would have captured our performance, but the funny thing was even after the show was over, the crowd was still expecting more… The JOSH and FUN was something which was just next to the excitement I had when I joined my company. That Friday was something which will go down as the best day in the company I ever spent till date. Arranging the cameras and fixing the camera positions and getting the laptops were something which was as good as running a project on its own. There were lot more people who made this event possible, we did a flash mob but in process we have also created a good team. I feel like I am back again as a fresher because after the flash mob there is a never ending mail chain, which is still going on. Gathering the videos is again another story of its own, I guess setting up the cameras and gathering videos will be a separate post.
Thanks guys, thank you all for the fun and entertainment. Thanks to the choreographers [Krishnabir, Ravi, Deepa and Sharath] for the steps, Thanks to Tessita for getting the second bunch of people who injected the fresh blood into the whole team, Thanks to Prashanth and Hari for getting in the initial bunch of people. And all those beautiful girls [All the girls in the team were beautiful], who were the crowd pullers and kept the attention of both the crowd and cameras on them. Thanks to the crowd, though those guys had come for cake they didn’t stick to the cake table alone.
Well am I forgetting something or someone?, Lemme think…. oh Moumita, oh ya I really missed thanking her. If I thought I had more tolerance, I need to look up to her. If I thought I had more creativity I need to look up to her. If I thought I get more ideas, I need to look up to her. Look up to her and do what? Look up to her and understand that she is a lot more than she looks. Thanks for the great idea without which there wouldn’t be this flash mob. If there was no flash mob then what will we be all bragging about.
I have thanked all the organizers who were the backbone of this event and with the way they have contributed.If you find anyone’s name missing, then it surely means they aren’t worth mentioning as they didn’t actually did anything, besides showing off. 😛
Though I write this much, the easiest thing to make make you readers understand is to see the link which is shared below
because a picture can explain what 1000 words fails to explain. Then I guess a video will make us all understand what any words can explain.
PS: My brain is a volatile memory, If in case I missed any part of the event or missed out any funny event that happened this course please do mention the same so that I can add it to the actual post.
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