NH7 Weekender Diaries: Day 0

November 02, 2013

It was a Thursday morning, the clock showed the time of 4'o clock (approximately), after barely getting a three hours long sleep, a reluctant yet excited me dragged myself out of the bed and got ready to face the adventure ahead. The streets were empty and I struggled to find a rickshaw to the station, after a lot of waiting I did get one and from there it was a smooth commute to the office. The problems started arising once we hit Pune; the driver of the bus we were in was detained for about an hour by the traffic police without any solid reason and then later on, after reaching a certain road the driver had no clue about the direction to the location! It was a real test of patience as the drive to Pune from Mumbai which generally takes four hours at maximum took a bit more than six hours! Finally we arrived at the venue at around 12.30pm and then the rest of the day saw us touring the venue and getting segregated into our departments.

Honestly speaking, the venue was done up beautifully but the scorching sun made sure that eyes were squinted in being able to see it. Although the gravel path near the entrance was a sore thumb, the Dewarists stage was such an oasis that it seemed perfect for Angels. The Bacardi stage was incomplete, yet it's gigantic structure made it's mammoth presence felt and dwarfed the other stages present across the venue in it's comparison. What completely swept me off my feet was how distinctively and tastefully was each stage done, decor-wise, according to the character they were supposed to don for the three-day festival. And mind you, it's not easy doing that when there are six stages in total!

Back to the events of the day... later than evening as a few of sat on the luscious emerald green grass near the Dewarists stage, we couldn't help breaking out in Oohs and Aahs as Shankar Tucker and band were doing their sound check. The evening's remainder saw me wandering from point to point soaking in the venue. A couple of hours later our ferry to the rented apartment came and then....wait, the day wasn't over yet! After checking out the apartment we rushed back to the venue for the briefing, followed by the people who had their Birthday cutting the giant, gooey, chocolaty cake; one of whom was our fellow crew member. Subsequently, we decided to hang out but unfortunately all our picks for the night were closed (Pune. Around 11-ish. What else can one expect?). Soon we spotted a restaurant named "Salt" which was where we headed and where I introduced myself to a person with my name (I tell you, it's super weird calling out your own name!). What else? The rendezvous ended a couple of hours later, paving way for a Good Night's sleep, something very much required for the day ahead...