Backstage With The Local Choir.

A perfect spot to see who's who..

Last year I was an ordinary spectator sitting nice and quiet in one of the rows. Yesterday I was privileged to have several new vantage points. At one stage even the notorious Back row.

The row synonymous to crew, rebels, late comers and of course Teenagers ! Being part of the crew implies passing bottled water to the stars and keeping screaming fans off of them...No, I was part of the door keepers union. In fact my task was to garner the voluntary donation in lieu of an entry fee. Sounds easier than it is.

On the whole everyone gave generously and it didn't need a lot of persuasion from us ( at one stage there were three of us ). We at times felt like the " Trolley Dollies " from yesteryear. A lot of smiling and elegant hand gestures. " Trolley Dollies " is the term used by the older crowd. We younger lot call them Flight Attendants !

While I was standing in the" its-cool-to-be-seen-in " back row, right next to the door I was privy to an amusing side show... The choir, who were of course the main feature of the evening, outdid themselves. Beautiful, harmonious and uplifting. Alas, last night they had to limit their encore to only a few songs, as the UEFA cup final was showing straight after.

Back to my amusing side show. The two chairs in front of me were occupied by two teenage girls. They could have been mistaken for twins. Same trendy clothing, hairstyles and must have smartphones. They kind of whiled the time away in slight boredom. Towards the end of the performance, a few late comers arrived. Not just anyone, but the local youth fire brigade...
Oh yes, men in uniform !

They had taken part in some competition among Fire departments and were thus emitting a disheveled, sweaty and manly aura. Oh and of course they wore uniforms. Well, one of the girls turned to see who had come in and the rest, as they say is history.

Body posture underwent an instant transformation. An elbow was pushed into her friends ribs, on the off chance that her radar was not working. As if that ever happens. Each of them tossed their mane once or twice and I think that was a signal to ensure that they were noticed !

The boys ( or rather young men of say 18 ) played their part to perfection. As has been the case even in the caveman days of my youth, they pretended to be cool and not in the least interested. All pretense of course. The flicker of their eyes gave them away every time. Great fun to watch.

Where we ever like this or rather was I ever like this ? For one thing, my mane was a collection of curly tresses with the occasional dread-lock intertwined. Tossing it, could have hurt someone...But what struck me was how they all had one common denominator. Can you guess ?

Oh yes, they were all doing a perfect impression of a virtuoso. Watching their fingers fly over the smartphones was almost akin to watching a piano maestro ! Somehow I don't think that any teenager would ever leave home without one. I wouldn't be surprised if they were even " texting " each other while they were close enough to reach out and shake hands !

Biggi

Posing for pictures is not my strong suit.

Sorry, I couldn't keep flashing the choir while trying to get a good and well lit picture. So this will have to do.