The day began with practice. At 9am sharp, Pranay, the guitarist, and Isha were at my house ready to attend the guitar practice session. At 10am, we were at the clubhouse for scene rehearsals, and at 11:30am, sitting at the laptop designing the flyer, writing emails and putting final touches on the script such as the roll call. It had already been 4 hours of working and practicing before we took a break and ate our lunches at 1pm. We were tired, sure, but were ready to take on the rest of the day. The 1pm lunch break had been strategic: another practice had been scheduled from 2pm to 4pm – but something more exciting was headed our way.

At around 1:30pm we got a call from the SOS Children’s Village in Namma Bengaluru – a 50 year old independent, non-governmental, social development organisation that provides family-based care for parentless or abandoned children in India. They offered a platform for us to showcase our talents and entertain the children there. It meant a Show #3, but we were willing to take up their offer (because it meant that our children would get to perform on an actual stage this time – something they would be delighted about). But it also meant going to see the venue to know what to expect, talking to the people there to convince them of our genuinely, and for that to happen, cancelling practice.

And that hits a soft spot.

I dialled up Isha, and she agreed that cancelling practice was necessary. She called a few of the cast members to inform them while I called Megha and Ganeev. Needless to say, those were some very heartwrenching phone calls. Megha was disappointed– she said, softly, with a sigh and a bit of despondency in her tone, “I had been looking forward to it all day…alright, it’s fine. I get it. It’s for our play, after all!”

Ganeev was another matter. He had cancelled a lunch plan with his family for this. It was no mean matter to cancel this practice. He seemed understanding – he even reassured us that he wouldn’t have wanted to go anyway- but Kavneet aunty? We had assured her that such a thing wouldn’t happen again. It was the breaking of a pact – an understanding.

Unfortunately there was nothing to be done about it. I wrote an email to her, explain the situation, tried calling her several times (but they wouldn’t go through), and with a heavy heart, got into the car with Varun, Isha and my mother for the long journey to SOS Village on Bannerghatta Road. I silently, but feverishly, hoped this trip would be worth it.

It was. We reached, and met Ms. Naglaxmi, the Head of Visitors Department at SOS Village. She was very friendly and after attentively listening to our ideas, storyline and requirements, was very supportive (I think she was impressed, too.) She then took us to The Director of Activities, Mr Vishwanath. He was definitely a lot more intimidating – and very busy. But we are glad to have been able to get time to meet him. I told him the story as animatedly as possible (he either kept interrupting or kept getting interrupted by staff or children) and finally, laid down our proposition. He seemed suitably impressed, but if we thought the job was done, it was not. He began to interrogate us about the play’s message, what could be expected, what guarantee could be given about its entertainment, the language barrier, et cetra. I answered all the questions thrown at us confidently. There was a sudden pause as Mr Vishwanath glanced at his computer screen. I honesty wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

But -“Sounds good. Write your requirements down over here. We’ll see you on Sunday then!”

Success. We provided all the necessary details, and then he called a staff member to escort us to possible places where the shows could be held so that we could finalise on a stage. We went around looking at their community halls and large rooms until we were shown an outdoor theatre. We loved it, it was perfect. If it rained, however, we’d have a slight problem (a portion of the stage was uncovered) but it was good in all other aspects – lighting, sound, space and audience seating area. We then proceeded back to the office where we informed Mr Vishwanath of our decision.

It was time to leave for home; we had an instrumental practice scheduled at 4:30pm. As Mr Vishwanath kindly escorted us out, he smiled and said, “Let’s see what talent you have then!” But the statement didn’t intimidate us – it excited us!

In the car ride back home, we discussed changes that needed to be made in the script to suit our audience; that English was their second language needed to be kept in mind.

We reached at exactly 4:30pm, and though exhausted, felt prepared to ensure productivity at practice. Rashi and Pranay assembled on time. At 5:30pm, practice ceased, and then Isha and I finalized ideas and began costume and prop collection. At 6:30pm, at Rashi’s house while doing work, we realized that due to sudden schedule changes (Rashi’s school timings on the weekends), today was the only day instrument recording could be done. We roped in Pranay, shifted the recording location to Rashi’s house (to ensure complete silence while recording) and began the process. Two hours of recording later, at 8:30pm, we pressed the ‘stop’ button on the final recording and exchanged high fives. Isha and I then hurried to Naisha’s house for a quick costume/ prop search, and at 9pm, we rang the doorbell of my house, carrying lots of things (from skirts and hats to keyboards).

The day had been long. But the day had been amazing. As I sit here and type this, I calculate twelve hours of all work and no play. Twelve hours.

What can I say? It speaks for itself.