Weekends are special. A well spent weekend can carry its good spirits into the following week. Finally I managed to keep myself away from books and laptop for the last weekend and went to Hyderabad to have some fun time with relatives and friends.

I attended a concert called ‘Barkha Ritu’ by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma on Sunday evening at Marriott Convention Center, Hyderabad. Actually, I was invited by Vinod ji, who is the COO of the company which organized the event. I met him during my three weeks stay at Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore in May 2009. I am sorry if I told you that I was away on some project work to Coimbatore. Now you know the secret and know that I do lie sometimes.

Fun apart, this is the first ever classical music concert I have been to, well, in my entire life  if I have to confess. So, for me, it was indeed a great experience worth remembering and writing a bit about it here.

It was thrilling and overwhelming to witness Pandit Shivkumar Sharma performing Santoor. Panditji has numerous awards to his name including Padma Shri in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. The subtle variations he produced were unbelievable for me.

I volunteered to be a part of the team selling CDs at the venue. Never been at this side of the table. Always at the other side, buying. Standing at the selling side for the first time was a great experience. I think this is the first time I did something close to selling something to people except selling software and my skills. It wasn’t really selling, but at least it was kind of selling I could say. It was good talking to few people and fun talking to a guy who wanted to pay by debit card which unfortunately we could not manage then. Interacting with new people always fascinates me or at least started fascinating me from the last couple of years.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early before the concert finished, but it was a great experience and I slept with a feeling that ‘yes, I have spent a day doing something new worthwhile‘

Apart from the concert, I met a best buddy of mine from the college days. Did some shopping, enjoyed a lot with kids at my cousin’s place.

I could not manage to visit any bookshop this time, though I had a list of books to buy. Last month, I went to Landmark Bookstore at Forum in Bangalore, I am interested to see how Hyderabad bookshops compare to it. The classics section in Landmark had almost all of the twentieth century classics. It is a must visit for book lovers.

And…. this weekend, for the first time, I realized love-at-first-sight is indeed a thing that can happen. I never believed in this romanticized philosophy of falling in love at first sight. I always thought: is it not a plain physical attraction between opposite sexes? Well, may be not or may be a little bit yes. Even now I am not convinced totally, but I sure realized that it can really happen, not only in reel-life but in real-life too. Please don’t ask me how I had this sudden epiphany. I better leave it to your imagination. There are enough shopping malls, theaters, coffee-shops, and many other places.

Now, I realize, a weekend well spent is at least worth a new blog post.