"Please clap. Taali bajao sab log..."

"Please clap. Taali bajao sab log... As soon as you see that applaud light turn on, keep clapping till it goes off" 

"Now raise your hand and wave left to right. Smile while you do it.."

"Now laugh loudly".

It was 2001.   A few college friends had got free passes to watch a dance show called Razzmatazz which we all used to watch every week. We were super excited. On the day of the recording, I picked up my best outfit, ironed it nicely and rushed to the studio at 10 am.

It was a huge studio and it was packed with the audience, mostly college going kids. For some reason, there was no air conditioning or perhaps it wasn't effective. So an hour went by as we waited for the action to start while we were sweating in our fancy clothes. Nearly 2 hours later, some guy came on stage. He wasn't the anchor or any celebrity (we were told there would be some celebrity judges for the show). He announced that the show would begin shortly. In the mean time, he wanted us to do what he was about to tell us. For the next 45 min, he told us to assume we were watching something nice on stage and do stuff like clapping, cheering, laughing and waiving hands in tandem. 

An hour more passed by and there was still no action on the stage. The heat was getting unbearable and so was the hunger, so we decided to leave. Outside the studio, we found a guy selling samosas on a bicycle. People who know me know that I am nuts about samosas. All through college, I used to have 2 samosas a day. So spotting a guy selling samosas while we were starving was like spotting an Oasis in the desert. We immediately bought some samosas and boy oh boy! Were they good! Maybe the hunger was acting up, but all of us loved them so much we each had about 4 of them each before we came back home, dejected.

A few weeks later, while watching an episode, I was shocked to spot us waiving and clapping at a dance performance, not once but multiple times. I was stunned for a moment and only then did I realize how editing works. Apparently, the whole audience piece was shot separately and the dance acts were captured separately and all of it was weaved into an episode seamlessly. 

So often, what we see in life is far from reality. Be it televised shows or a situation in real life. Often there is more to it than meets the eye, but unless we are lucky/vigilant to spot it, we mostly miss the fact.

The reason this memory got a nice spot in my mind is only & only as the memory of "one of the best samosas I've ever had". Some days we set out planning to make a great memory and we return back home making a great memory, yet the reasons for it could be entirely unexpected.

By the way, try samosa usal/misal some day. It is mind blowing.