Last Saturday….

Last Saturday I was feeling gloomy. Not a good state to be in on a Saturday evening, I thought. So I called my friends and asked them if they were interested in getting out of the house. We decided to go for a movie.

I put on my favorite dress (which I usually do when I am gloomy, it gives me one reason to smile). Somehow I sensed a movie alone would not do the trick. I needed something more that night to lift my spirits.

The movie was lukewarm. It told a very simple story in a convoluted manner to make it look glamorous. I was unimpressed.

The universal feeling in the air stated that home should definitely not be our next destination. So off we went to Rookies (a sports bar). We thought a little drink and a game of pool would do us good.

There is nothing I enjoy more, than a good surprise.

As we approached the bar, we saw people in weird attires, shouting and laughing outside the bar. We soon realized to our astonishment, that there was a Halloween party going on inside! And since we were not in costume, we would be given the last preference to enter the already packed club. We joined the ordinary folks (read non-costumed junta) in the line for entry.

A patient ten minutes later we were part of the action. We entered this whole new world that was so completely cut out from the outside reality. I felt like I had entered a fairy tale. There were people so completely freaky-looking in their costumes, and the best part was that they were so completely enjoying themselves in it! I saw a hulk, a Dalmatian dog, Mr. Jigsaw (from Saw), a gladiator, a nurse, a Dracula, and a multitude variety of ghosts and fairies. At one instance I was waiting at the bar for my drink, and when I looked left there was a man with an ugly-hair wig, with a face painted pitch black, smiling spookily at me! For a moment I was taken aback at the sight. But then I, an ordinary soul that night, smiled back at the ghost who was the real hero of the moment.

There was so much positivity in the air…

There was a live band playing that people were dancing to and singing along with. Each one: age, build, sex no bar, had taken pains in getting into a costume, however weird it may make them look. They were so comfortable in it. Each one, inspite of being one in a group, was at the same time in his own world, did his own thing without caring what the other would think. It was very clear that each person in that room was trying his best to be happy and enjoy life to the fullest, atleast this one night, atleast here whoever they were with. It was as if life wouldn’t give them a second chance.

I decided to follow suit, and realized there was no time to waste being gloomy. I became part of the electric atmosphere. I grooved to the music, sang along the band, and became one of the many. I didn’t care that no one else danced with me (my friends were courteous enough to accompany me till the dance floor, but they just sat enjoying the view and drinks, and didn’t want to dance). I didn’t want to disturb their independence of enjoying themselves in their own way. I danced till my heart’s content.

Last Saturday I did find that ‘something more’ to lift my spirits. Salvation is indeed achieved through life’s simplest of pleasures.