Hail Ishwar!!!
I have always wondered about the word-firefighters in the contextual sense of the word. Firefighters are those people who are brought in to diffuse a crisis, to stabilize a situation and finally to bring the system back on track. The only problem with this was that I had never seen a "firefighter" in action...until the 6th of February, 2005.
Location: Sivagami Petachi Auditorium
Event: evam, the theatre group staging a new play called Barefoot in the Park
We had completed 3 shows and were gearing up for our next show on the 6th evening. At 6'o clock all final checks were being done with regard to backstage and front-end. At 6:45, the audience started coming in and the venue had an almost festive atmosphere. At 7'o clock, the light box discovered that the entire set of dials and buttons that controlled the lights for the stage had ceased to function. The only way it could function was that either all the lights remained on or all lights went off.
This presented a huge crisis as there were 350 people waiting for the play to start but the play could not start because of the above mentioned reasons. As I stood there watching this, I was wondering what would happen next. Then suddenly I noticed Ishwar(a member of the evam crew) dash in and get into the main controls area that was adjacent to the stage. It took him 15 minutes to find out which main switch controlled which light. Once he had these cues written, the play was started and he managed lights solely by what he was being told by someone who kept a watch on the stage proceedings.
What struck me were a couple of thoughts- the calm on Ishwar's face while making a note of the lights, the ease with which the promoters of the group gave him a free run during this period and our relief when we knew that Ishwar was looking into the issue. Its amazing how implicit, faith becomes as we come to know people better over a period of time. The play started and everything went off picture-perfect.
In the end, Ishwar I know that this will never suffice but- Thanks yaar!!
Location: Sivagami Petachi Auditorium
Event: evam, the theatre group staging a new play called Barefoot in the Park
We had completed 3 shows and were gearing up for our next show on the 6th evening. At 6'o clock all final checks were being done with regard to backstage and front-end. At 6:45, the audience started coming in and the venue had an almost festive atmosphere. At 7'o clock, the light box discovered that the entire set of dials and buttons that controlled the lights for the stage had ceased to function. The only way it could function was that either all the lights remained on or all lights went off.
This presented a huge crisis as there were 350 people waiting for the play to start but the play could not start because of the above mentioned reasons. As I stood there watching this, I was wondering what would happen next. Then suddenly I noticed Ishwar(a member of the evam crew) dash in and get into the main controls area that was adjacent to the stage. It took him 15 minutes to find out which main switch controlled which light. Once he had these cues written, the play was started and he managed lights solely by what he was being told by someone who kept a watch on the stage proceedings.
What struck me were a couple of thoughts- the calm on Ishwar's face while making a note of the lights, the ease with which the promoters of the group gave him a free run during this period and our relief when we knew that Ishwar was looking into the issue. Its amazing how implicit, faith becomes as we come to know people better over a period of time. The play started and everything went off picture-perfect.
In the end, Ishwar I know that this will never suffice but- Thanks yaar!!
posted by Saraansh at 1:21 AM
4 Comments:
Hey shoosha
Good to see you here as shoosha rather than anonymous. I agree that firefighters are normal people who do some mindboggling stuff.The idea behind the post was just that it was fascinating to watch Ishwar that day...like a man who knew what he was doing and that persona of his, giving confidence to everybody, that the "show will go on". Here's to the undefeatable spirit of your "magician"!!!
papaji!!!
ishwar sure is a fighter!! he told me abt 6th feb adventures and it was mind boggling to even listen to him... i can imagine how u wud've felt..standing right there..
its amazin how a crisis freaks the crap out of everyone , leaves us completely devasted..fools us into considerin it to be the end of life...and then one among us takes an avatar..solves the crisis situation with ease and walks away, unassumingly!! Awe-inspiring man..
Its funny cos u dont know why all this happened in the first place.. you dont know wat to learn out of it either..but when u look back,its the coolest thing ever!!
hey mammaji
Good to see you here and frankly, that crisis did'nt freak anybody out, but it did make us a little apprehensive as to what next.
I can't agree that we don't know what to learn out of all this because we do and that lesson is that the very existence of a problem is also an indication that there exists a solution. So if something needs to be done, it will be done, we just need to find a way.
Saraansh,
I've known Ishwar for hardly a month now and quite frankly I'm not surprised he tackled the crisis so efficiently.when i see Ishwar,I see confidence,a sense of assuredness.I can say the same for some of the others as well but we're talking about Ishwar here.when i walked into the Evam office for the first time,it was HE who introduced himself to me,a pleasant change from the usual,where I initiate the introductions.another thing i noticed was his observing capacity...where he has seen me watching many plays in the last 2 years.though i tend to keep a low profile where ever I go,getting noticed by a total stranger(not anymore!)is a compliment.
anyway hats off to you Ishwar(if u read this) for the lights incident and the SNOW(I still wonder how you do it man).
I'll leave it to you guys to figure out who i am(if u want to)...the thrill of being anonymous:-))
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